Cleavers or Catch weed bed-straw

Just about everyone has encountered this sticky weed in the woods. It's name is Catchweed Bed-straw or commonly called cleavers. It is in the Madder family and is a highly valuable plant because it contains high amounts of minerals and silica. Goats and sheep seek it out and a poultice can be made using the green plant to reduce tumors.

Another woodland treasure

Throughout the spring and early summer I will be posting about wild or not so common herbs for farm and stable(us included). This is sweet cicely- Myrrhis odorata. A very tonic plant found in shaded woods with a sweet myrrh scent( I think it smells a little like licorice), that goats and horses love. The leaves and roots are used in treating digestive ailments, constipation and coughs. I often gather all kinds of herbs from my garden or woods to feed the goats. If they don't want it I figure they don't need it so I through it to the chickens and what they don't eat gets composted. Herbs and woody plants are very high in minerals and goats usually crave them.

Double Yolked Delaware Egg

I was a little surprised when I looked into the nest box and found this double yolked egg. It is twice the size of the pullet egg on the right and even bigger than the hen egg in the middle. My heritage Delaware chickens lay large eggs but this is a little extreme.

Wild Herb Identification

To identify wild plants and herbs a pocket identification booklet is very helpful. In the top picture is the flower of ragwort useful as a poultice for pain and in the bottom photo is cinquefoil used as a treatment for thrush in horses. Trush is a condition in the hoof. This time of year is a good time to walk in the meadows, pastures and woodland to find and identify any and all useful plants.

Winter carrots

Early last September I planted some winter carrots in my raised bed, along with lettuce and spinach seeds. When the weather turned colder we covered the beds with plastic hoop houses. We ate the last of the lettuce in December and ate a spinach salad last week. The spinach is still alive but done producing until warmer weather. On Monday I harvested these carrots for a chicken stew from our own stewing hens. I baked a couple of loaves of whole wheat bread to round out the meal. Yum, yum.

Maple syrup time

Maple syrup time is just around the corner. With all our mild winter weather my husband has been able to get the sugar house up. My husband is a wood worker so with Eric Sloanes book "A Reverence for Wood" in hand, he fashioned hinges for the door out of black gum lumber he milled himself from our woods in the fall of 2010. Last year we had an evaporator welded up for boiling off the syrup. There is dry wood in the sugar house so let the sap flow. We only have 1 1/2 quarts left and that is from 3 gallons from last years run.

Small Business Saturday

Just wanted to let everyone know next Saturday Nov. 26th, is shop small business day. So don't forget to stop in your favorite small business and support them by purchasing something. This is my latest natural tanned lamb hide. It is tanned using no chemicals or bleach and is for sale on my etsy store.