Developing the grass in your yard for increasing free ranging nutrition

[Beekissed]

Sounds like interrogation at Gitmo!!!

Horrible!

 

[Arielle]

Spent a few hours looking on the internet last night.

Bamboo might be possible, at least some will grown in my climate and in a shaded area. Some might even get harvested as tomato stakes in the garden.

Contacted OutsidePride dot com-- and asked about the deer plot. Supposed to be high protein for antler growth and sweeter. Seemsed like a good option for chickens. Just eggs instead.) Will require some work to get a plot going as soils here are under 7.0.

THen looked at the old vegies and fruits, the kind that are more native, and many like a soil that is 6-7.0 pH.

Mulberry
pawpaw
and others -- a bit late by the time I stopped reading.

ANother stood out-- scarlet runner beans. We grew 1 pkt last summer and it was beautiful. I"m used to the very modern hybrids, and this one is completely the opposite. A very bean flavor, and as it ages, a bit tough. I figure if I can eat a heritage chicken, I can eat a heritage bean, lol. Definitely good fiber. ANd a delightful bean on the inside when dried: mottled bright pink and black , like a pinto horse, the kind with jagged edges to the coloring. THen dries to a med purple and black.

I wondered if these would be worth growing, using the trees as the bean pole . . . . my one worry is will the bean pod open and release the beans, from 20 feet up??

Maybe a rough trellis over a brush pile is better.


http://www.outsidepride.com/seed/flower-seed/scarlet-runner-beans.html


( not the best prices)

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Spent a few hours looking on the internet last night.

...

THen looked at the old vegies and fruits, the kind that are more native, and many like a soil that is 6-7.0 pH.

Mulberry
pawpaw
and others -- a bit late by the time I stopped reading.

Mulberry and Pawpaw are on my list, too.

I finally spent part of yesterday with this year's catalog from a friend's nursery ... https://www.onegreenworld.com/ ... and put literally every "fruiting" tree on my wish list. But the prices at this nursery aren't cheap, so I went back and put exclamation points next to the things I "can't do without."

Fig ... so yummy and can be very prolific here.

Mulberry, particularly Illinois Everbearing as that would provide little bits of forage for an extended period.

Olive ... I think there are only two types that have been cultivated to work here, and I want them both. They drop fruit late in the year, so having some in the poultry orchard extends the fruit season nicely.

Pawpaw, we will want a few varieties for polination. These are native and prolific and very high protein for a fruit. They are also supposed to be delicious.

Pineapple Guava, which ripens in November, so that also extends the season a bit.

Persimmon. I don't particularly like persimmon fruit, but the guys that work here LOVE them, they produce well, and I'm sure the birds would like them, too. It is also late ripening ... after leaves have dropped in fall.

More Plums as the birds go NUTS for them

and they can produce a TON of fruit. I'm looking at more Brooks Prunes because they are so versatile (they are sweet and yummy fresh, firm enough to be easy to eat anywhere, the pits don't cling so they process easily for baking, and they dry wonderfully), Satsuma for the jam/jelly potential, and a variety called Peach Plum that my father says is his favorite. We grow these here, so they could be "free."

Pomegranate ... we don't grow these here, but we do package them, so there should be some culls that we could plant. I think the variety that passes through here is called Wonderful, and it doesn't necessarily fruit in our area, but we are allowed to hope.

Silverberry as this one blooms in winter and fruits in spring, provided the winter is "mild."

And then any nut trees, but especially ...

Chestnut. Chestnuts are particularly well suited to "stack" with poultry because the poultry help control a ground-dwelling parasite. They have really complicated thick hulls that peel away from the nut and give great scratchability for the rest of the year. We have a few already, more would be good. We grow these here, too.

I'm also interested in something called a Stone Pine that is classified as a nut tree as the pinecone is edible. My birds adore foraging under evergreens because of the needles and loamy soil. I can imagine them having hours of fun with pinecone nuts. Toss some in the coop on snow days.

Imagine if I knew someone who liked to do farmer's markets ... cuz that's surely NOT me!

We haven't started looking at the fruiting shrubs section of the catalog yet.

 

[Arielle]

LOve your selections . . . I looked at the catalog but did not see where they shipped, so went back to my old stand by MIllers, and they are now part o Stark Brothers. . . . I haven't purchased from them in years.

Wehave lots of acorns due to the number of oaks, though that is too bit a nut for the chickens. TUrkeys might have a go at them if they can figure out that acorns are on their food list.

A couple young beech trees, and those nuts are hard to crack-- the squirrels get righ into them.

"Wild" raspberries or blackberries have set up shop along our driveway-- arggh. Need to move them but every time I do, they die. What is up with that? I can't plant canes from the nursery either, as they all die. My error somewhere. I do know that when I clear an area in the woods and leave it alone the blackberries will show up in a year or two.

Favorite spot for one group of chickens is under the hemlock: lower branches are about 10-16 inches off the ground at the trunk, so many can fit under at once in an emergency. Even the turkeys fit. However it is getting out of control. Was supposed to be kept at shrub height but we never found time to shear it-- and its been 20 more years!! Towers over the house. Would like to cut it down but . . .

Choke cherry is navtive here and does well. We like to eat them too in the fall. A bitterness that is too much but when ripe is good enough to eat.

I get much colder than you--- you get more rain. . . . . Glad you will be able to get all these lovely fruits planted this year. Well worth it!! I would love a fig, but not possible here; too much work to wheel it into the house each fall.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

LOve your selections . . . I looked at the catalog but did not see where they shipped, so went back to my old stand by MIllers, and they are now part o Stark Brothers. . . . I haven't purchased from them in years.

Wehave lots of acorns due to the number of oaks, though that is too bit a nut for the chickens. TUrkeys might have a go at them if they can figure out that acorns are on their food list.

A couple young beech trees, and those nuts are hard to crack-- the squirrels get righ into them.

"Wild" raspberries or blackberries have set up shop along our driveway-- arggh. Need to move them but every time I do, they die. What is up with that? I can't plant canes from the nursery either, as they all die. My error somewhere. I do know that when I clear an area in the woods and leave it alone the blackberries will show up in a year or two.

Favorite spot for one group of chickens is under the hemlock: lower branches are about 10-16 inches off the ground at the trunk, so many can fit under at once in an emergency. Even the turkeys fit. However it is getting out of control. Was supposed to be kept at shrub height but we never found time to shear it-- and its been 20 more years!! Towers over the house. Would like to cut it down but . . .

Choke cherry is navtive here and does well. We like to eat them too in the fall. A bitterness that is too much but when ripe is good enough to eat.

I get much colder than you--- you get more rain. . . . . Glad you will be able to get all these lovely fruits planted this year. Well worth it!! I would love a fig, but not possible here; too much work to wheel it into the house each fall.

I *think* he ships anywhere as in the catalog there are notes about where he can't ship certain things ... probably because in some specific areas those specific things have been declared invasive?

I really want some citrus trees ... they can live on the patio here during summer, need to come inside for winter. I have sunny rooms in my house devoted to nothing but cat hair and cobwebs, but those rooms also have hardwood floor, so I hesitate to burden them with fruiting trees.

There are so many things that "fruit" that we just don't think about any more because they aren't as profitable to grow as your standard grocery-store fruits. Lots of them are really good sources of vitamins and make great juice.

Blackberries are great. Last year we let a big blackberry bush take over part of the space between the house and the coop, and just recently we found a big stash of turkey eggs in the naked tangle of it all ... I do wish there was a good way to harness the power of wild blackberries.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I just realized there is also a vines section of the catalog! That's where the kiwi selection lives ...

If I plan for permanent fencing of the poultry pastures, that would be a great place to incorporate vines ...

 

[Arielle]

YUP!!


We eat a lot of berries here, and whole fruits. NO juices. Has a totally different effect on the blood sugars and insulin levels, so no juices here. WHole black berries in a 1/2 cup of home made yogurt is devine. Hens steal the berries they can reach with a hop . . . buggers.

As for pots on the floor-- we, my sister and I , put a hole in the old carpet in the girls room when we left the avocado plant on the floor. oops. At least my mom was smart and ahd given us an old peice of carpeting from the office. I have learned since there are thingies that can be placed under large pots, with wheels so you can move them around. Name eludes me . . maybe because I never knew the name of it. lol

Need to have another look at that catalog. I do tend to search out the best prices, and try to find a catalog with a similar climate. I do have a long picket fence that has been needing a job since the rams knocked into the grape vine and snapped it. sigh. Looked pretty. Fortunately wild grapes are all over here, and DH will never knowly cut one, Rather he gives them a tepee for support. Long time before they fruit.

 

[Lacy Blues]

I *think* he ships anywhere as in the catalog there are notes about where he can't ship certain things ... probably because in some specific areas those specific things have been declared invasive?

I really want some citrus trees ... they can live on the patio here during summer, need to come inside for winter. I have sunny rooms in my house devoted to nothing but cat hair and cobwebs, but those rooms also have hardwood floor, so I hesitate to burden them with fruiting trees.

There are so many things that "fruit" that we just don't think about any more because they aren't as profitable to grow as your standard grocery-store fruits. Lots of them are really good sources of vitamins and make great juice.

Blackberries are great. Last year we let a big blackberry bush take over part of the space between the house and the coop, and just recently we found a big stash of turkey eggs in the naked tangle of it all ... I do wish there was a good way to harness the power of wild blackberries.

I've had an idea about harnessing blackberries which I haven't tried but I'm pretty sure it will work...

You know those blue 50 (or so) gallon water barrels? I think if you cut the top off, then cut the bottom off and then cut the thing in half around the middle, you'd have some pretty indestructible harnesses. Of course you'd have to dig a pretty big hole to start with so you could set this thing in the ground before throwing the dirt back in and around it so you could plant. But the roots couldn't grow through them, just up and down.

 

[Arielle]

Here is an apple tree supplier that has a concis listing of varieties that is useful.

What I am missing for info is HOW long do these tree live?? My mother has trees that were full grown when I lived there, and it's been 30 years more, and those trees are still producing. ( Had to go check out my old pig pen and reminice--- under an old apple tree for shade and drops. )

 

[Arielle]

THey have lingnon berries!!!!!

https://www.onegreenworld.com/Lingonberry/396/


and gooseberries-- FIVE varieties. I tried them for the first time this summer at a local farm stand-- strange. Gotta love and appreciate the old wild flavors of berries. Tart, sweet, sour all at once. Not sure which of the 5 I had though-- pale green, stripes, with a pink blush. Definitely would try them again.

Still looking for better prices though . . . I can remember apple trees at $15 each . . . but that was um, almost 20 year ago. Gosh, where has the time gone?