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lilosophie

Pull weeds - feed chickens

lilosophie
10 years ago

It's all pasture grass, it has gotten out of hand and using the weed-whacker just made it fall to the ground and scatter more seed, so I decided hand-pulling was the only way to mitigate this. Grass comes away easy, it is very shallow-rooted.
I limit myself to one hour a day - gets too hot after that - and get a 32 gal can each session.
Chicken run needs bedding and they like to eat the grass and pick out the seeds, so they get a big treat and return the favor by laying eggs with bright yellow yolks.
It's a win-win situation - and I only have one or two more days of this to do, then can start serious weeding and gardening

Comments (8)

  • west_gardener
    10 years ago

    Great photo and recycling.

  • mawheel
    10 years ago

    You are doing something useful, Lilo: clearing the field and feeding the chickens, too. I pull dandelions when I take Maggie (cat) outside, but I know it's a losing battle. There are way too many of them to make a difference.

  • anneliese_32
    10 years ago

    I always tell myself that dandelions would be expensive if they were scares. They bloom all year, have wonderful golden-yellow blooms, the seedheads are gorgeous, need no care and close up they smell good too. Besides, the young leaves can be cooked or used in salads. Which other plant is so useful?

  • lilosophie
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I agree, Anneliese, they have a bad reputation because so many people think one has to have a green golf-course type lawn in order to be respectable. I remember when I was a little girl in Germany our parks had lawns with dandelions and with gaensebluemchen (english daisies?)
    and veilchen and whatever else was growing in the area, here even the Califronia poppies are considered a weed by some.

  • mawheel
    10 years ago

    Of course, you're both right: when I see a hillside covered with bright yellow flowers, it's a pretty sight, but I'm afraid I have fallen into the trap of not wanting them in our grass. When we pay for a service to kill weeds, fertilize, etc., I don't want them in our yard. The problem is that our area is open space without fencing, so the grass is just one big "yard". My neighbor may have many dandelions--I only pull what's on the fringe of my yard and his--and no weed killer on his lawn. So, I figure if I can keep them contained even a little bit, it's good!

  • anneliese_32
    10 years ago

    My small front yard adheres more or less to neighborhood standards. The backyard is a different story. It does not really belong to us, we are just authorized to pay the taxes, keep the birdfeeders full, bowls of kibbles for anything else that moves through like racoons, possums, the stray cats and whatever else wants some (mockingbirds like cat kibbles), are allowed to mow once in a while so the the birdseed can be spotted and the squirrels can find their peanuts .Of course clean drinking- and bathwater is also a must. Weed- and insect killers are not authorized by the local wildlife.

  • lilosophie
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Anneliese, I love your back-yard! Lots of traffic. Traffic here happens mostly at night and I don't purposely feed any wild-life because some of it is a bit dangerous, such as bears. there is a lot of natural feed and they have the pond.
    We have all sorts of grass, but no green lawn - a water-guzzler we can't support.
    In my county even the California and US highways have to be mowed or weed-whacked by people, no weed-killers are allowed in any public road-sides and are discouraged on private property. So we have poppies and lupine and dandelions and whatever else wants to live on the shoulder, a very pleasant view.

  • west_gardener
    10 years ago

    Lol, competition for the dandelions. One of my uncles who lived in Sweden, close to an open space that was full of dandelions, He'd pick them to make wine. The local farmer let his cows into the field to feed on the plants. My uncle invited the family to partake in the wine, and said he had to elude the cows and the cow pies and watch for the farmer who had a gun in order to make the wine.

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