Are all legumes created equal (? ) and most prob a few other questions

Ive had alot of suggestions on what I should be planting, first of all I hate the diversity, there has been no nasty comments, nothing but friendly advice given on this forum but in my experience online Ive noticed that someone ( or multiple people ) gets butt hurt if I do not take their advice on what specifically I should be doing. I understand its only natural human nature to a certain extent but Im trying to be more forum friendly so Ill ask the question.......how do I decide whats best for my specific situation.

Im thinking take the advice of the local extension serives guy cause he absolutely knows my soil conditions since he has hands on experience dealing with my specific scenario.

If thats the case than I guess I wont take any specific plant advice in which case maybe everyone will get upset

He strongly suggested sun hemp.

Secondly someone here did suggest peanuts.......there are literally thousands of acres of peanut farms here so Im also leaning toward that.

I have more questions but I have to get to work.

Im just trying not to ruffle anyones feathers cause I like this forum. Thank you for understanding

Don't worry, folks offer advice here and no one expects you to take it

The wonderful thing about hearing a lot of different views is that 'just one' might work!
or 'just one' might get us out of our narrow view of things!
or none of them may work or be applicable to the OP but in the long run might help someone down the road who reads the post as the threads here are long lived.

Lots of brainstorming happening here

Jason,

Sun hemp can be an excellent soil builder, so if your local extension agent is recommending it, I would be inclined to take that advice.  You might want to check with him on planting advice, but in nature, the seeds simply fall from the plant, so I would be willing to bet that if you simply hand cast, or use a fertilizer spreader, you would get a nice crop of sun hemp.  If you want to get fancier, you could broadcast and then lightly rake over to bury the seed.  This would give you better germination, but is not specifically necessary.  If you wanted to get really fancy, you could use a seed drill, though that might be excessive for minor results.

Permies is kinda a haven for diversity, you are just going to find it here.  People of all walks of life congregate here and while there are certainly some differing opinions, the result is a sorta slightly managed friendly chaos.  Permies strives to be a very friendly place, I am please to hear that you recognized this right off the bat.

Maybe inform local police that that you are growing hemp and not marijuana, just to set their minds at ease.

Good luck,

Eric

Welcome to permies!

Jason Walter wrote: in my experience online Ive noticed that someone ( or multiple people ) gets butt hurt if I do not take their advice on what specifically I should be doing. I understand its only natural human nature to a certain extent but Im trying to be more forum friendly so Ill ask the question.......how do I decide whats best for my specific situation.  

You hit the nail right on the head.

In permaculture (the theme of this site), there are no single solutions for a problem.  Each location is unique and without actually travelling to the spot and looking around, we can't offer specific suggestions for that location.  Even then, the only way to know what ways work best is to experiment.  Divide into different sections and plant peanuts in one, peas in another, sun hemp... whatever.  Then observe.  That's my favourite way, but everyone has their own way to do things.

That's another one of the permaculture things - observe and interact.  Make small changes and observe how the land responds to it.

Of course, for any system to work, we have to take into account the human that will be living with it.  It not only has to work for the land but also for the person.  If you had a peanut allergy for example, then maybe don't plant peanuts.  

From our side of the keyboard, we can't see all these factors, so we cannot tell you what you should do, only some options we know about.  It will be up to you to try the ideas that speak to you and I hope you let us know how it turns out.  

This might help you get a feel for the kind of conversation we encourage on permies: https://permies.com/t/36971/safe-place-gentle-souls-talk

I can tell you what I do.  I try everything.

It has helped me to avoid starting "advice arguments."  No reason to explain to everybody who suggests something unusable that you're not going to follow their advice.  Just thank them.  Or, thank them and mention that your sandy soil, pure clay, tropical location or whatever, prevents you from taking their otherwise helpful advice.

I often feel the need to explain, but I also hate stepping on peoples' toes or hurting their feelings.  So the above advice is something I remind myself of every time I feel those toes beneath my feet.