Melba Streiff

The soil ph changes constantly, during the day dependent on temp and moisture, because it influences how active the microbes are.  Feed the microbes (calcium) and they become more active and ph becomes more alkaline.  
Humates may be needed to keep the microbes alive and active also.  

Scott Perkins wrote:

Melba Streiff wrote:Don’t forget about eating the weeds that come up in your Three Sisters patch....lamb’s quarters, creasy greens or wild mustard, chickweed, nettles, etc., etc.  They have a lot of good nutrition to round out the diet also.  

I always wondered if there were some edible nutritious weeds because they are so prolific they might even be a better food source since they are more hardy and robust about spreading etc.   You dont even have
to plant them.    

Further,  I have a back yard full of weeds that I feel is a fantastic ground cover which is really all I want.  The current variety is via a process of natural selection over twenty years and I dont want to mess
with perfection.    But how do you know what to eat ?

This topic is especially interesting because this season I am growing a salad garden with exclusively  several kinds of kale,  swiss chard, Arrugglia,  and some varieties of spinach all mixed together.     I have no idea what is coming up and am afraid some of what I pick might be weeds.    Could that make me sick ?

Make sure of anything before you eat it.  Not many poisonous plants compared to the edible stuff, but those that are can be deadly.  Get some good books, DVDs or take field walks and learn from those who teach it.  I do teach herb classes and have a DVD on them, but so do a lot of other people.  Find someone close to you.

She may have been emotionally stressed.  Is she a new mother, first timer?  I always made sure my rabbits had a cage full of hay in cooler weather and plenty in the rack at all times, regardless of what other pellets or treats they were given.  They will eat a lot of hay, apparently it is good for their digestion.  So not necessarily anything wrong.  First time mothers often do not pull fur, as they don’t really know what is happening and haven’t got it all figured out yet.  They usually improve with time and experience.  

Don’t forget about eating the weeds that come up in your Three Sisters patch....lamb’s quarters, creasy greens or wild mustard, chickweed, nettles, etc., etc.  They have a lot of good nutrition to round out the diet also.  

I have fed acorns to chickens, but cracked for them first, or actually just smashed them so they could pick out the pieces.  Too high in tannins for a substantial amount of their feed, but soaking in water a few days, changing water every day so they don’t sour, would leach out most of that.  Too much work for what you get.  

I’ve also grown milo, wheat, oats, etc., for them and just let them in the paddock when it was mature or falling over and they scavenged for bugs, ate clover and weeds,  and picked up grain.  However, hard to do that when so many predators climb fences and I can’t keep them safe.  

I do have mulberry and peach trees growing in the covered chicken runs and they harvest as they drop, which supplements a little bit.  All of those trees came up from seed dropped by birds or planted by squirrels so I didn’t have to put cash out for trees.  I would love to be sustainable with chickens, so reading with eager enthusiasm the rest of the posts on here.  

I have a friend who grows butternut for her chickens and they get a big slice every day, but I think she freezes them first so they are soft.  The seed are a good wormer as well as protein source.  

If venison is processed at home and not aged, it will be tough.  I like to cook in the pressure cooker and then freeze or can it.  Then I just use like regular roasts for pot roast or with rice, etc.  Otherwise grind it.  My favorite is with rice, tomatoes, wild foraged greens like creasy greens, elephant garlic, or kale, other greens from garden, plenty of garlic and onions.

It’s pretty straight forward to prepare for EXPECTED emergencies or shortages or power outages, it is the UNEXPECTED that gets us!  Who would have thought Coronavirus or Covid19 would spread like it has and have the ultimate potential of taking down the economy and limit trading partners with other nations?  All we can do is prepare the best we can and hope and pray we can make it through the rest.  

Someone mentioned how to deal with a rattlesnake bite.   A few years back my dog was bitten by a copperhead and I remembered something from the Jiuliette DeBaircli Levy book, Herbal Handbook for Barn and Stable. and another herb/healing book which I cannot remember the name of, but written by Adele Davis (very old book).  This was the recommendation for any snake bite.  
Give the animal or human Vitamin C in a liquid solution, 10, 000 units at the time, wait a little while,  30 minutes in my case, and give another dose.  I syringed it into the dogs mouth.  Also rubbed his bitten mouth with crushed plantain.  
At the time he was limp and unable to hold his head up and had rolled partly down a hillside.  I carried him to the house (Australian Shepherd), and treated him.  Within 1 hour he was lifting his head, another hour and he was standing, and a few minutes later ran back up to guard the goats, his favorite job.   Totally amazing.  Would be good to store some Vit C powder but in our humid climate it turns to stone in a short time.  However, could have some moisture absorbers put into the container after opening and would probably help.  

Make your own antibiotic by tincturing usnea and making sure you have plenty on hand in your home medicine cabinet.  Garlic, as we probably all know, is called Poor Man’s Penicillin in Russia.  Everyone should be growing it if they can.  I used it to also worm my goats when I had livestock, and eating a little raw every day will protect you from all those nasties out there, viruses, etc.  

Appreciate every one of you living on the land and trying to make a go of it.  I know how hard it is, having been there and done that.  I can just imagine what a beautiful world this would be if we had more permies doing their thing.  Thanks to Paul for his massive efforts in making the world a better place.  

Welcome John!

I’ve had firsthand experience using elderberry juice (along with a few drops of peppermint) to cure pneumonia, both in myself and my livestock.  Had a prized Nubian buck down with pneumonia (he had been standing in the cold rain bleating to the does in heat from his paddock), and thought I was losing him.  Gave him a syringe full of elderberry juice, about 6 oz. with the peppermint in it and in minutes he was up, and in a few hours he was not only up and breathing ok, but running back out to do a repeat performance which made him sick to begin with.  Ended up locking him in his stall any time it was cold and raining.  Never seen it fail to work, and took about 36 hours for a complete cure.  I’m a naturopath and truly believe in the healing power of plants.