If you’re following me on Instagram you might have seen a few posts on our new 10-acre “forever farm” that we will be moving into shortly. I am truly blessed with all the healthy garden plants and trees already planted there. One of my greatest thrills is the Comfrey patch just waiting for me to use. Of course, I have been researching all the ways to use this extremely beneficial plant, and I’m excited to share with you here the 5 ways to use comfrey that I’ve discovered and will implement on our new homestead.
5 Ways to Use Comfrey:
1. Comfrey for preparing the soil of my garden
It will become my secret weapon to improve my veggie garden soil, to mulch around my plants, and to prevent disease from keeping me from a bountiful harvest of veggies later in the fall. I’ll be using fresh comfrey leaves as fertilizer in my planting holes. I’ll also learn to make comfrey “tea” to add to the water that waters my garden. (Add fresh comfrey leaves to a half barrel of water, cover, and steep for 3-6 weeks.) And by adding a few drops of liquid soap to my “tea,” I’ll be able to spray and coat the tops and bottoms of my plants to keep away the garden pests.
2. Comfrey will be a major part of our compost station.
Comfrey has a higher NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) ratio than either kelp or the average homemade compost pile. It is rich in calcium and many other valuable plant nutrients. It is known to be a compost activator to “heat things up quickly.” Comfrey makes a wonderful mulch, naturally high in nitrogen so it doesn’t pull nitrogen from the soil. It’s high potassium content makes it so beneficial for flowers, vegetables, berries and fruit trees. I’ll be adding 2-3 inches of leaves around my plants. These leaves will slowly break down and release the wonderful nutrients. Comfrey should not be used for root crops or leafy greens because they may cause these plants to go to seed prematurely.
3. Comfrey as a liquid fertilizer
This may be the best use I’ll find. I’ve been told that now that I have comfrey I can throw away the Miracle Grow and other fertilizers. Chopped leaves and stems can be crammed tight into a large container (like 5 gallon buckets) with a brick or rock pressing down on the mass of comfrey. After a few weeks I’ll have a greenish-brownish “soup” mixture ready for use. After straining it through a fine screen, I can add a spigot to the bottom of the container and just keep adding more comfrey to the top to break down also.
4. Comfrey for our livestock
Comfrey has been traditionally used as livestock food. Dry comfrey contains protein and an assortment of healthy minerals. Because it is lower in fiber, it is a good feed for pigs and chickens who have trouble digesting fiber. It has also proven to be an excellent feed for horses, cows, donkeys, sheep, and goats. However, I’ll have to cut the comfrey leaves and wilt them for a day or so to get our chickens to eat them…they would not like the prickly hairs on the leaves. Research indicates I will be able to replace up to 10 percent of the chicken feed without lowering egg production.
5. Comfrey as a healing salve
Comfrey has been in use as a medicinal herb for more than 200 years. The allantoin content of comfrey aids in healing wounds, sores, burns, swollen tissue, and broken bones. It can be applied externally to bruises, sprains, arthritic bones of any inflamed tissue, and acts as an anti-inflammatory and pain reliever. I will be able to make a poultice by boiling the leaves, or by putting the roots in a blender or food processor, covering with oil, and grinding as fine as possible. It should be stored in a large glass jar and allowed to soak for several weeks before straining. However, comfrey should never be taken internally. I will follow up with an entire blog on how to make comfrey salve in a coming blog, but in the meantime, you can check out my Healing Salve recipe and replace the calendula with comfrey.
The comfrey in my new garden is planted with a blueberry patch. You can see from the photo to the right that my kids have already determined they will spend time eating the healthy, large blueberries that have grown up under the protection of the secret power of Comfrey.
Comfrey is a fast growing, hardy plant, and I should get 4-5 pounds of leaves from each plant a year. I’ll remove the flowers from most of the plants because they take a lot of the plant’s energy to create the seeds. However, since I plan to have 5 or more beehives, I’ll leave a few plants with flowers for the bees that love them. Besides, the flowers are beautiful!
Getting Started in Comfrey:
- Find a local gardener (Craigslist is a great place to look) who is selling comfrey plants.
- Plant your own seeds (I like these non-gmo ones)
- Order dried comfrey (I like this one)
Resources
- https://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/garden/comfrey-power
- https://www.waldeneffect.org/blog/Feeding_comfrey_to_livestock/
- https://riseandshinerabbitry.com/2013/08/11/comfrey-the-homesteaders-gold-mine/
- https://www.nantahala-farm.com/comfrey-growing-s.shtml
What a great looking comfrey patch. I wish I had such space. I grow comfrey for mostly fertilizer/mulch in my veggie gardens. It may be important to know that most start comfrey from root cuttings rather than seeds. Most typically prefer the Russian Bocking #4 and #14 varieties as they are sterile (do not produce viable seeds). This is important as some consider comfrey to be invasive as it has such a deep tap root, and once you have it you may have some trouble getting rid of it. Also, the flowers that comfrey produces are a favorite of bees and other beneficial insects that help in the garden so try and leave some for the poor bees. Good luck on the “forever farm”, im sure you and the kids will have a great time.