RE: Gardening - was grain-free subs? (buckwheat?)

[Guest guest]

Now I'll have to start some arugula ... I planted it once but it

was too hot and it bolted too fast. Now I read the book and it says greens

should be planted in spring and fall. - H

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Well here, spring starts in February, hee hee.

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Our blackberries are *all over* too. I'm training them onto trellises and

getting

rid of some of the underbrush. Oh, and in the gardening book it says they

like

calcium, so I'm saving up our bones in the freezer and am going to bury them

under the berries to decompose. Or was going to ... my DH says we should

run them thru the wood chipper and make " bone manure " ... H

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A good idea. Our soil is naturally very calcium rich. Collards like it hot

and are quite the calcium lovers as well. Our blackies cover 75' on trellis

and they have decided to come up in the middle of the veggie garden also! I

will have to snip some of them for sure . . . but you can't have too many

berries now, can you?

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Oh, and on buckwheat ... the gardening book recommends it as a cover crop

for winter. Hmmm. Cover crop, then feed it to chickens or other animals,

harvest seed ... sounds like a good idea. - H

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Well, sounds better than rye grass, eh Glutenator? I need some chickens and

goats! You raise them and work too, don't you? Guess that's what makes you

a action heroine. Here I am home all day. What am I afraid of? We are

zoned for minor livestock farming. Hhhmm. Time to get off the good old

intentions I'd say.

Deanna

[Guest guest]

>Well, sounds better than rye grass, eh Glutenator? I need some chickens and

>goats! You raise them and work too, don't you? Guess that's what makes you

>a action heroine. Here I am home all day. What am I afraid of? We are

>zoned for minor livestock farming. Hhhmm. Time to get off the good old

>intentions I'd say.

>

>Deanna

Well you see I'm home all day too ... I work at home. I think it's hard to

look after animals and commute too (esp. here where we have very

short winter days!). Raising animals isn't very difficult, esp. chickens.

I started with 2 full-grown hens in an old dog kennel and was scared

stiff, but they survived anyway. Originally we got them to handle some

of the food waste (which they do nicely!) but the eggs are addictive.

Goats aren't hard either unless they are milk goats, in which case

you have to milk them every day, and I'm not committing to that yet!

But it's really cheap milk if you are up to milking them ... and you get

your lawn mowed for free too. I put mine out on a tether in the yard

which keeps them out of the garden, off the cars etc. They are much

more mannerly and quiet than your average dog.

-- Heidi Jean