How To Make a Comfrey Salve

Several of you have wondered what happened to my "How To Make a Comfrey Salve" post. It showed up on feed readers, but the link rendered a "not found" error. That was because I accidentally hit "publish" before it was ready. I quickly reverted to draft, but feed readers don't make retractions, so that's what happened. Here it is with a slightly different title, in hopes it will hit the feed readers afresh. UPDATE: apparently the feed reader didn't recognize it, even with a new title. 😖 So I changed the title back again.

In my "Peppermint Tea" blog post, I mentioned that autumn is my time to work on many of my herbal preparations. Recently, I finished a batch of comfrey salve.

Of the 90 comfrey roots I've planted over the years, only
 a dozen survived. They seem to like it under my fruit trees.

Comfrey is also known as knit-bone. Modern science cautions against taking it internally, but it makes an excellent salve for muscle or bone bruises. It can be used on cuts and scrapes too, with the precaution not to apply it to dirty or deep wounds. 

The recipe is simple. It requires dried comfrey leaves, a carrier oil such as olive oil, and some beeswax. It can be picked fresh and partially dried. The high water content of fresh leaves can shorten shelf life, so wilted or dried leaves are recommended.

I dehydrated my fresh leaves for a couple of hours.

Recipe from my herb notebook.

The first step is to make an infused oil.

Enough olive oil to cover the comfrey.

The healing properties are extracted from several hours of low heat. Then it's strained.

Isn't that a lovely green!

Next, the oil is returned to the pan and the beeswax added.

Adding shredded beeswax to the infused oil.

Just enough beeswax is added to give the oil a spreadable but still soft consistency. To know if I've got that, I drip a little of the melted mixture onto a spoon and place the spoon in the freezer for a minute or so. That gives me an idea of what it will be like after it's cooled.

A good consistency. If the salve is stored in the fridge,
then it will be stiffer until warmed to room temperature.

Then the melted salve is poured off into a jar and allowed to cool.

Half-pint jar is perfect for a small batch.

Then it's lidded and labeled.

The same recipe can be used to make a variety of herbal salves, which are very handy to have around. Which makes me think this is the perfect time to run a special on one of my little eBooks, especially since it's been newly revised.

How To Make An Herbal Salve: an introduction to salves, creams, ointments, & more from The Little Series of Homestead How-Tos. Updated with more information and new photos. Available in a variety of e-formats. $2.49. You can find out more about it and where to find it at this link.

Now through Sunday, get it free at Smashwords.com with coupon code RG76E (expired).

How To Make a Comfrey Salve 
© Oct. 2020 by Leigh at

http://www.5acresandadream.com

Alfalfa For Goats: Looking For Alternatives

We American goat keepers love our alfalfa. It's rich in protein and calcium and increases milk production. Who could ask for anything more? Unfortunately alfalfa isn't grown in my part of the country, so alfalfa hay is extremely expensive. Since goats are very wasteful with it, it doesn't make sense to buy it, except as pellets. And that's what I've done, feed my girls alfalfa pellets. Until the other day.

Of all the alfalfa pellet brands I can buy locally, I've always bought Standlee. It's been the one brand that contains little to no alfalfa dust, plus, they've had a non-GMO statement on their website regarding their alfalfa sources. Until recently.

Recently Standlee changed their packaging, new look and all. I have to say I wasn't impressed with the new bags, especially when I discovered how easily they burst open. But that wasn't the real problem. The real problem was that after offering it to my girls, they wouldn't eat it. They all walked away from their feeders with quite a bit left in the bottom.

That raised a huge red flag in my mind, so I went back to the Standlee website. Instead of the non-GMO statement, I found this one.  You can click it to see for yourself, but the bottom line is that they now use "a limited amount of GMO Alfalfa". That's extremely disappointing, but hats off to Standlee for at least disclosing the GMO status of their feeds!

So I'm looking for an alternative. I know quite a few of you may be quick to mention Chaffhaye (the new alfalfa darling of the goat world), because Chaffhaye manufacturers promise their product will always be GMO free. I did look into it. However, the nearest dealer is about 135 miles away. At $15 per 50 pound bag, that makes it a better deal than the 40 pound bags of alfalfa pellets selling for $14.49. But the distance keeps it off the range of realistic possibilities because I buy weekly. A weekly 270 mile trip for alfalfa would be ridiculous. Perhaps more feasible would be to buy a bulk supply, except our budget has no room for that!

I confess that even if budget wasn't an issue, I'd still be looking for an alternative. One reason is our goal of self-sustaining animal keeping. That means working toward feeding our animals from our land.

The other reason is because of what I read about alfalfa in Pat Coleby's Natural Goat Care, because alfalfa is a legume.

"Goitrogenic Feeds: All legumes come under this category. They deplete iodine if they are eaten in excess . . . Irrigation alfalfa grown with artificial fertilizers is especially toxic." Page 95

I can't help but wonder that if I didn't feed alfalfa, perhaps my goats wouldn't gobble down the kelp meal (their source of iodine) so quickly.

In the end, my goal is to get away from buying anything to feed my goats. Having self-sustaining goats means providing everything they need on our homestead. This is a goal I've been working toward for a number of years. Now, however, it seems time to shift gears from experimental stage to the real deal.

As a replacement for alfalfa, I've been planting comfrey, adding more crowns every year. It is rich in both protein and calcium and the goats love it. It takes a bit of work, however, because it loves rich soil and doesn't seem to tolerate any hot, dry spells. Still, if I can get a routine it will be worth it.

I'm working on an update to our self-sufficient animal feed goal, but until then (for anyone interested), here are links to previous posts on what I've researched, learned, and thought about:

• Food Self-Sufficiency and Animals
• More Thoughts on Growing Animal Feeds
• Homegrown Goat Minerals
• DIY Vitamins & Minerals For Goats
• More Experiments In Sustainable Pasture

Alfalfa For Goats: Looking For Alternatives © January 2014 

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

March Gardening

March is an iffy month for us. We can get daytime highs bordering 80°F, but still have the potential for frost or even snow. It's easy for one's impatient inner gardener to want to jump the gun and "take a chance." Ordinarily this would be a time of nurturing indoor started seedlings, something I put on hold due to the indoor chaos of our kitchen remodel.

On the other hand, we're still enjoying the harvest from our fall and winter garden.

Lettuce, kale, turnips, and a carrot

And! A first ever for us....

1st ever asparagus

Last year I planted asparagus for the first time, about 30 plants. This is our very first sampling. We won't get much this year, because the plants still need time to establish themselves, but who could resist at least a taste? I have to say it was the best asparagus ever.

In addition there are beets, broccoli, turnips, kale, radishes, carrots, collards, and cabbage collards for the picking, though the broccoli and cabbage collards are starting to flower. I'll let some go to seed for saving, but the rest I cut back mercilessly to feed the goats. They are very hungry for something fresh this time of year and start hollering as soon as they see me coming with a basketful.

Parsnip plant

I checked the parsnips the other day and they look ready to harvest. I tried to grow parsnips last year without success. This time I didn't get a lot, so it will probably be a one or two meal deal, especially since I want to let at least one plant go to seed for saving. The variety is All American, not one usually listed in the seed catalogues. Still, since even some grew for me, it's a keeper. Besides the parsnips, I'd probably better harvest the rest of my turnips and beets as well, before they want to go to seed.

Egyptian Walking Onions

All the onions I planted last fall seem to be doing well. The Egyptian walkers have emerged from their winter's nap and are needing to be mulched. Only about half of the multipliers are growing however.

Last spring's onions are finally making a go of it. They were very slow to grow last year. Maybe that's how I need to do onions, plant sets and harvest a year later. Even so these point to a problem area for me, wire grass....

Onion, strawberry, & asparagus bed, invaded by wire grass

Last spring, I worked very hard to rescue my strawberries from wire grass that was choking them out. I transplanted over 50 plants to a new location. In keeping with my companion group gardening plan, I also planted onions and asparagus along with the strawberries. Well, that wire grass has been trying to claim a corner of my garden and it happened again.

I cannot tell you how discouraging this stuff is. It is invasive, tenacious, and impossible to get rid of. Nothing I've tried has given me the upper hand: tilling, hand weeding, deep mulch, landscape cloth, cardboard mulch. Problem is, I don't know how to learn to live with it. At the moment I'm thinking to harvest the onions, move the strawberries again (the ones that haven't been smothered to death that is), let it go until fall, and then mow the summer's growth of wire grass down. The asparagus comes up before it gets growing, so perhaps I can still get an asparagus harvest every year. How to keep the wire grass from spreading further, is another unsolved nightmare.

On the bright side....

fall planted garlic

I'm very pleased with my garlic. I planted nearly all of last year's harvest, nearly 100 cloves. We use a lot of garlic for both culinary and medicinal purposes, so I'm not sure even this is a year's supply. Still, we'll have some homegrown to enjoy.

Romaine lettuces from saved seed

Having a milder winter was great for the greens. Even my lettuces survived, though they grew very little during the coldest months. I'm thinking if I'd covered them, they might have produced fairly well.

So far this spring I've planted peas, a new to me variety of turnip, Golden Ball, and more comfrey. This comfrey is also in a different spot. Last summer I lost most of the comfrey I planted two years ago. I'm not sure if it was the wire grass that choked it out or perhaps I failed to keep the soil sweet enough, but for some reason it did not like that location. Comfrey is an important protein source for my goats as well as instant compost material. I need it to thrive.

The success of this year's winter garden, plus my experiences of the two previous winters have me thinking about year round gardening in my little corner of the world. I'm seeing that we can indeed eat fresh all winter long. Even in the colder, snowier winters, we can harvest root crops if they're well mulched. We should be eating more of that, so that I don't have to preserve as much of the summer's harvest as I have been. With a row cover or hoop house we could have greens during the colder winters as well. The heat of summer with it's annual dry spell is actually more problematic for me! How to best garden through that, is something I'm still contemplating.

March Gardening © March 2012 by Leigh
at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Food Self-Sufficiency & Animals

I received a lot of excellent comments on my "The Economics of Food Self-Sufficiency" post. Most of you, like me, see a definite benefit to growing your own food, but don't see a significant savings monetarily. I going to hazard a guess that this is because most of us are in what Dan and I call the establishment phase of homesteading. Most of us are starting from scratch. We do not have the benefit of inheriting the family farm and the knowledge and skills to go with it. Nor do we have the benefit of a local, like-minded community, where social gatherings center around work days: barn raisings, canning bees, harvest days, corn huskings, butchering, sugaring off. Most of us know what our goal is, but aren't always certain of the best way to achieve it.

Black Oil Sunflower Seeds
Crude protein 16.8%
Digestible protein 13.9%
Feed for: goats, chickens

When it comes to food self-sufficiency, I figure we have two choices. We must either learn to grow everything we want to eat, or we must learn to eat what we can grow. A vegetable garden is the most basic, and a fruit orchard often follows that. Animals take it to another level. The benefits of eggs and milk alone, appeal. In addition, there is meat for those who eat it, manure for fields and garden, increases of flock and herd for selling or bartering, and the simple pleasures and entertainment that animals provide. The trade-off is, now, instead of buying our own food, we buy food for our animals. No relief for the pocketbook there.

Dan and I decided at the beginning, that we wanted to become self-sufficient in regards to our animals. Each animal must contribute to our needs, and we in turn must not keep more animals than our land can properly provide for. That means we have to learn how to grow our own animal feed.

Field corn
Crude protein 8.7%
Digestible protein 6.7%
Feed for: chickens, humans

I've spent a lot of hours researching this, and have run in to the same problem I did when it came to eggs and chickens; much of the information out there is based on the scientific approach, which is aimed at production and profit. Recipes for feed for example, are so complicated as to be discouraging. I don't even have a local source for some of the ingredients. And the cost? Prohibitive.

On the other hand, it would be a mistake to oversimplify the whole thing and think, well, back in the day they didn't feed them anything extra. We have to keep in mind that back in the day, topsoils hadn't eroded much and the nutrients hadn't been leached out. Thanks to decades of modern agricultural practices, our soils are often little more than a medium to hold the plants up. Because of that, our foods are no longer nutritionally adequate for humans or animals. Unless one happens to find a piece of virgin land to homestead on, this is a problem.

Wheat
Crude protein 13.2%
Digestible protein 11.1%
Feed for: goats, chickens, humans

So. We've set a goal to grow our own animal feeds. We look at this as a long term goal, which we can only accomplish one step at a time. We've begun with some experimental patches of wheat, corn, cowpeas, and black oil sunflower seeds.

One priority, is to make sure they get enough protein. A milking doe is said to need a diet of about 16% protein. Laying hens, 16 to 18%. As I've researched protein, I've learned there is a difference between crude protein and digestible protein. Crude protein is basically the sum total of the nitrogen in the plant. Crude protein figures include both digestible and indigestible protein. Whether or not protein is digestible, depends on the protein source. My copy of Raising Milk Goats the Modern Way (an older version of Storey's Guide to Raising Dairy Goats) has a great chart in it showing the average composition of selected goat feeds. It gives both crude and digestible proteins, which I find very useful. Obviously this can apply to other animal feeds as well.

Cowpeas
Crude protein 23.4%
Digestible protein 20.1%
feed for: chickens, goats

There are other things to consider: calcium, roughage, vitamins, trace minerals, etc. We'll have to experiment to figure out what grows best in our part of the country, which will also meet these needs. Our wheat grew well and our corn is so far. I plan to experiment with things like oats, barley, millet, as well.

Something we grew last year was amaranth.

Amaranth, Golden Giant
Crude protein 12.5 - 17.6%
Toxic raw???

The chickens didn't seem to care for it, but the goats ate it. I later read it is toxic unless cooked, so I stopped giving it to the goats and didn't plant a patch this year. I know there are numerous articles about sprouting and cooking feeds for animals, but to be honest, I don't have the time to mess with that. I need a regime that meets my animals needs, but is simple. I still read mixed reports on amaranth, and I have enough volunteer plants to harvest quite a bit anyway. For the time being, it's not on our list of feeds to grow.

In addition to grains, there is pasture, browse, and hay of course, Pasture improvement / hay is one of the next projects on our list. Plus, there are a lot of things we can grow in the garden for feed: turnips, beets, carrots, Jerusalem artichokes, mangles, collards, pumpkins, winter squashes, etc.

Comfrey
Crude protein: 22 - 33%
Feed for: goats

Obviously this is not a goal we will reach in just a year or even two. It will take experimenting in regards to the amount of seed we need to plant and the expected harvest. It will take trial and error as we explore the best possibilities, but at least we've begun.

Those of us pursuing a goal of self-sufficiency understand that it is a difficult goal to achieve. Not only in terms of skills, knowledge, and resources, but because our culture is not set up for us to succeed. One of the biggest obstacles is having a mortgage. In addition, the tools and resources we need are expensive; ever price an off-grid energy system for your home? However, I'm a firm believer that something is better than nothing. A tomato plant on the patio is better than none. Growing at least some of our own food is better than none. Some relief on our feed bill is better than none. It's a journey, a process. When I get discouraged I consider the alternatives. Is there any other life I'd rather be living than this?

Resources:

• Feeding the Flock from the Homestead's Own Resources - the Modern Homestead
• Chicken Treats from BackYardChickens.com
• Herbs for Spring Eggs and Breeding - Backyard Poultry
• Feeding The Homestead Flock - The Modern Homestead
• Planting a Goat Garden - Dairy Goat Journal
• Daily Nutrient Requirements of Goats - Merck Veterinary Manual

Related Post:

• More Thoughts On Growing Animal Feeds

Food Self-Sufficiency & Animals © July 2011

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

How Jasmine Is Doing

Jasmine

Several of you have inquired about Jasmine. I appreciate that and have some amazing news to tell you.

For those who don't read my blog regularly, Jasmine gave birth to a stillborn doeling on May 8th. In addition to it being a difficult labor, the right half of her udder became rock hard immediately after kidding. I could not express any milk from it, so I was very concerned about pressure buildup as she continued to produce milk. It would be not only painful for her, but the vet told me they'd seen ruptured udders in the past.

I decided I had no option but to dry her up as quickly as possible. Toward that end, I searched online for herbs to dry up milk supply. There was a lot of information for humans, but I figured they would work for Jasmine as well. One herb reputed to help is sage, which I grow in my herb garden. I started trying to feed her that.

As I continued my research, I ran across an article entitled "Herbs, Milking and Mastitis, Five Secrets." I had already give Jasmine's the vet's prescription antibiotics for mastitis, which hadn't helped at all. Having only a nominal faith in pharmaceuticals anyway, I was willing to give herbs a try.

Three of the four herbs mentioned to treat mastitis, were ones that I have growing here: poke root, comfrey leaves, and calendula flowers. It was easiest for me to make a salve, so I pulverized these in the blender with vegetable oil. I admit I didn't measure. I just dug a big chunk of poke root, grabbed a big handful of comfrey, and the few calendula flowers that I had in bloom.

Once I had a slimey green goop, I added melted beeswax, following the same procedure I showed you here. I ended up with a pint of salve, which I have been massaging this on her udder three times a day.

I noticed no difference for the first several days. It was also during this time that I realized that side of her udder wasn't swelling with milk. I was greatly relieved at this, and since she didn't care for the sage anyway, stopped giving her that and continued milking out the good side twice a day.

Within a few days the mass in her udder was noticeably smaller. It's been three weeks now, and we've gone from a rock hard melon sized mass, to a tangerine size softer (but still palpable) lump.

She absolutely loves have her udder massaged. In fact she'll bow our her legs and let me rub and massage for as long as I want. In addition to that, I've been feeding her about half a dozen stalks of comfrey daily. She'd eat more if I had it, but I have to ration according to the number of comfrey plants I have to keep a steady supply going.

Herbalists use poke root to treat problems with the lymphatic system, skin problems, tumors of the mammary glands, and specifically mastitis. Comfrey is used for skin conditions, sprains, bruises, ulcers, burns, and swelling. Calendula is applied to cuts, scrapes, rashes, and inflammation. The one recommended herb I don't have is red clover. It is traditionally used for cancers, skin conditions, and breast discomfort. We've had a few red clovers pop up here and there, but I really should plant some for future use, pasture and hay at the very least.

She's not cured yet, though I am obviously very hopeful. Until then, her future remains questionable, but for now, she is a good companion for Surprise. As with everything else in life, we're just taking it one day at a time.

 How Jasmine Is Doing © May 2011 

by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

2011 Goals: Choosing My Battles, Part 2

Continued from Part 1, here.

I have to admit that when I first divided this long post into two parts, I never dreamed anyone would actually be curious as to my solution, LOL.

When it came to saving my strawberries from the invasive, tenacious grass, I didn't feel that I had a lot of options.

• herbicides were out
• eternal weeding was out
• abandoning them was out

I decided that a two part solution was the best. That meant first moving the strawberry plants, and then smothering the grass. Thanks to a few long term brush piles, we've learned that smothering is one thing that seems to permanently rid an area of anything growing there.

I had decided on a new spot for my strawberries when I figured out my companion groups garden plan. It would mean a lot of extra work, but I wasn't willing to invest countless more hours in a losing battle.

Starting to dig a new bed, where at least
some of my strawberry plants will go.

During a spell of nice weather, I started preparing a long row along the edge of our vegetable garden. I added compost and wood ashes, and hand turned the soil.

Removing strawberries from the old bed

Transplanting the strawberries meant scraping back the wood chip mulch, pulling up the landscape cloth, and removing the strawberry plants to their new location.

A messy mass of grass roots strangling this poor strawberry plant

As you can see, the grass roots really had a stranglehold on my strawberries. I'm actually amazed they survived at all.

Strawberries being transplanted before it rains again.

I had more plants than row, so I widened this to make room for onions and asparagus too. Eventually I'll get it bordered. I was able to transplant all of my everbearers, but I still need to transplant the Junebearers. Unfortunately it started to rain right after I accomplished the above (and rain and rain), so I still have some more transplanting to do.

Once the ground dries out and I can get the Junebearers moved, we will cover the old strawberry bed with heavy mil black plastic. I know, I know, I hate the stuff too. But once it's done it's job, we'll remove it. Then we can double dig, rake all the old roots out, and start over with something else.

The comfrey will have to stay where it is, because it develops an extensive root system which is key to it's productivity. I do not want a set back on that this year, but on the other hand, it's a taller plant than a strawberry, so I should be able to mulch it thickly and more successfully. I'll use the cardboard I've been collecting to mulch between these, and cover deeply with shredded mulch.

On the plus side, I managed to salvage most of the wood chip mulch and use it on our fruit trees and bushes. The landscape cloth itself was torn to shreds, so that was a loss.

Initially, I thought I would be able to conquer the grass and leave my strawberry bed where it was. It's frustrating, because this is not how I want to be spending my time. After thinking it through, moving the strawberries made more sense in the long run. Admittedly, I haven't won the war against the grass invasion yet, but saving the strawberries is a major victory. One that I'm satisfied to get.

2011 Goals: Choosing My Battles, Part 2 © March 2011 by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

2011 Goals: Choosing My Battles, Part 1

One of my 2011 goals is,

• win the battle against the invasive wiregrass (Bermuda) that is trying to take over my strawberries and comfrey

I first planted my strawberry plants in February of last year.

February 2010

This spot had been my 2009 vegetable garden, so the soil was somewhat improved. The comfrey was planted later, in April. It all started out well, but soon an invasive grass started to pop up.

May 2010

At first I simply weeded it. If the soil was moist, it came out pretty easily. If the soil was dry, it was almost impossible. It's so tough that it can actually cut your hands, which is why my neighbor calls it "wire grass." Hoeing and pulling it couldn't get the entire root however, so it was free to start growing again. And it did.

I spent hours days weeding and mulching. It was a frustrating use of my time because the stuff kept coming back. Finally I decided to try landscape cloth.

June 2010

This was what I'd call a desperate measure for me. I'm a great fan of cardboard mulch, but I didn't have enough to cover the entire area. The problem with landscape cloth is that it doesn't contribute to the soil. Products like these don't decompose, they deteriorate. In addition, it acts as a barrier for anything that might be applied on top, which means that decomposing mulch can't feed the soil. That bothered me, but so did losing my strawberries and comfrey. I figured I could eventually remove it, after I won the battle.

This project took many more days of my time, long hours rolling it out, cutting, pinning, and mulching. Success was short lived however.

September 2010

Soon it managed to poke up, right on through the landscape cloth, even with a 4 or 5 inch layer of wood chip mulch. Talk about disgusted!

I thought about contacting the manufacturer and giving them a review of their product. But then, I didn't apply the 6 inches of rubber mulch as the directions instructed. If I don't follow the directions, I can't expect it to work properly, can I? (Being facetious here.) In addition I used a cheaper grade, but then if they'd told me it would only work for a week or two, I wouldn't have bought it in the first place.

If I was going to save this year's strawberries, I knew I had to do something. I knew I had to win the battle against this nasty grass somehow. What I ended up doing, is continued in

2011 Goals: Choosing My Battles, Part 2

2011 Goals: Choosing My Battles, Part 1 © March 2011
by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Around The Homestead

Random updates, comments, and observations since my last Around The Homestead.

 I'll start with a report on my blueberry dehydrating experiment. Click here for what that's all about. After 7 weeks, I can report that only the blueberries that were dried the longest (15 hours) remain with no sign of spoilage.

Speaking of dehydrating, we've had a second round of cantaloupes so I dehydrated some of those too.  Many of you have told me how good these are, and I trust your recommendation!

In general, food production and preservation are slowing down to a point where I can start to focus on some other things. I'll have to do a tally post soon. Still to be harvested are the pumpkins (of which I have only two, very disappointing), sweet potatoes, popcorn, sunflowers, and amaranth. Okra, sweet peppers, and black turtle beans continue to produce well.  Everything else is getting to be slim pickings until the fall garden starts producing.

Piliated woodpeckers have moved into the neighborhood! We both love woodpeckers, but piliateds are our favorites. I hear them, but they're shy, so I've only seen one, feasting in our blueberry bush. We do hear them calling back and forth to one another though.

We've also spotted hawks again. We had them frequently when we first moved here, but they seemed to  migrate elsewhere after our neighbor clearcut all that acreage. Not only are they back, but they are surveying and hanging out on our property. I saw one take off from the very tree Riley and Katy got stuck in near the animal's shed.  With chickens and small cats, that's a concern.

Speaking of that clearcut property, it remains as is. No development, no for sale signs, no "improvements." It just sits there growing brush. It turns out that the property has been in the family for generations, with each generation receiving the benefit of selling of the timber.

I went out hunting for muscadines the other day. Actually Charlie and I did when we went on one of our walks. Nary a grape did I see!!! I am really disappointed about that, as wild muscadine jelly is my absolute favorite. There's still one vine in the woods that may have some. I'll have to go check. If not, perhaps I can find a local pick-your-own.

After all that work putting down landscape cloth in my battle to keep my strawberries and comfrey from being smothered out by the "wire grass," I am annoyed to report that the stupid stuff did not do the job!  

The grass just pokes right on up through it, even with several inches of mulch. The directions tell you that it needs at least 5 to 6 inches of  rubber mulch, to which I thought "Ha. It's about profit not results."

It was an expensive lesson learned. The bottom line is that cardboard is cheaper, faster to put down, works better, and is compostable!

Speaking of the comfrey (in the pic above: strawberry plants in the foreground, comfrey plants toward the back) the goats love it. Next year I'll be able to harvest it once a month for feed, compost, or mulch. I need to figure out how to dry it too; I'll probably need to make drying racks though. Just what I need, another project.

Do you remember what I told you about my chickens' egg color? Well, it seems that as the Laying Ladies have matured a bit, their egg color has become more typical for their respective breeds. The Barred Holland is laying whiter eggs, and the Wellsummer eggs have gotten darker, though sometimes I still can't tell them from the Delaware's.

.
The color in the photo above isn't completely accurate. I find the flash washes out the green, so I took it without and tried to lighten it with The GIMP. It should give you an idea anyway. From the left: Welsummer, Delaware, Ameraucana, Barred Holland, & Ameraucana.

I'm not getting enough to freeze a lot, but I'm grateful for what I can do.

Speaking of chickens, I've discovered that they don't mind sharing one of the dust bath spots with Charlie.

One project I haven't mentioned in a loooong time is painting the house. On the project list, the new front door needs to be installed first, plus the front porch is sadly in need of repair. We can't get to these until we finish the HVAC ductwork and some insulating of the crawl space. These things will need to be done before we are ready to paint. I am however, finishing up some scraping, sanding, and priming on one last section of the house.

The fall garden is just starting to come up. Some of it that is. I'll post about that soon. My big duh was when I set out the soaker hose and let it run for a good hour, only to discover that I didn't hook it up to the hose connected to the house. I ended up with a huge puddle where it wasn't needed.  sigh  One step forward, two steps back.

Lastly, kitty news (there's always kitty news.) Katy discovered my big pot of catnip.

I reckon that's it for now. Unless you can think of something I forgot.

Around The Homestead © September 2010 

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/