Comfrey, Grasshoppers and Chickens

The hot, dry weather has arrived and with it has come a wave of grasshoppers.  I see them everywhere.  Unfortunately, they like to eat some of our garden plants.  Here is a picture of one of the plants in my herb garden that has been attacked by them.

I'm not too upset about them eating this particular plant because it is a medicinal herb called comfrey which I rarely use.  Here is a picture of it a few weeks ago when it was in bloom and before the grasshoppers arrived.

Like most medicinal herbs, comfrey's medicinal uses have not been supported by modern medical research.  But, herbal lore indicates that it is good for skin ailments.  The plant contains the small organic molecule allantoin, which is thought to stimulate cell growth and repair while simultaneously depressing inflammation.  It is commonly agreed that Comfrey should be restricted to topical use only, and should never be ingested.  One traditional use of comfrey is  in healing bone fractures, thus its common name "knitbone".  


But, back to the grasshoppers.  They do not seem to be bothering any of the other plants in my herb garden.  So, the comfrey appears to be acting as a "trap" plant.  In other words, it is attracting the grasshoppers and they prefer to eat it, rather than the other plants in the garden.  I'm not worried that they are going to destroy it because comfrey has an aggressive growth habit and really does not seem to be hurting too bad because of the grasshopper damage.


I know the chickens like to eat insects, but there are some insects they will NOT eat.  For example, they will not eat Potato Bugs.  I've heard that this may be because potato bug larvae feed on the leaves of potatoes which are in the nightshade family and have poisonous leaves.  So, last week I tried an experiment.  I caught a couple of the grasshoppers to see if the chickens would eat them.  Here they are right before they were introduced to the chickens.

Results of the experiment are that chickens DO like grasshoppers.  I had not really planned for this to become a frequent activity for me, but the flock was so delighted over the tasty morsels that I have subsequently found myself catching grasshoppers whenever I can and taking them out to the chicken pen.  This has made me very popular with our hens.

Gourds Running Rampant

So, we are growing gourds again this year.  I love gourds because they come in such a variety of sizes and shapes.  I even wrote a blog about them last year: 


http://windyacresnaturalfarm.blogspot.com/2011/04/birdhouse-gourds.html

But, last year was a disastrous year all around because of the drought and the endless days of triple digit temperatures we had.  So, I don't think we had many, if any, gourds to show for it.  And, although we have had quite a few 100+ degree days already, this year is somewhat better and I think we may have some nice gourds to show for it.


Tom built a new raised bed on the east side of my herb garden and I planted gourds in this bed.  Now, as you probably know, gourds are vining plants and have vines that may be 20 feet long.  Here is a picture of our gourd vines on June 7.

And, here they are today.

They have reached our Mulberry tree and are beginning climb it!  In the lower left corner, notice the gourd.  Here is a better picture of it.

I've seen several others in that mass of vines as well and they are still blooming.  These are all "birdhouse" gourds.  And, although they make excellent birdhouses, they can also be painted and made into objects of art, too.  


So, if all goes well, Tom will have plenty of gourds to work on and keep him occupied this winter!

Ground Cherry Harvest

On June 18, I wrote about the ground cherries that I planted this year.


http://windyacresnaturalfarm.blogspot.com/2012/06/ground-cherries.html

I'm happy to report that I harvested my first handful of ground cherries this week.  Here is a picture of them.

Each ground cherry is enclosed in a papery husk.  On average, they are about the size of a marble and are ripe when they are a light yellow color, like the one on the right.  They tend to fall off the vine when the husk starts to dry and it appears that they continue to ripen even after that.  


They have a pleasantly sweet taste, but I wouldn't say they taste like cherries.  Their taste is quite unique.  However, I have discovered that they take a LOT of water and I'm not sure if I will be able to keep these alive long enough to harvest the amount needed for a recipe.  Our daytime high temperatures are climbing into the triple digits now and the ground cherries seem to be having a difficult time holding their own.   I suspect they are much more suited to a cooler, wetter climate.

Chicken Roost and Nest Boxes

We still do not have a decent fence built for the chickens, but Tom did build them some nest boxes.  Here is a picture of them.

The top is hinged on the inside so the eggs can be collected easily.  We found the plans for these on this website:  

 http://www.backyardchickens.com/

I've referred to it before.  They have a lot of information about raising chickens here.

The chickens are almost fully grown now.  They no longer make peeping sounds.  Now, they actually cluck.  So, I am hoping we will start seeing some eggs soon.  I can't wait!

However, even as big as they are getting, they still huddle together in a group to sleep.  They have chosen a roosting site that is right above the door that goes from their pen to the outside.  Tom built a roosting bar up for them, but they refuse to use it.  Instead, they insist on roosting all together in a group, like this.

I've been making a point to catch and hold them a couple of times a week.  I've read that it is a good idea to do this occasionally so that if they ever need medical attention, then they will not struggle too much.   They squawk like crazy for a few seconds after I pick them up.  But they settle down pretty quickly.  They are definitely not afraid of us, they just don't like being caught.

So, that's the latest update on the chickens.  Stay tuned.

Ground Cherries

Every winter we look forward to the seed catalogs that start arriving in late December and early January.  We spend hours flipping through these catalogs, dreaming of spring and what we want to plant.  Every year I like to find something new to try.  This year this new thing was ground cherries.  I found them in the Seed Savers catalog.  Here is a link to their web site that has the description of "Aunt Molly's" ground cherries that first caught my interest.  


http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=912(OG)

Doesn't that sound interesting!  So, I ordered a package and planted them.  They didn't grow very well until the weather got pretty warm.  Then they really took off.  Here is a picture of what the plants look like.

Something has been eating holes in the leaves, but I never see any bugs on them and, whatever it is, it does not seem to hurt the plants.  So, I am not worrying about it.


As you can see the plants are big and bushy and have a sprawling habit.  If you look under the leaves, down inside the plants, you can see the flowers.  They are not very large, but are quite pretty.  Here is one of them.

The flowers form "husks".  The fruit of the plant, the ground cherries, grow inside these husks.  Here is a picture of one of these.

I've been wondering how to tell when they are ripe.  So, I did some reading tonight and found this good discussion of ground cherries on the Organic Gardening website.


http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/ground-cherries

I had to chuckle when I read this sentence from the above website:  "The distinctive, sweet-tart taste of ground cherries lends itself to wildly diverse recipes."  I'm not the sort of cook that tries "wildly diverse" recipes too often.  But, maybe when I get enough ripe ground cherries, I'll step out of my circle of comfort and try something a little more daring!

Chickens Like Tomatoes

One of the new varieties of tomatoes we are growing this year is called Orange Minsk.  These are large beefsteak-type tomatoes that ripen to a pale orange color. The Victory Seeds website, http://www.victoryseeds.com/tomato_orange_minsk.html, says that the seed for this variety was sent to them by Andrey Baranovski of Minsk who got this Belorussian heirloom from an old woman at the Minsk Farmer's Market in 2006.  Very Interesting!

Here is a picture of one of our first Orange Minsk tomatoes.  It started out green, but I don't think it is completely ripe because it is not "orange".   However, you can pick tomatoes when they are beginning to turn and they will finish ripening after you pick them.   Notice how much bigger than the other tomatoes this Orange Minsk tomato is!

However, I was very sad when I picked this tomato to see that it had a large bad spot on the bottom that went up into the middle of the tomato.  So, I took it out to see if the chickens would eat it.  We are finding that they will eat almost anything!

They have learned that when we come out to the pen, we usually bring them something to eat.  Here they are eagerly watching me to see what I have brought them.  

Normally, when we put something in their pen (unless it is an insect or caterpillar which they pounce on and gobble up immediately), they will inspect it closely.  Then one of them will peck at it, like this.

But, before long they are all gathered around pecking at it.
 

If it is a food they are fond of, they will kill it off in no time.  As it turns out, they really really like tomatoes.  This tomato did not last very long!

Notice the corn cobs on the ground.  The chickens like corn on the cob too!

Mowing Fun

When you have 5 acres of land, mowing can take up a lot of time, not to mention gasoline for the mower.   So, we have a riding mower to help with the task.

There are large areas of the yard that we only mow once or twice year.  These areas have some pretty wildflowers and native grasses.  But, alas, they get to looking pretty bad at times when the grasses have gone to seed and the wildflowers are past their prime.  So, today I broke down and mowed the area to the west of our house.

It usually takes a couple of hours to mow this area and it gets boring.  Here is a picture of what it looked like when I was about 2/3 finished.  

To make the chore more interesting, I decided to mow some geometric designs.

And from the other direction.

It was kind of fun and I developed a new respect for the aliens or whoever it is that makes the "crop circles"!  However, in the end I had to buckle down and finish the job.  So here is the yard after I finished.