What do you grow to feed the chickens??

[Noobiechickluv]

Mustard greens are good stir fried with some bacon. In the old days before fats weren't good for you cooks mother would fry the bacon and use the hot grease to stir fry the mustard. Mustard is also good cooked in a pot of turnip greens. It adds a good flavor to the greens. i have mustard, kale and turnips in the garden now. Most of that will last until about Christmas. Kale is the most cold hardy and it will last throught the winter. Collards will last almost year round. Just break off the younger tender leaves and let the plants grow. By late spring the stalks will be 3 feet tall and still producing for you and your chickens.

Yes! And really, what smells more yummy than mustard greens? It's one of those things that smell almost better than they taste

 

[Noobiechickluv]

Quote:
Excellent! That's what I was hoping, plenty of time for a second crop

 

[Highcotton]

No, sadly Andy & Barney are passed... but seriously, I live just outside of Mt. Airy NC, which is the town Andy grew up and Mayberry is based on it. There is a Mayberry days festival, a Snappy lunch, Floyd's barbershop, and The Andy Griffin Playhouse

I do have a bed of carrots, but they are kinda hard to grow here, they don't like the red clay, you have to add sand. Just pulled some little ones today, but we harvest most in Feb or March

Adding things like leaves,
green manure and compost will loosen the soil better than sand and make it more fertile.

 

[Arielle]

Hagar-- I like the idea of mustard greens and fat-- I'm not afraid of that. Never had mustard greens, and of course have never seen the seeds at the garden store. Maybe online I can find some. I eat plenty of fats, of all kinds as long as it is natural and but without a potato, or other hgh starch food. I'm not convinced the fats are bad as we have been eating them for thousands of years. IT is the refined flours, the new corns, the processed foods that are killing us. My health has improved noticably since dropping those foods. So I'm happy to try the mustard greens. Darn I was at a store today that might have them . . . well, next time I'll be sure to buy a bunch . ANd if I don't like it . . toss it to the birds.

 

[Noobiechickluv]

Adding things like leaves,
green manure and compost will loosen the soil better than sand and make it more fertile.

Absolutely, we have a never ending supply of quality horse manure, so it's not a problem there. Funny because other root veggies do ok, those carrots just seem to need more loaminess.The old folks around here insist you need sand, and it does seem to be working

 

[babyfoot]

Mine love spaghetti squash. The great part is you have fresh vegetables all winter long with it. I'll cut up a 3# squash for 20 chickens and they'll have the meat picked clean by bedtime.

Seriously? Whatever I put in the run for them lasts about ten minutes, no matter how much I put in. Anyone seeing this for the first time would think that I starved my chooks and the opposite is true. If I have cauliflower plants that have cabbage moth problems I dig them up roots and all and replant in chook run. Five plants once (and they get BIG) lasted a half hour, nothing was left, not even a stem. The only thing they have not eaten is a rosemary bush I planted there, I tried thyme, basil, coriander, rocket... all gone but the rosemary. I have a chayote plant next to their run and they have eaten that too. Once upon a time it was all green inside there but alas no more. They'll even have a go at the eucalyptus trees


I grow Silverbeet purely for them and they get the tops off the beets,the celery, the carrots, the turnips, the swede and any other leftovers from veges I grow... excepting tomatoes and potatoes tops (poisonous to them)

 

[Noobiechickluv]

Hagar-- I like the idea of mustard greens and fat-- I'm not afraid of that. Never had mustard greens, and of course have never seen the seeds at the garden store. Maybe online I can find some. I eat plenty of fats, of all kinds as long as it is natural and but without a potato, or other hgh starch food. I'm not convinced the fats are bad as we have been eating them for thousands of years. IT is the refined flours, the new corns, the processed foods that are killing us. My health has improved noticably since dropping those foods. So I'm happy to try the mustard greens. Darn I was at a store today that might have them . . . well, next time I'll be sure to buy a bunch . ANd if I don't like it . . toss it to the birds.

If you cook them up and they seem to be too bitter for you, rinse them and add a little vinegar. Someone gave me some seeds for an Asian variety, they are the best I've ever had. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to reorder. Keeping my fingers crossed that they go to seed.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Oh my . . I sure hope they go to seed for yo u!!

I have come to accept bitter foods as being more healthy for us-- before the improved breeding that eliminated the bitterness. Other nutrients left too apparently. I sometimes mix a bitter with a less bitter to hide it. Or smother in salad dressing. I like cider vinegar and more beneficals by using braggs brand. Every little bit counts. Hmmm, wonder if this is why some people eat spinach with vinegar?

 

[Noobiechickluv]

Yes, I like to get as much cider vinegar in us as possible. It really is a wonder drug! Organic with the mother of course.

I've always thought putting vinegar on cooked greens was a southern thing, because I didn't see people do it in other parts of the country (I've lived all over). But maybe not? Anyway, it does help take out some of the bitter..... but like you, I kinda like it, and my husband doesn't hardly taste it at all.

A while back I saw something on tv about the gene for bitter (who knew?) Some veggies contain a particular enzyme or something that makes stuff taste bitter. So, they condensed it into a clear liquid and gave it to some 1st graders. Some of the kids screwed up their faces and some thought it was just water. Some thought it was just a little bitter. Apparently, you can get the bitter gene from both parents, which means you can't abide it at all, or just from one parent, which means you can taste it, but not as strong. Weird, right?

 

[lazy gardener]

When I was growing up, a very much enjoyed salad for us kids consisted of a bed of tender garden lettuce with a splash of vinegar and a sprinkling of sugar. I still enjoy it sometimes, and have introduced my grand kids to it.