ALABAMA!!

[Stumpy]

Does anyone have room for a young Australorp cockerel? I'd love to rehome him.

 

[jdywntr]

Does anyone have room for a young Australorp cockerel? I'd love to rehome him.

I do but he wouldn't be around for long. No need for an Austalorp here but my freezer is getting empty.

THANKS to everyone that responded to my question about the plant. It is pokeweed. I am SO loving eveyone in Alabama. SO helpful and friendly.

 

[Orps]

Meet my new girls. Got them this weekend. They are 8 weeks old blue orpingtons. Their mother weighs 15lbs. It will be interesting to see how big they will grow.

 

[jdywntr]

Very nice. Congratulations.

 

[Back2MyRoots]

What cuties!

 

[griffinkid02]

Does anyone know what this plant is?
They grow about 8' tall, reddish stalk, white flowers that turn to berries that look like blueberries but smaller. 
I need to know if it's ok for the birds to nibble at.
They seem to be growing all over the pasture.  I'm just south of Huntsville.  THANKS

That is a very lovely Polk Salad plant you have there. As has been mentioned the stems and leaves are poisonous to conume unless properly cooked. Not sure why you'd want to go to that much troubke when other greens are readily availible. They are a perinnial, if I remember correctly, so if you don't want them, be prepared to either remove the roots or engage in lengthy chemical warfare. The sap from the actual roots has been known to cause a poison ivey like rash in some individuals. However none of it should harm the chickens, it would take more than a sample or two to kill one and they would learn quickly if it didn't agree with them. However it has been known to cause a stoned/drunk/delerious state in some native birds, which the birds around my hkuse seem to enjoy, as they eat them lustily and then spend the next few weeks stumbling and drunk singing and purple crapping on everything
However my chickens snack on it with impunity. Don't know if the berries get them drunk as the plants don't survive long enough to flower, lol.

 

[Wisher1000]

That is a very lovely Polk Salad plant you have there. As has been mentioned the stems and leaves are poisonous to conume unless properly cooked. Not sure why you'd want to go to that much troubke when other greens are readily availible. ...

In years past, and I'm sure it still happens today, the poke salad greens were collected and prepared by families that didn't have much to eat. It made a nutritious and free supplement to their meager meals and could be gathered along roadsides and the edges of fields. Back then, the garden was planted, tended and harvested for survival. The produce was canned or frozen (if they could afford a freezer) for winter and if there was extra, it was sold to buy things like salt and other items they needed but couldn't raise or make. Gathering a mess of free poke salad for supper meant the turnip, collard, and mustard greens could be sold to the more affluent neighbors and the money could be used for the family.

My Dad has always loved poke salad with scramble eggs cooked with it. It reminds him of his childhood. He was one of 13 kids and his parents were share croppers. They just barely got by. My uncle, his brother, was a bootlegger and used the money to support the family. He bought all the kids a pair of shoes and a new pair of overalls to start school each year and they had to last all winter. My grandmother made underwear for all of them out of cloth flour sacks that the neighbors would save for her when the flour was gone. Dad said she ordered 100 chicks every spring to add to the flock in the yard (no coop.) The pullets refreshed the layer flock and the cockerals were sold. On special occasions, the old hens or cockerals were eaten, but that was rare. The meat they ate was mostly fish, venison, possum and squirrel. My Dad is 90, I love his stories from his childhood.

 

[jdywntr]

Wisher1000, I envy you the tales. Thank you for the info. I need to find myself some old timers that can enlighten me on some of these things. We've been in AL for just over 2 months and I would love to be able to be even more self reliant by being able to eat and/or grow native plants.

 

[Stumpy]

Wisher1000, that's interesting. I love listening to my uncle's stories about childhood, etc. So much history and knowledge there.

 

[Wisher1000]

Jdy - Please don't try to cook the poke salad yourself!

There are lots of ways to be more self reliant without killing yourself or making yourself sick on poke salad.

I wouldn't even trust an online tutorial on the proper way to cook it. It was not too common knowledge fifty years ago although my aunt did fix it occasionally and I tried some of hers once when I was little. She cooked it alot in the early 1930's and was a wonderful cook up until she was in her 80's and that was when I was young! She would occasionally make a batch for my daddy. I don't know anyone old enough to cook it safely, now. Stick to gathering muscadines and wild plums. They make great jelly and wine. You can also enjoy blackberries, or dewberries and occasionally you will run across a persimmon or mulberry tree.