This video shows how what has happened since I killed most of my grass last year with sheet composting. The garden shown is fed exclusively with tea made from comfrey, a bit of chicken manure, and water. The tea is “steeped” in a black plastic garbage can and then diluted about 5 to one with fresh water before being given to the plants.
Now that most of the plants are grown up and don’t need more fertilizer, I’ll be putting most of the tea directly to the deep straw litter in the chicken’s outdoor pen. That will help turn it into beautiful, mineral-rich compost for next spring’s garden.
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Ah, Jonni, you’re killing me, here! Our garden has just completely failed this year.
What’s going on in that low shed? Will you be using it as a greenhouse, or bigger chicken house?
Comfrey tea! Huh. How about that! My very first garden came stocked with two garbage cans full of horse poop tea, which I had no idea how to handle, so I didn’t. It didn’t improve with age, I can tell you that much. Your pond contribution is pretty cool, too. Will you do anything with the fish, or their … manure? Or does that just feed the plants, which feed the chickens?
You must be bursting with pride. That’s a ton of work, and it’s really paying off.
Hi Xan. So nice to see someone reading this post, since it’s been so long since the last one. And I saw pictures of all that food in your greenhouse this spring, before I had anything coming up at all. What happened?
The shed, I just recently decided, will house an experimental aquaculture system. A very elemental, cheap, do-it-yourself system. Which will work almost exactly the same way as my pond, but with plants and fish that I might actually eat. Right now, the only thing being eaten from the pond is the azolla, which is a nitrogen-fixing fern that is grown extensively in the Philippines and India to replace more expensive livestock food. The pond has a simple biological filter, a plastic bin of marble chips, that was recommended by Gene Logsdon. I’m getting a few friends together next week to watch this video, to get inspired about the fish idea.
Comfrey tea smells worse than your horse poop tea. Nasty stuff. But all those smelly bacteria do get the composting process going fast, and worms love them. I’m going to be pouring out my bin of “tea” this morning on the straw in the hen’s run. It’s a less labor-intensive version of the Balfour method. Letting the chickens do the work of turning the compost, basically. We’ll see how it turns out.
I’m a proud subscriber to both your blogs, Jonni.
Your bold experiments are inspiring to timid (and lazy) me.
Aquaculture, eh? That is ambitious. Why not, though, right? I could check with H about the kind of plastic you use for your filter bin, if you like. That might be a toxicity issue in the long run. Maybe your source already specifies what kind? I know he sometimes uses marble in his filter systems, depending on the water itself, and the final use it’s intended for.
The azolla sounds very interesting! What’s it’s nutrition like? Can it be people food?
I’m very intrigued with the comfrey tea. Considering how lousy our soil is here, that might really help, in a sustainable and inexpensive way, to build it up. I wonder if dogs digging and rolling in the compost would be as effective as chickens.
Rolling dogs, eh? – reminds me of what happens when dogs roll in chicken poop and then come in to the office to share their new-found wealth with those they love.
The plans I bought call for two old bathtubs, the fiberglass kind. A friend suggested that the old-fashioned cast iron tubs might be easier to find, but I don’t think I could move one if the experiment doesn’t work. Some people just make little “ponds” and use rubber pond liner. The plans don’t go beyond building it – no instructions for adding fish, plants, etc. I think we might make it up as we go along. If one set up a system with goldfish or minnows, it would be acceptable to vegans, wouldn’t it? I’d like to try bullhead catfish, if I can find some babies. Some people throw oyster shells in with their filter gravel for the ph – so basically, yes, I’d love to hear H’s recommendations for materials. The plants will grow directly in the gravel “filter.”
Azolla is high protein for a plant, but other than that I’m not sure about the nutrients. It wouldn’t hurt anyone to eat some, but it’s kind of fuzzy. I’ve never actually tried it. I think desperation would be required to make it seem like a good idea.
You’re on the wrong side of the mountains – the soil is much better here. We have some good real estate deal now, too – hint hint. But yes, the comfrey would probably help. It brings minerals up from deep in the soil, where all your soil nutrients go with all that rain.
I’m going to have H read and comment on the water treatment stuff, since he’s the expert.
Dogs are generous souls, aren’t they? Great smells are meant to be shared! Bless their little hearts!
I generally prefer the west side of the mountains, but it’s true, the soil right here is mostly clay, and takes a LOT of amendment. I did look at your real estate link, though. Sent me on a little round of searching, actually. Still working out what to do for the winters! Any one of your readers want to rent to an artist and water treatment guy, with their 3 large dogs and 3 cats for 5-6 months of the year, that happen to live where it’s relatively sunnier than NW Washington? (Hey, it’s worth a try!)
Speaking of sun, I recently read an article (don’t know where) that said that tanning beds are addictive because the light makes people feel good. The reporter and researcher didn’t seem to consider the possibility that real, honest-to-goodness sunlight might actually affect the brain in the same way. If so, it would explain why dark, dreary winters are so depressing.
Not sure you would like the nomadic lifestyle, though…
Speaking of real estate (we were, weren’t we?) here’s an intentional community possibility. Sort of…
Two or three of these little houses, built on this property, (pole foundation, due to the slope, of course), Sepp Holzer’s side-of-the-mountain agricultural techniques, along with a connected series of little dome greenhouses perhaps with aquaculture systems inside, and a few yurts to use as studios and work spaces. I think I could get my bike up the hill – it’s really close to downtown. Maybe I’ll go look at it – not that I could ever make anything like this work. (We had green grass on the hills up until a few weeks ago, but they managed to get photos of the place at it’s least inviting. Unless you really like sun… )
It’s interesting about tanning beds. I was under the impression that part of the benefit to mood of strong light (most? all?) was to the brain chemistry through visual exposure. In a tanning bed, you’re supposed to be wearing eye protection, right? Maybe more comes through the skin. Or maybe we’re talking about endorphins released from the pain of sunburn! The effect of light (strong, sustained) on Seasonal Affective Disorder has been pretty well established, though.
The nomadic life would be pretty limited, to just two places in a year, but the idea of actually MOVING us all, and our stuff, is daunting, to say the least!
The little houses are very neat. $20k … is that good?? *cringe* I very much like the Holzer video! Very interesting, and instinctively feels right!
We built a dog shade shelter two summers ago out of a similar type of corner-frame thingy. It needed more structural help to stand straight and strong. This star-shaped thing looks more stable. It would be relatively small at a maximum of 14″ wide, but heck, that’s bigger than our present greenhouse!
Vitamin D happens when sun hits the skin, right? So maybe that’s how the happy chemicals get through, too.
I once visited an office that was made out of Starplates, and it felt quite roomy, because of the high ceiling. But I do like small spaces. And yes, moving is an ugly task. Why do we collect so much stuff?
‘Cause we’re not nomadic anymore?