Wordless Wednesday
April 20, 2011
9 Comments
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An ongoing chronicle of meeting the expectations of the land…
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Flickr Photos
More Photos blogs I follow
- Achorn Farm
- Author Mom with Dogs
- Casaubon's Book
- Colorado Farm Life
- Dancing in a Field of Tansy
- Daskam Land and Cattle
- Eatwell Farm
- Farmer's Daughter
- Farming in France
- Flash Forward 44
Food Renegade- Gold Forest Farms
- Honest Meat
- It Blows Here
- Jefferson's Daughters
- Just Another Day on the Prairie
- Katie's Beading Blog
- Kevin Kossowan
- La Ferme de Sourrou
- New Kentucky Homestead
- Northview Diary
- Pitchforking
- Slow Hand Farm
- Small Scale Grain and Pulse Production
- Soil and Health Library
- Spellcast Farm
- Starting from seeds
- Subsistence Pattern Gardens
- The Historical Sewing blog
- The Ruminant
- This Blessed Life
- Thistledog Farm
- Trapper Creek Daughter
- Two Frog Home
- Wild Roots Homestead
- Woodys Rocky Ridge
I also write at:
Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op
Yer ‘maters look great!!
What are you going to do with the nettles? Can you believe? I spent money on nettle seeds and I can’t get the darn things to germinate…
Paula, thanks! I think they wish it was a little warmer
I put nettles in everything, or just steam up a batch like spinach – they are just getting going now. I think they might need cold stratifying, not necessarily freezing but just put them outside in a pot of soil in a cool, shady place and be patient. Much easier to start in the fall or very early spring. And they like rich soil – as in nitrogen rich. In nature you find them near alder (clover of the woods) or on the farmstead where the cows like to congregate in the shade, or where livestock used to congregate.
I agree, your tomatos look wonderful!
Is that Jane??? My gosh, she looks like a cow! ;o) My nettles are coming up, too. I look forward to them – along with the dandelions.
Matron – I always look forward to your wordless Wednesdays. It looks like spring out there to me, especially compared to Montana! My husband and I just bought some land out here (currently all orchard grass) and I know I’ll be looking to your site for lots of good information on turning it into a healthy, productive place.
i’m shocked – people plant stinging nettles on purpose?
i’m from seattle and live in germany where our land would be entirely covered in nettles if we didn’t continually uproot them – and even then i cannot get them back.
that and the blackberries…
Lytha, really? They only grow here where the soil has a steady supply of nitrogen and organic matter. I’m happy to harvest the ones that grow naturally, but I have to look for them, there aren’t many.
My soil has had a steady supply of inorganic waste since WW1 because it was generally accepted that people dumped garbage on their land. I have a big box of “collectibles” that includes ceramics (mostly), animal bones, roofing tiles, siding shale, plastic, nails, and glass. The only thing I found of value was a Deutsches Reich coin from 1920. The neighbors here also empathize as they dig up the past and remove it slowly. My only hope is when it’s all gone the stinging nettles say, “Where is our refuse?” and they are confused enough to decline. JK – a little, our nettles also appreciate the decades of cattle and horse manure. However, after reading your post and doing some research, I’ve decided to try to dry some and see if my horse will eat it. If he needs some nutrients in that plant, I will make it available to him. Probably not but it’s very worth a try. Animals usually know what they need.