Legume Plants

Legume plants, also known as The Fabaceae or Leguminosae, are an important family of flowering plants, some of which will be found in your garden. So we will discuss them this week.

The legumes include:

Black Beans
Black-eyed Peas
Chickpeas aka Garbanzo Beans
Kidney Beans
Lentils
Lima Beans
Navy Beans
Peanuts
Peas
Southern Peas aka Cowpeas
Soybeans

Be careful not to overeat members of the legume plant family so your body will absorb the nutrition it needs from the healthy food you eat.

Legume plants have compounds in them that can make your body not absorb some important nutrients that are called antinutrients. This is not a good thing so you may need to limit your intake of certain legumes. In other words, you don't want to overeat legumes or your body won't get the nutrition it needs from the legumes.

These antinutrients from legume plants include:

Lectins - Lectins may prevent your body from absorbing zinc, iron, phosphorus, and calcium.
Phytates - Phytates may prevent your body from absorbing zinc, iron, calcium, and magnesium.
Tannins - Tannins may prevent your body from absorbing iron.
Saponins - Saponins are parts of the plant that lather up and taste bitter and can also stop your body from absorbing nutrients.

The best way to keep your body from not absorbing nutrients that you need is to eat a lot of different healthy foods each day and not to overeat from the legume plants family.

Legume Plants - 7/17-7/23/2023

Flat snowpeas are good in stir frys.

Monday, July 17, 2023

Good Monday morning. I felt like garbage for most of the weekend with my blood pressure low on the bottom number, in the 50s. So I called my primary care physician this morning and they got me in. He still wants me to take my three blood pressure meds just like he prescribed and he sent me over to Quest for some extensive blood work. Hopefully, I am fine. Anyway, you have to have an appointment to get in so in the car, I made an appointment. The earliest for today was at 12:20pm so we ran errands for about two hours and then I went in for the blood work. It cost me $884!

The fun thing is that David has to go get blood work at Quest on Thursday. Normally, it cost about $350 for blood work which I think is outrageous.

We do not have health insurance. We have Christian Healthcare Ministries. That means we pay and in four months, we get paid back if it is covered and if we have met a $1000 deductible each. So far, I have not gotten anything back yet this year, but David has gotten a lot back. I could not believe it costs such a ridiculous amount plus $100 for today's doctor visit.

Now we are home. I need to file these medical claims sitting on my desk and in four months time, I can have some of my money back.

David has gone back to the office. I need to go over and start stocking my store. I do feel somewhat better, not so tired like yesterday.

I heard we are cutting some of the part timer hours because orders are way down. This week, our main seed counter is out on vacation.

It is currently 3:30pm and 105° here. It feels drier than usual, sort of like we are being baked in an oven. I am waiting to get pay stubs from the accountant so I can write the paychecks. Today is our normal payday but I cannot do anything without the stubs first. Soon some of our people will be going home. Four of our part timers are not here today, one was terminated last week and one full timer, as I mentioned earlier, is out on vacation.

I just took my gauze and tape off of my arm where the blood was taken. She went in, nailed it in one try and took all that she needed with no problem, not like the guy the last time I went. She was very competent and good at her job.

We haven't had any customers in the store today which is good because there still is not much in here to buy in the way of seeds. No one has worked on it today at all. I have some more to hang up so I guess I will do that once the pay stubs get here.

Legume Plants

Black eyed peas are legume plants and a fan favorite.

Legume plants are so good for you. They are healthy and should be included in your diet. Here is why:

They are low in fat
They help keep you trim and slim
They help you lower your bad cholesterol and blood pressure (they have no cholesterol)
They guard against getting Type II Diabetes (they keep your blood sugar low)
They lower the risk of heart disease
For those who do have diabetes, they can improve glycemic and lipid control
They have high fiber content
They have antioxidants called polyphenols
They have Lysine, an important amino acid
They have calcium in them

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

Good Tuesday morning! My housekeeper is coming today and my house is a mess. I got up early to straighten up a bit. I expected her later in the week. Her schedule changes a lot because she cleans a bunch of those Airbnbs and they have to be cleaned whenever the vacationers move out.

The weather is calling for 107° again today which has become the norm here this month. I am noticing a drier heat in the afternoons than in the mornings, sort of like being back in El Paso where we lived for many years.

Time to go out and feed all of the animals. The sun is coming on but I don't have cakes on the griddle. I do have to make up egg cartons this morning as my fridge is full of eggs. If you need some, come on out to David's Garden Seeds® Farm Store this morning and get them. It is also a great time to get your fall seeds and we have a wonderful Fall Seed Set for Texans plus a 20% off sale going on right now! Take advantage!

I got everyone fed and watered. Today, I got the baby chicks another waterer. They are now old enough that one watering dish is not enough. I found an extra one in the feed shed that is big so they should not run out today.

Michelle came today and cleaned the house. A customer came while I was in the house. The doorbell rang and I went over to the store and she was just backing out. I stopped her and she said she went in and no seeds or people. We are still trying to get the store restocked so I apologized and we made a list of seeds she wanted. Then I went over to Fulfillment and got them all for her. All day long, our team members have been bringing seeds over but we carry a lot so it will be a while before we get them all over here.

We have some new seed collections that I have been putting up all day, along with cover crops. Also, we are getting ready for next spring, packing up seeds for the spring rush. All seed companies use this lull time when less people are buying seeds to get caught up for the coming spring.

The heat is absolutely miserable as it has been every day for the past 45 days or so.

This evening, we drove to San Antonio and had dinner with one of our favorite ex-employees and her parents who are good friends of ours at Salt Grass. We had such a good visit. It has been way too long. Then we drove home, got the chickens put away, showered, and vegetated on the couch for a little while. For once, I did not fall asleep!

Legume Plants

Soybeans are legume plants.

We have all heard the old rhyme:

Beans Beans

Good for your heart

The more you eat

The more you fart...

Beans contain some prebiotics made from plant sugars that can cause gas. They are called galacto-oligosaccharides. That is a mouthful. You can stop that from happening if you will soak and rinse dry beans prior to cooking them. You should also rinse canned legumes to get the gas out of them before you heat them up, just in case they were not soaked in the food factory.

Remember beans are high in fiber so they are a sort of natural laxative. Try not to eat too many in one sitting.

Wednesday, July 19, 2023

This morning, I had to get up early and drive to San Antonio to have my podiatrist pull all kinds of sharp nail and callous out of my big toe. They worked us in because he is a very kind, compassionate physician. He will be out of town the rest of the week and next week when I actually had an appointment with him. Anyway, I was in such pain with this swollen toe over the weekend that I actually dug into it and over time, some of the pressure went down so it wasn't as painful. He pulled three sharp pieces of nail and calloused skin out of there. I was amazed at all that being in there.

Now we are back on the farm and I am in the Farm Store. When we got back, David had me go out and look at the baby chicken house. They put some shade cloth up to block some of the heat for the chicks. It looks much shadier in there. I think they will be happier. Also, you can see that we got three roosters, all the same breed from Ideal Poultry when I paid extra to get all girls.

Shade cloth was put on the west side, with some on the east side as well, of the chicken coop for the 8 week olds so they are not overheated with this awful summer sun.

You can see all 3 white roosters that I got in May from Ideal Poultry. I paid extra for all females. That didn't happen!

Legume Plants

Midnight black turtle dry beans are very popular legume plants.

All dried beans come from legume plants. You need to make sure that you are cooking your dried beans thoroughly or you can have an upset stomach from the lectins in partially raw beans. You will begin to think you are making a commercial for Pepto Bismol when you get nausea, heartburn, diarrhea, bloating, and more "fun" because your beans were slightly undercooked.

The best thing to do is cook your beans at a high temperature after you have soaked them in water overnight or at least for a few hours. My father would make dry beans when I lived at home. He would always soak them in water overnight and then rinse them.

When I got married and would make a pot of beans, I mimicked him and would soak them overnight, rinsing them well the next morning. Then I would put them in the crock pot with enough water to cover them, turn it up on high, and cook them all day. Toward the end of the eight hours, I would taste one. If it was soft, then I would remove some of the water and add tomatoes and/or barbecue sauce, onion, meat, and whatever else I needed for whatever bean dish I was making. I like to make a pot of beans in the fall when the weather gets chilly and serve them with homemade cornbread.

Well, I tried to water our avocado tree this evening that, incidentally, was supposed to be watered today but wasn't. The water was off. Someone was working on it and did not finish or tell me about it. I had to go in the house close to 9pm and haul water out to save its life. I sure hope the kid puts it back together today because I cannot be hauling gallons of water for all of the trees and plants. That is why we have water spigots and hoses.

Thursday, July 20, 2023

Early this morning, David got up and went to the lab for some fasting blood work. I unlocked everything out front and fed the fish. Then I fed the dogs and Kitty. After that, I went out back and fed and watered the whole slew of farm animals. I did not finish that until after 8am. I was a hot and sweaty mess. I went in and cleaned up, started some laundry and dishes and came to work.

So, I walked out on the back deck to put my work boots on to go out there to feed them all. My right boot went on great. My left boot felt weird. There was something in there! I took it off and dumped it out. A two and a half inch spider was in there. I will never again leave my boots outside.

This is the humongous spider that had the nerve to be in my left boot this morning! I am so grossed out.

I learned that one of our good workers will be quitting soon. We are having a catered lunch today. No one has been in because I know it is back to school time and everyone is spending what little money they have leftover on school clothes and classroom supplies. Food has gone sky high and people are barely able to afford to live now. It is horrible.

Once you buy seeds for your fall garden, you can grow food, can, freeze, freeze dry, or dehydrate it, and put it away for winter. We still don't have a freeze dryer to do this. I wish we did. You can save a lot of money by growing your own food. It tastes better and you know that you did not poison it with chemicals. Also, you are not adding GMO foods to it. So many prepared foods are now including GMOs.

So we had a good lunch of smoked chicken, sausage, and beef ribs, beans, and salad. We had a few guests. Also, Nacho and his son, Seth, came because they were down the street working and yesterday was his birthday. While I was at the house getting knives, an actual customer came and I did not realize amidst all of the extra cars. Fortunately, Matt took care of her. He just now told me. So I apologize to our customer but we were having a birthday luncheon and I did not know. Thank you for coming by!

Foghorn Leghorn is standing on top of the watering container in the big hen house. He is now ruling it in there.

I emailed Ideal Poultry about the three roosters I got along with 12 hens. They are going to refund me for the three roosters but I wanted 15 hens, not 12. Plus, they already refunded me for sending me a defective beaked Easter Egger chick. She still looks weird, but she lived so maybe she will lay eggs just fine with a crooked beak and one eye. I do not know at this point since they are only eight weeks old.

Today, the Leghorns are 15 weeks old, almost old enough to start laying. Actually, last week, there was one broken, white, soft-shelled egg in a nesting box so I think it was one of them attempting to lay an egg for the first time but there are eight female Leghorns and it has not happened again yet. I did not take a photo of it.

We left the farm right after 5pm to attend a planning meeting for the Atascosa County Small Business Association. We were active last year and then the person who ran it moved away. Someone else took it over and then dropped it. So on the way, my doctor called me in the car. David pulled over so I could hear him. I have an under active thyroid and I am dehydrated. Honestly, I cannot get enough liquid in me. So he is putting me on Levothyroxine which I will have to go pick up tomorrow.

We went to this meeting inside of a noisy eatery in Poteet. The table we sat at for the meeting was under a TV that was on and loud and there were a lot of people and several babies who screamed throughout the time we were there. The new leader and six others attended, including us. It did not go well. Everything David said was shot down. Then he asked a question.

She told him that was an irrelevant question. Wow. We were invited to help plan the future meetings and she said that. So David asked for the check for the whole table and paid the bill for everyone and we left. It doesn't look like we will be participating in this group any longer.

Legume Plants

Jackson Wonder lima beans are a popular legume plant.

As mentioned above, you do need to soak most dried beans and peas except for red lentils and black eyed peas. Make sure you do this. As I mentioned above, you can soak them all night long in a covered pan or bowl or you can boil them in a pan and then let them sit at room temperature for four hours.

To cook them after you boiled them, dump out the boiled water with the beans into a strainer. Rinse them and then put them back in the pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and boil them for about 45 minutes until they are soft. Legumes should not be al dente (to the tooth) like pasta should be cooked. Legumes should be soft and tender, sort of mushy. Think of the consistency of the Bush's Beans. That is how they should be.

What legume plants are you growing in your garden?

Friday, July 21, 2023

Good morning. We have a skeleton crew today. Matt is getting a dental procedure done. The teen workers we had finished with us yesterday as business has slowed way down and most of the plants are dead and gone because of the heat and no rain.

A man from Houston came by to pick up a delivery order. Of course, no one told me about it and I am the one who deals with the customers. So I had to ask the person who pulls the orders. She gave it to David two days ago. He said nothing to me. I had to call him and find out where it is. I finally got the order and gave it to the man so we are good. Normally, that stuff goes to me so I can take care of it and know where it is.

I took Ethel out early this morning and there was fog up on the hill. It looked cool but went away quickly.

It is 10am and 83°. Our high will be 105°. No rain insight but early this morning, there was fog up on the hill. It was bizarre but I did get a photo of it. Then I came out and unlocked everything and fed the fish. I went in the back and fed and watered all of the animals. The three new little roosters who are eight and a half weeks old now are practicing their crowing. It sounds so cute and funny. Our 15 week old rooster, Foghorn Leghorn, has it down pat.

Our special visitors, quail. We have been considering getting some. I haven't seen them up close and personal before.

A customer came by and popped her trunk open. I thought she was selling something. She had a cage full of birds. Turns out they are quail that she just picked up down the road. She showed me a tiny quail egg. I have been curious. The birds with the golden chests are males and the ones with spots are females. I was very excited.

Matt had his procedure done at the dental office. David was nice enough to volunteer to take him. Then we both went and picked up two prescriptions for him. We dropped them by and he is doing much better.

At work, it was skeleton crew central all day long, especially when we laid off four part timer teens yesterday after our luncheon. Not sure why he plans it that way. It makes everyone anxious to have a luncheon.

Then in the late afternoon, we got my new thyroid prescription filled. I will start it in the morning.

Legume Plants

Green arrow peas are legume plants.

With prices at the supermarket going up constantly, food from legume plants are fairly inexpensive to add to your diet so it is good for your wallet. They are filled with fiber, protein, potassium, and iron so you get a lot of bang for your buck. Heart healthy is another buzz word that comes to mind when we think about legumes. If it's good for your heart, that is always a plus.

For many vegans and vegetarians, food from the legume plants family is a main source of protein. Chickens like them, too. I am making my own chicken feed now because the bags of chicken feed keep on being filled with moldy feed straight from the store. The last six bags I opened were moldy. That is a lot of money to lose. So I add peas and things from legume plants. They love them.

Saturday, July 22, 2023

A stack of my chocolate chip sourdough pancakes. They were delicious.

This morning, I started my new thyroid medication since I have an under active thyroid. No one has ever tested me for this before. My thyroid lab was 8.8. A normal thyroid reading is between 0.4 and 4.0 so you can see mine is bad. Anything under a 0.4 is an overactive thyroid.

I have to take the pill as soon as I get up with water. I cannot eat or drink anything but water and I cannot take any other pills with it. I have to wait at least 30 minutes.

So I took the pill and then I proceeded to make sourdough chocolate chip pancakes for the first time ever. They were so good.

Here is my fresh sourdough all whipped up and ready to rise so I can bake bread today.

Then I whipped up my first sourdough loaf with this batch of sourdough and let it sit in a bowl. While in the kitchen, I noticed my sweet potatoes are finally growing roots and some had vines start growing out of them. I started soaking them a week ago today so I am excited that they are finally working.

See the red pieces coming out of the top of the sweet potato? That is the vine starting!

Note the root in the glass coming out of the sweet potato! Yay! I have never done this before and I am so excited that it is working.

I opened everything and fed the fish and started cleaning the pond. Then I went out back and fed everyone back there. I came in and cleaned up, changed sheets, started laundry, loaded the dishwasher and cleaned the kitchen. I ran back over and turned on the water to fill the pond. Then I went back to the house and proceeded to sit down on the made bed and get comfortable for a little while because my right leg was aching. I woke up with that pain this morning.

As soon as I got comfortable, David came in and announced that I would have to open the store for a couple who drove three hours to get here. We are closed on Saturdays now because no one comes. So I had to get up and go open the store with my aching leg. At that point I had taken some pain reliever and was waiting for it to kick in.

So I turned on the Farm Store lights and loaded up the cash register and turned it on. They came in with David and were talking. I ran out and turned the pond water off because it was now full. Then they wanted a bunch of fall seeds but not many have been put back in the store yet. So we went around the store. I helped them to pick out what they wanted and then I went over to Fulfillment to get them. I asked where they were from and they live on the South side of San Antonio and have been here before. Not three hours away but about 30 minutes. They were nice and bought a lot. Then I just left the store open in case. No one else came the whole day.

My leg finally stopped hurting around noon. We had leftovers for lunch. I cut open two of the large watermelons that the teens picked this past week. The first was yellow inside but not yet sweet so I cut it up and took it out to all of our chickens. They loved it. The next one was pink and ripe so I cut it up and ate some. I sliced up the rest and put it in the fridge. I have six more to go but I am out of fridge room. They cut down too many at once without testing if they are ripe or not. Happens every year.

Matt said he was feeling well and would come for Svengoolie. So I planned to serve chocolate chip sourdough pancakes, scrambled eggs, and a fresh loaf of sourdough bread. I finally baked the sourdough bread and it was delicious.

I sliced the slightly cooled off sourdough. This is so good. Makes good toast, too.

Nothing like hot buttered sourdough. This is the best one I have ever made, if I do say so myself.

I went out and collected eggs around 5pm and took care of everyone including feeding the fish and collecting the cash register money.

Matt arrived at 6pm looking good and he was feeling good, too. Shortly thereafter, David came back with Pamela and Sue Ellen. I think they were in his office working. We started eating dinner early this week and watched a bit of Yellowstone.

Then the Svengoolie movie came on. It was one I had not seen before and very good from 1943, The Uninvited. We enjoyed it.

Legume Plants

This is the Dwarf Taylor Dry bean which is one of the popular legume plants.

Both of my grandmothers loved to bake beans. My grandmother Pitcher would make delicious baked beans for every family function. No, she didn't open a can of Bush's Baked Beans. She would get some dried Navy beans that my grandfather grew in his ginormous garden and then take fresh tomatoes and onions, combined with everything else that goes into a large casserole dish of beans and they were always gone by the end of the meal.

My Grandmother Yorgensen would make navy bean soup. Her beans were bought at the grocery store. It was good soup. We hardly ever ate any legume plants at home except for a can of pork and beans every once in a while if we were having hot dogs or hamburgers.

When we moved to Texas, there were more bean options available that most people eat. Refried beans go well with tacos and enchiladas. These are made from pinto beans. Then, there is the beans and cornbread that everyone in the South eats. This, too, is made from pinto beans.

What is your favorite food from the legume plants?

Sunday, July 23, 2023

Here comes the sun over the green shed shack, our first farm home.

Good Sunday morning! It is almost 10am and time to leave for church. Early this morning, I was out with Ethel and watched the faint pink come across the sky as the sun first started clearing away the darkness. There was a heavy stench of burning wood in the air and it made my nose run. I do not know who was burning wood or trash but it stank and it is way too hot for that. Also, if you watched our neighbor's house go up in flames and burn to the ground, like I did, you won't want to be burning anything, especially while we have a burn ban on.

I got all of the animals fed and by the time I was finished, I was a soaking wet mess. I had to come inside and get clean all over again. David made eggs and I had some sourdough toast with berry cream cheese. It was so good.

We went to church and then came home and ate some quick foods from the freezer. Normally, we eat leftovers from Saturday night but there weren't any. Then I usually cook a nice dinner on Sunday night.

It is now raining in Devine at 3pm. It is not raining here. Apparently, we got a small amount of rain in the middle of the night but I knew nothing about it until someone talked about it at church this morning. David verified to me that there was rain. The ground was not wet when I went out there early this morning to feed the animals.

Here is some of the rain we've needed all summer long and we are thankful! Our grass is brown and crunchy. Most of our plants have been pulled up because it has been too hot.

At 3:50pm, it started raining here and I am hearing thunder. This is awesome! We have needed rain for well over a month. God is good.

Legume Plants - What Are Lentils?

My peanut plants are legume plants.

Lentils originated in Africa and Asia. If you are into vegetarianism or veganism, you probably eat a lot of lentils. Lentils are smaller legume plant family members. They are higher in protein and lower in fat than regular legumes. They are also high in fiber.

Lentils are shaped like a lens and are grown in pods. They can be found in the dry bean section of the supermarket and also in the canned and soup sections. They come in brown, green, black, and red. Highly nutritious, they taste good, too. Many times, "veggie burgers" are made from lentils or from soybeans which are not considered to be lentils. Many people make lentil soup from them which is so good.

Plant Families

Brassicas

Cucurbits

Legumes (This Page)

Nightshades

Return from Legume Plants to Our Fourth Year

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