Notes on Comfrey~Thanks Ien for the kind words~Herb happenings~Thanksgiving

[Guest guest]

Hi folks:

 

Still playing catch up from being in lurking mode for way over a year.  Thanks

so much Ien for your kind words. It's great that you have access to Arnica. 

Have an herbal friend that is working with it in the Smokies, it is not Native

and takes a long time to baby along. Course they have their own Mountain, so

it's a great place to play with it there. It is the one herb I'm always on the

look out for to see if it has naturalized here.

 

 Herbal Infusions and extracts will always be my first love.

 

As usual, my mind goes faster than my fingers, and I missed a couple of things

about the Comfrey~altho they had been broached a bit.

 

Comfrey is supposed to be one of the best items to add to your compost pile. 

Will try it with what is left over this year.  Mine is still going a bit.

 

The Admin at the extension office cornered me about it for use regarding feeding

it barnyard animals. If someone were to use it in Animal Husbandry, I would

think it could be used 2-4 times per year (spaced out) like you would with

worming or as a supplement, but definitely not constantly due to how it could

potentially affect a meat animal. Haven't gone there much to see what there is

out there about it.  This is one area that really needs to be researched due to

potential toxicity of herb ingested.

 

Altho some herbal wisdom folks have seen fit to use it internally, at this time,

I do not recommend it.  When an herb is in the questionable area, I would always

take the high road and the safe one.  Which I do with Comfrey and only use it

externally. And I won't hesitate to use it in concentrated amounts with double

infusions, etc., externally. 

 

Best time to harvest Comfrey:  Leaves when blooming.  Luckily, mine blooms most

of the season, beginning early in the Spring and continuing thruout

August~September.

Harvest the root in the Fall as the tops are wilting or thereafter.  It will

look good one day then a heavy frost will get it the next.  Funny that. This is

another reason to use an oil that won't go off, so you can merge the two later

on. 

 

This is the time of year where I use sheets, (cotton, preferably)  to cover some

of my herbs, lettuces, etc., to save them for longer periods during frosts,

etc.  Would really like to get some shade cloth that is used on greenhouses to

use in the future.  At over $12 per foot or so, it has taken a backseat to other

needs.

 

My Autumn Crocus is spreading like crazy and have only found a couple of almost

spent blooms to gather the Saffron from.  Think I will have to separate it a bit

for future blooms for next year.  Think I started out with 5-6 bulbs and it

seems to have multiplied to at least 3X that.

 

Will try to check the Skullcap in the next day or so to see if the spent stalks

have plenty of seed, if so, I'll offer some of them to folks.  This is a main

one to use fresh, not wilted, not dried.

 

Did take photos of the late harvest of Jewell weed.  Will try to get them loaded

and put some of my herbs on the photo pages before Christmas.  For the first

time, I have saved some seed to plant in other areas to see how they do.  The

local County worker that mows keeps me up-to-date about where he sees Jewell

weed that isn't polluted by auto exhaust.  His note this year is:  Jewell weed

was growing in full Sunlight unlike before.  Of course, we have excess rain this

year and that probably helped a bit.  Did notice that since our Jewell weed is

in a protected area, with a hour or so Sun in midday and a bit in the late

evening, it took extra time to bloom this year.  Wild that it had blooms and

more buds as late as this week-end when harvested. Don't recommend waiting this

late to harvest unless you are South of TN since it will be attacked by worms

that love to set up house inside of the stems. This makes a labor intensive herb

even more so

with losses. Did lose quite a bit of it this year, but it just couldn't be

helped due to the 24 hour workdays, and being delayed by weeks.

 

Just spent a grueling 3 weeks of working 24-7 around the clock with my Disabled

Vet brother and am now going to take some downtime beginning Thanksgiving

day. Not cooking this year at Thanksgiving, but will do one later. Sometimes it

takes the pressure off to wait and do a nice turkey or turkey breast away from

the main day.  Will take this time to wish each and every one of you a most

Wonderful Thanksgiving! Bet I missed the Canadian one which comes a bit earlier

than ours in the US. A belated one to you all.

 

Turkey thoughts:  Brining is the way to go if you have the time:  One of the

best I saw was Alton Browns' recipe, one of the first out there a few years ago.

 

You can begin with veg. stock or make your own.  The sky is the limit if you

make your own.  Root veggies, herbs, water.  Especially carrots, celery, onions,

garlic, parsnips, turnips if you like, rutabaga, leeks, etc.  Rosemary, thyme,

marjoram, garlic, etc.  No limit to your imagination. <grin> Slow simmer veg.

stock for a few hours and then add salt, preferably kosher or sea salt 2 to 1 of

brown sugar at the end while mix is still warm, so it will dissolve well..  If

making a lot, then you would use 2 cups or more of salt to 1 cup of sugar or

more.  If you need to begin turkey right away, mix will need to have ice added

to bring down the temps to chilled. Probably 5 lbs or more of ice. Being in the

South, usually this night tends to be cold, and can be set outside, I never have

frig space that big!  But I have used a large cooler to set stock pot into and

surrounded in ice.  Brining can be done in just a few hours, but I prefer at

least 8

hours and preferably 12-16 hrs.  Most say pat dry extremely well, but I say

taste the brine before adding turkey and if it is extremely salty to your taste,

then rinse the turkey a bit before drying well.  Add butter fresh rosemary,

thyme, etc., under the skin and in the cavity and cook away.  Enjoy!  For oven

cooking, as my mother did, I have always filled the cavity with large pieces of

apple, onion, and celery along with herbs for even cooking inside.  We tend to

be a bit wary of stuffing in the bird and like to cook it in pans seperately for

bit of crispness outside and creaminess inside.

 

Picked my last rosebud this week-end. Rosemary is going great and has blooms.

Crazy stuff, I just love Rosemary!  It does not like to be covered here.  Along

with French Tarragon, it has to have dry feet.  Will have to move the perennial

Marjoram due to the Rosemary is taking over one of the herb beds.  The Tarragon

will die if covered in the Wintertime too.  It seems to like it's dormancy

time.  Even have some late fronds on the Fennel~seed type~and some lil ones that

the seed were spread this year.  They go great with the lettuces.

 

My best to you and yours,

deb

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Deb:Comfrey is supposed to be one of the best items to add to your compost pile.

Will try it with what is left over this year. Mine is still going a bit.

 

Ien: Comfrey is rich in trace minerals and potassium. Members of the nightshade

family love it.

Do make sure no fragment of root is attached to the leaves. It spreads like the

worst possible weed. As for animals: my neighbors goats love it, he even made in

into hay. When I had chickens they used to eat it as long as it was vertical.

They just trampled it otherwise.

 

We have wild arnica in the mountains, but I got mine from a plant from Richter's

seedhouse.

Great place that specializes in herbs. It takes off and goes ape some times and

other times it just sits there. The arnica, not the seedhouse.

(http://richters.com)

I have not yet figured it out completely. Maybe it still has a bit of that

coyote spirit of the wild.

 

Gardening is pretty much done here for the year, and we gave thanks in October,

since in terms of harvests Canada doesn't have much to be thankful for by late

November, .

Have a great holiday!

 

Ien in the Kootenays

http://freegreenliving.com