What will the fava bean look like when it is mature?

The pods become large and the beans will be FULL feeling inside and firm. The bean’s pod may begin to darken slightly     Main thing to watch for is aphids.   Spray weekly with parsley tea (big hand full of dried parsley steeped in 1 gallon boiling water for half hour). Let cool and spray plants with this.

 Any special instructions on growing?

Some plants become tall and need stacked. Others are shorter. It is still helpful to hill soil around them for support. Watch for aphids!!

What then? Pick and let dry? Do they have to dry? Can dry beans be kept in freezer until ready to sprout at a later time, like in winter?

The green pods are the most useful part of the plant. Juice them  at any size (as long as they are pretty…not black spotted).   Juice and freeze juice or make fava chips  by adding ground flax seed. Salt to taste  and dry blobs in dehydrator. These really work good for l-dopa.

You can also just drink the juice or freeze in ice cube trays perhaps in whatever dose size your body needs. Everyone is different!!

How do you sprout them?

Soak beans overnight in a large stainless steel or glass bowl. Then, rinse three times a day for 3 whole days. Peel, rinse and steam them for 8 minutes. They are then ready to freeze or stir fry with garlic & onions or make into Fava Sprout  Balls ::  Mash steamed beans: Add peanut butter and ground oatmeal.

Look up : “No Bake Cookies” on internet  and revise as needed. People only have to find sproutable organic fava beans at the health food store to make these  They are a very good source of l-dopa.

I really prefer using sprouts instead of the  tincture of bean sprouts because there is not a great deal of l- dopa when it is completed. Thus for the tincture I prefer using the fava plant tops.

About how many beans make how much tincture?

Use 2 cups of steamed, mashed sprouts  to 1 C Brandy

Will the tincture “go bad” – thinking about how much can be made ahead.

This I cannot answer…haven’t had it for more than a month at a time.   The fava tops tincture has lasted a year (haven’t had it any longer).

In my research I found a Fava called “Ianto’s Return” (sometimes Ianto’s, or sometimes Lanto’s) “Originally introduced by Alan Kapuler of Peace Seeds. A large-seeded Guatemalan variety that reaches 6 feet tall. The bright yellow seeds are reputed to contain elevated levels of dopamine.” Is this the variety that you grow?

I have never had this variety . I buy generic, organic fava beans from the health food store in 20 lb bags.

I do highly recommend a G6pd blood test for anyone planning to try using favas for medicine.

I also recommend making your own fermented papaya. It helps symptoms amazingly well, even dried store papaya is helping a friend who is going natural like me. My friend also uses mucuna capsules 2AM    and one   1 PM and fava tops tincture in between and she is doing wonderfully.

May God Bless You and guide you in your quest for optimum good health.

Aunt Bean

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How does fermented papaya work?  

Response:

It seems to produce special enzymes that help us process dopamine in the body.  It helped so very much with my night vision driving and night symptoms of Parkinson’s disease …

• Right foot turned and dragging  
• Left arm up in begging puppy mode
• Poor balance

It is great and so easy to make for yourself.  The purchased powder works also, but is very expensive to use if you are on a tight budget like myself.

Do not use any papaya products if you have a latex allergy or are pregnant.

Mucuna is another bean that contains natural  l-dopa,…it is very good if you are lacking movement.  I use it occasionally when I have a lot to do and  am lacking energy resources. I have bought powder from Gary & Sun and make no bake mucuna balls (like cookies) .  I really depend on my fava tops tincture in daily life…it keeps my symptoms under control and I can do whatever I need to (work sun up to sundown usually.

God Bless.

Aunt Bean

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* Special guest appearance of Robert Rodgers, PhD of Parkinsons Recovery
www.favabeans.parkinsonsrecovery.com
Sponsored by the NE TN Parkinson’s Support Group – Johnson City, TN
(With support from the Mountain States Health Alliance )

PLACE:

Edgefield Methodist Church Life Center
745 Pickens Bridge Road
Piney Flats, TN

DATE:      Tuesday, June 19, 2012

TIME:      (Registration begins at 8:30 AM)
(Fee of $10 to pay for expenses collected at the event)

PROGRAM:  9:00 AM – 2:30 PM at Life Center

See first-hand how “Aunt Bean” – (Sandra Bowman) -  has used fava beans as a therapy for treating Parkinson’s.  She will demonstrate how to grow and harvest this natural source of dopamine therapy, share recipes, and even provide a walking tour of Bean Acres at her farm in Piney Flats!

LUNCH:      11:30 AM -1:00 PM
(Lunch on your own – suggestions/directions will be given at the event)

TOUR OF BEAN ACRES FARM:      2:30 – ??
(Stay as long as you would like to stay!)
(Buses will transport attendees to and from the Life Center and Bean Acres)

Pre-Registration

*** Pre-register through the MSHA Health Resource Center***
Call 423-915-5200    Mon.- Sat.  8:00 am – 6:00 pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time. Ask to register for the Fava Bean Festival

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Aunt Bean

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It works for me also!!!!   This means that if you can obtain organic, sproutable fava beans (that can be used for cooking or planting (UNTREATED!!)  you can make this fava l-dopa tincture.  You do NOT have to grow a garden..which is impossible for most people because of their location and physical condition.

This to me is a tremendous find because I may not always be able to do the amount of work I do now, and it was a concern to me that I would not always be able to make my own l-dopa because of this. It doesn’t exist on the market….you have to make it yourself !  This new tincture has not been tested yet for it’s l-dopa content  (which was done for the fava tops tincture .@..2 drops approx = 1mg l-dopa).

Hopefully I will find someone soon who can test it……BUT – I actually think it works better than the tincture made from fava tops…which is much harder to do with all the labor and fighting aphids for tops…the aphids like them best, too!!!   As soon as it is tested I will report back.  I don’t know why it is so hard to find people willing to test things when PD is so widespread…they want grant money for a few minutes of time spent doing a simple test. Somehow, that is hard for me to grasp.

Please to have a G6pd test done if you have thoughts of trying fava beans as a source of l-dopa to make sure you don’t have the enzyme deficiency which could make them quite harmful to you. Also. if you are on MAOI drugs or other PD meds that may need to be cut out or adjusted with adding fava…please talk to your doctor…don’t experiment on your own.     I can experiment on myself because I am on no PD drugs…the only prescription med I take is Armour Thyroid (a natural thyroid supplement).

So, for now….Keep Exercising!!   Eat Lots of good organic fruits & vegies  …Check out the book   Natural Therapies for Parkinsons by Laurie Mischley (Hope that is spelled right)  It is a wonderfully informative book on what you can do to improve your health)

God Bless You

Love,

Sandra

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Back at the farm things are going very well. I mentioned one time that I felt eating watermelon helps fight my Parkinson’s symptoms. Well, I am sure that they do now.

Our watermelons are almost gone (2 left). I took a two  week break without eating any to see if there would be a change or not. Well, there was. I had to go back to taking my tincture made from fava bean tops several times a day again. When eating watermelons, I hardly ever needed to take a dose of my tincture and then only a very small one occasionally. After a 2 week break, I cut into another watermelon and ate it two days in a row and was back to needing very little support again!!! Pretty cool. This needs studies I think.

A friend who is also going non-prescription l-dopa (using fava & Mucuna) and making her own fermented dried papaya like I do took a container of watermelon to work with her one day and just kept snacking on it. She skipped two doses of l-dopa and didn’t realize it until she was ready to go home for the day. That confirmed to me that it would help other people too.

I purchased a very tiny fig tree at a farmers market in spring and just ate my first figs the other day. It is beautiful and has grown to taller than me. My one main problem now is still constipation and I am still looking for a very natural remedy for this…perhaps figs??? I hope.

The greenhouse supports are up but it still has a long way to go to be under cover. Pray I can protect my young papaya trees somehow and not loose a whole year starting new ones again. Papaya leaves are even good against cancer….the more I study about them, the more anxious I am to see if they can be grown here. [P.S. Don't use papaya if you have a latex allergy!]

I started a fava bean tincture with fava bean sprouts and it will be finished by next week. We are all very anxious to see if this will work or not. If so, anyone can make their own l-dopa support and not have to grow a garden. I will report again as soon as this experiment is tested on the “white rat”…..me.

God Bless You All

Aunt Bean

This is the first report of a how eating watermelons fights Parkinson’s symptoms after five years of research on Parkinson’s. One possible explanation for the beneficial watermelon effect reported bu Aunt Bean is that eating watermelon naturally hydrates the body. When our bodies are adequately hydrated we are able to remove the toxins and wastes that accumulate within the tissues of the body.

I have heard a number of reports from people with symptoms of Parkinson’s that when they hydrate their body, their symptoms are reduced significantly.

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease
http://www.parkinsonsdisease.me

h

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I am doing very well. Not sure if it is from watermelon or other things…I am the best outdoors working hard in the sunshine. Taking very little tincture right now, but still using 2 dried fermented papaya chips every morning. My 86 yr old dad takes them too and it has helped with his balance issues also. Have several bean patches planted (over 600 plants now) and starting to harvest the tops now.

I want to try a tincture made from sprouted fava beans next and will let you all know how it turns out next month. If it works, anyone could make their own tincture without having to try to grow a garden of favas.

God Bless You All

Sandra

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Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease
www.parkinsonsdisease.me

The farm is doing well.  We finally had rain…what a blessing …it had been a dry start to the summer.  Things have really perked up after three good rains.  We are having our support group picnic the third Saturday of July.  Hopefully the garden will be producing well by then.

Just had a new grand baby and made a trip to Indiana.  What a wonderful , perfect child God has blessed us with.  Something else to keep me going in the fight against PD.

As far as the instructions for making the fava tincture…here you go.

You have to grow the plants  to have the material to work with (or know someone who can grow them for you).  This is the only difficult part.

Once you have the plants, you collect the “tops” (the small ball of immature , unopened flowers and leaves that grow at the top of the stem. )  The plant will later make these unopened balls at the base and on the stems as the plant matures..these also can be used.

Once you collect the “balls” , dry them in a dehydrator til completely dry. 

Place them then into a clean jar with a lid ( glass peanut butter jars work fine). Pour brandy over the tops until they are covered completely. Put the lid on and place it in a dark cupboard.  Shake the tincture one to three times a day for a month.

Now the tincture is ready to be strained.  I use a stainless steel tea strainer and press the liquid out of the leaves.  Let the tincture stand at least a day in a dark cupboard, and then decant off (this means to pour very slowly, leaving the sediment in the bottom of the jar). Now you are ready to pour the tincture into small dropper bottles . 

The tincture tested out at 2 drops = 1 mg l-dopa. (Of course this may vary with the type of soil the favas are grown on/ weather/etc. the amount of brandy used…should just cover the tops in the jar). Also the fava plants should be grown organically so it is safe for food.

If you are going to use fava beans for supplementing l-dopa for PD….be sure to have aG6pd blood test done to make sure you are not deficient in a specific enzyme that is necessary to metabolize fava.  There is a genetic disorder called favaism that you should research before using any product of the fava plant or bean.  If you have inherited this disorder…favas can be fatal to you.    Favas can also react with certain PD Meds and you must consult with your doctor and do your research before you use yourself as a guinea pig like I did. 

I took a big chance taking it the first time myself. And if you try using favas for supplementation, you are taking a risk too…..everyone’s PD is different, different causes, different symptoms, different reaction to meds, different progression.  What helps one person will not help another.   God is good and blessed me with just the thing that I needed to take care of my symptoms.. If you try the tincture…it is at your own risk, like me.

I started out taking 2 drops in the morning / 2 drops in the afternoon / 2 drops at bedtime. My symptoms have progressed, but the tincture still makes them disappear.  I now take about 6 to 8 drops of tincture, 4 to 6 times a day. Basically about 1 1/2 teas tincture daily. I also make fermented dried papaya and take it every morning….it is amazing too.

Well, that is all I have time to write now.  I hope this helps someone. 

God Bless You

Aunt Bean

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