Deep South Homestead
Deep South Homestead community with Danny and Wanda.
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Food for Thought — Limited Supplies
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Food for Thought — Limited Supplies
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I have been working on my food on rotation, Vacuum sealing is working great for me living in a humid environment means I have to be careful about mold.
I have lost some food in learning how to store, but now I am feeling much better about this as I have been going two weeks without going to the grocery store and finding what things I miss, and ways that I don’t get board with the food I have stored. I know I could survive without the grocery for a long time, and I have been working on ways to feed animals from tree hay.
Building a local food network has been one of the things I have been working on, as you can’t grow it all, and being able to trade with others sure helps with the variety of food you can have when the LCE happens.
I guess what I am trying to reason thru is how I will cope with the millions that are going to come to the USA from the border, and all of those who are loosing their homes and jobs. Tough times are ahead, and preparing now sure can ease the pain of what is likely to come.
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Hi Mart. Please elaborate on what tree hay is and where it can be purchased/obtained (seeds or live plants)—and will it be food for chickens and quail as well as other animals? Thanks!
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Great video that describes what it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4csTdrvvWL8
My links about it:
https://www.pinterest.com/mart85yahoocom/tree-hay/
The short version is trees leaves have enough nutrition to feed animals just like grass can. It can be stored and used like hay. Certain trees have benefits in nutrition for the animals and can be used to supplement your animal feed.
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Thanks. From the images, it doesn’t seem like it would be for chickens or quail, but I will check out the video. Much appreciated.
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Yeah, my line of thinking was to use the tree hay to feed worms, which would feed the chickens, and provide wood for my rocket ovens, may not be right for you, but chickens love greens.
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Yes, I give my chickens fresh garden greens (chard, kale, sorrel, clover, etc.) daily. Please clarify about the viability/possibility of giving them fresh green tree leaves such as from fruit trees or berry bushes, etc. Or does it need to be certain species of tree such as discussed in the video? He didn’t mention small animals/livestock such as chickens. I don’t want to give mine anything that could possibly harm them, but if I could be giving them my pruned branches instead of tossing them into my compost pile, I’d like to know. Thanks!
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I normally research trees that are 1) good fodder. and 2) grow well in my area. There is a web site which I will post below that shows you the zones of fodder crops and their value to livestock.
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https://www.feedipedia.org This is the website, I have found great info that is useful to me from this site.
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Old but not forgotten yet, grass and corn and potatoes brings more for less work. Also it sells better, hybrids business will not support this old way. Also a lot of machines are made for the hybrids business and not the old way.
The chickens go out to get leaves before feed, when they are changing their feathers so they must now it does them good.
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Have you ever done tree hay? How do you know there is less work?
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Did you read all I have written, there are so many farmers and biogas Anlage here. They will not switch to this old way, even if they wanted to. The hybrids business and machinery business will not letting them, they will just nit be able to.
We grow old heirloom breeds for gene banks, and the hybrids business let us because they use the old breeds to make new hybrids. We are no competition to there business, and our work is so mutch more and less it will give than hybrids. Also with old bushes and trees, fruit and nuts you name it.
I believe in old breeds, beacause they are created by God and not man made. That is why I support growing old heirloom breeds, to protect for the next generations. And I can tell you it costs, it is not my work.
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@Marthale7 , @JerseyGiantChick Hello! I’m trying to understand this tree hay topic. Don’t mean to be dense, but . . . Living in the suburbs, need clarification . . . Can I give my chickens and quail fresh, green, fruit tree leaves any time of the year (including citrus like lemon, orange)? I don’t have the variety of trees, property size to grow those mentioned in this discussion or the videos, or the ability to do anything extensive, but I could simply trim a branch here and there and give to the birds, rotating in with the other leafy greens the chickens already get (I haven’t tried giving leafy greens to the quail, but would if someone can let me know it would benefit them). If fresh tree leaves of the type I’ve mentioned would be nutritious or beneficial for the birds, then I wouldn’t put those trimmings/prunings in the compost pile, I’d let them have at least some, if not all, instead. Please help me understand what would be best for chickens and quail regarding this topic. I’m trying to figure out how to feed them in case I can’t get (or afford) commercial, bagged food at any point in the future. Thanks so much!
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At present I do not have any livestock, I have been using it to feed my worms and to increase nutrition for my plants via chop and drop.
This link shows that it is not of much benefit directly for chickens, but normally used with goats, and cattle, and horses.
https://theprepperjournal.com/2016/05/27/alternative-feeds-livestock/
They have done a good job explaining how much of the food to supplement the diet.
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Thanks for the clarification, and for the link. I will check it out. Much appreciated.
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Ok, so you have not tried it. I love heirlooms and I find it takes a while to get them adapted to the soil in your area after you get them, once they do they are really good plants.
I tried biogas just too stinky for me, but wood gas works great for running engines, just is a learning curve.
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Who said I did not tried it? I am feeding the chickens and rabbits greens, also from bushes and trees. The chickens foraging themselves al day, they also take the fruits they can reach. Fruit and nuts bushes and trees in there pastures, each group has his own and connects so if it is empty they can go there.
I was just saying the farmers and biogas Anlage will not go there, tried to explain why. Those biogas are so big with multiple uge tanks. They are laughing already that I use a sense, but what if fuel is hard to get?
I personally think we should treasure our old wayward and knowledge, so we are able to give it to our next generations because they have a right to that! I am already working together with my best friend my little sister from different parents, teaching her al I am able to. And with a community, to build a community for our area. And hoping others will do the same, seeing it is not so stupid as they think but hard work will pay off.
It is good you do what you are doing, keep on doing and learning. Also check out collecting scraps (witch is forbidden in Europe) and composting with chickens, works really good. And only takes a meter x meter. A different set up with composting worms and soldiers flies, growing with that compost for your family and animals.
Hope you understand what I all wrote now.
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Ok, so since you have tried it do you pollard or coppice your trees? I find pollarding mine works great.. I have many make fences from the wood they get from the new saplings formed.
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Yes both they will give yearly growth, also done for fire wood. But not with the fruit and nuts, Salix is a good one to use like that. And yes as fencing from dead twigs or even living, can make tunnels and huts kids and big kids like us love them. And it is so nice in there, like a living air conditioner.
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With heirloom you got to find the right ones and grow them generations to let them adapt. Keeping them from cross breeding, takes a lot of distance, barrier, covering and work. You can see Deep South Homestead there experience, those seeds are gone. For them to mutch work to back breeding, time will find out if it is possible to breed the back by hard selection. That is how gene banks growers do that with the couple seeds left, if not it is all lost. But it takes years growing and selecting, to get them stable enough so you and others are able to buy them in a couple years and keep buying them.
So treasure the growers that are doing these hard work , to preserve for you all and next generations.
Look up the story from the Russia gene bank, they are true heroes and gave their lives for the preservation of all those seeds, bulbs and plants. And years of hard work from the gene banks, a part is saved in that world gene bank to.
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I was listening to an episode of the “survival podcast” and he was making a point that Monsanto has taken the time to map out all the genes of plants, that they could speed up the method of getting certain traits by using their map… I do not like the practices of Monsanto ( now called Bayer) but I thought that would be an interesting idea to see what they have mapped out, and could that be used to breed better traits naturally.
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Bayer now over here, beginning of the end was my first thought. We will see in time, if the farmers, buyers and consumers can stay free.
One of the gene bank we work with is at a university, there in the Netherlands and are far in these practices. It is how the commercials breeds are made, but also to protect the old heirloom breeds.
They are able to crow more then just one generation so more generations in one year in greenhouses. And take out or put in gene, in laboratories and then grow the multiple generations in a year.
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We watch every one of your videos as we are notified when a new one comes out. We have been preparing gor a long time. Problem we have is keeping the rotation going. We use a FIFO Method of preparing. Ultimately something will be pushed to the back and forgotten. We have change over most of our preserving to Freeze-drying which we try to put into jars as much as possible so we can have a visual as to what is there. Spreadsheets work to a point for the year but stuff happens and we got behind on entering data. With that being said I really believe that we could stay in place for a year or more. We have a network of like minded people locally to barter resources for dairy when necessarry.
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Was just listening to a podcast this week about tree fodder. The speaker was recommending #1 white mulberry #2 hybrid poplar #3 hybrid something that I can’t remember (sorry). He said basically that the white mulberry could provide 100% feed for most ruminates.
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Yes It is amazing… And if you learn how to trim the trees it can yield firewood and stronger trees.
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