Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[ChaosMom]

@Shadrach - three hundred onions?!

Do you have a space where you can store them, or a seriously onion-heavy favorite recipe, or ??

 

[Perris]

I have been reluctant to use herbicide. A tree guy I know told me that by doing that I will eventually weaken them enough to kill them

Your tree guy is right, but yes, it seems to take forever.

Similar situation here with bracken. Catch it young and the shoots can just be snapped off by hand, and despite the fact that for most of the year, through twenty+ years now, whenever I see it coming up anywhere, it's 'off with its head!', it still persists here and there But at least young bracken rots in situ. Old bracken fronds even resist composting.

 

[no fly zone]

Skeksis Jr's baby. Very unique looking.

 

[Perris]

a seriously onion-heavy favorite recipe

mmmmm, caramelised onion chutney nom nom nom

 

[ChaosMom]

Similar situation here with bracken. Catch it young and the shoots can just be snapped off by hand, and despite the fact that for most of the year, through twenty+ years now, whenever I see it coming up anywhere, it's 'off with its head!', it still persists here and there But at least young bracken rots in situ. Old bracken fronds even resist composting.

I am cursed with variegated Vinca minor, which spreads by rhizomes. It’s far more aggressive/invasive than Vinca minor, common periwinkle. My younger adult daughter just spent a week clearing it from a 14’x17’ patch, and new growth is breaking.

I think of it as “flowering kudzu.”

 

[Molpet]

I have done exactly that in a couple of areas. I too have to go and deal with the Bradford pears. Every couple of years, before everything grows very tall and gets full of ticks I chop them off at ground level. I cannot dig them up as they seem very well anchored and I have been reluctant to use herbicide. A tree guy I know told me that by doing that I will eventually weaken them enough to kill them - but so far it feels like they are winning!

I recently read to cut it off chest height, so it's not sending up ground suckers . It's hard to find the suckers when they are little and they get big enough to feed the tree before we wack them.
They said to keep and eye on them and when they leaf, remove the leaves. This will be a continuous thing until they die.
I figured I'll give it a try with marking tape on them to find them easier

 

[Perris]

spreads by rhizomes

I feel for you. Bracken rhizomes can be a metre down and spread horizontally for several hundred, which is why I only tackle it when it appears. Oh and it reproduces by spores too!

Why do apocalypse movies always seem to think ivy or another climber is the plant to show taking over cities? It will be bracken. It's on every continent except Antarctica and in every environment except deserts, it is among the first to bounce back after a cataclysmic event, and has existed for at least 55 million years, so it's a much more likely candidate to survive and take over. Meanwhile I just try to stay on top of it when it pops up in the garden and hold the fort here for now

 

[HiEverybirdy]

none of them have invasive tendencies (unlike the ramsons, which are native and are invading in every direction at this time of year).

Finally looked up the fun word, ramsons. Are they good to cook with?

They're a similar species to our ramps. The almighty, delectable, highly poachable ramp. Fantastic when pickled. harvested nearly into threatened status in Tennessee. When someone here has a patch of them, we won't tell you where it is. We might even put a camera on it to deter trespassers in search of garlic breath and drug money.

Conversely, when someone's found a patch, you know. A friend jumped in the car this morning to go help recover a bee swarm we'd been offered, and I immediately knew they'd had ramps with dinner

I've heard ramps flourish enough in the northern United States (called "leeks" up there) to spread the way you describe ramsons doing. They must like cooler weather.

This sad story is repeated constantly here; drives us nuts that the funding bodies cannot understand that sometimes, doing nothing is what is required!

Doing nothing is tough to profit from, whether financially or via social credit in a culture that believes we have to do and buy and destroy and remake to prove our value. However, when we follow our gut, there are many times we'll know it's absolutely right to let things be.

And we think that those who are ahead of the curve should be rewarded and encouraged, not passed over, in favour of those who only do something if they are paid to do it.

Good thinking.

 

[Perris]

ramsons. Are they good to cook with?

young they make a great pesto with olive oil, pine nuts and parmesan.

When someone here has a patch of them, we won't tell you where it is. We might even put a camera on it to deter trespassers in search of garlic breath and drug money.

Here poor Londoners are persuaded that ramsons are foraged at great personal cost, in hidden far away places, for only a few short weeks of the year, to encourage them to part with exorbitant sums for a small handful of what here is an invasive blanketing weed of early spring It's true they are only available for a short season for good eating. Then they flower and get tough, then the whole area reeks of garlic for about a month. Then, thankfully, other things take over the wild spaces and verges.

a culture that believes we have to do and buy and destroy and remake to prove our value

and the irony is, often one has to run really fast just to stand still in that sort of culture. There are other ways to live. With chickens is a good place to start

 

[L-plate chicken mum]

Skeksis Jr's baby. Very unique looking.

View attachment 4104496

Beautiful