The Paleo Mama

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Homemade Comfrey Salve

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One of my favorite things about my new homestead is our very own comfrey patch. Of course, you don’t need to grow your own comfrey to make a nourishing salve with it. There are several places online that you can purchase dried, organic comfrey leaves to make this simple and homemade comfrey 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.

**Comfrey should never be taken internally and caution should be taken if using while pregnant.**

Homemade Comfrey Salve 

INGREDIENTS: 

DIRECTIONS: 

  1. Put the coconut oil, beeswax and olive oil in a double boiler. Melt on medium heat. 
  2. Macerate the comfrey into small pieces with a food processor and a small amount of olive oil. 
  3. Add the comfrey and simmer on low for 1 hour if using comfrey leaves and 2 hours if using comfrey roots. Make sure to stir a few times during the process. 
  4. Strain the mixture into a bowl through a cheesecloth making sure to squeeze out all the oil. 
  5. Let cool for a few minutes. 
  6. Add the essential oils and stir.
  7. Pour into a glass or tin jars and store for up to a year! Makes 1 cup!

Homemade Comfrey Salve The Paleo Mama

 

Natural Remedies for Garden Pests

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By now you’ve probably read my first post on gardening: Vegetable Gardening for Beginners. One of the things that can defeat a new gardener faster than anything else (I know it sure would defeat me!) is waging war with all the garden pests that want to take over your veggies and prevent you from ever getting your first good harvest. For that reason I’m adding this second installment on my post about gardening, and calling it Natural Remedies for Garden Pests.

But I’m confessing right up front that I don’t have all the answers (very few of them in fact) about this war on garden pests. So in this post I’m going to give you a list of what many experienced gardeners believe to be the 12 biggest garden pests, and add a round-table blog with each that helps us to see a way that we can be successful in the war against that pest. 

Here are a few natural alternatives to pest control that you will see mentioned in many of these posts: 

  • Diatomaceous Earth – a soft, crumbly, porous sedimentary deposit formed from the fossil remains of diatoms
  • Plant Collars – protects slugs and other pests from getting on the plant
  •  Borax & Sugar – used to kill ants around the base of the plant 
  • Row Covers – protects young plants
  • Natural Dish Washing Liquid – used to make homemade pest spray 
  • Bt Spray – an organic formulation that kills insects and larvae
  • Dipel Dust – used by commercial organic growers to control insects on vegetables. 
  • Japanese Beetle Trap – uses a pheromone and catches the beetles and traps them. 
  • Spinosad – an organic insect spray 
  • Essential Oils (where to buy) – rosemary, melaleuca, peppermint, thyme are just a few essential oils you can use that can help with garden insects. Here’s 9 clever ways to use essential oils on your home garden! 

 

Twelve bothersome garden pests in home gardens

1. Slugs

More than half of all gardeners say that these slimy critters cause trouble year after year. One gardening expert shared results from several other gardeners on dealing with slugs. These experts included several natural ways to eliminate slugs from your garden, including: garden critters like chickens and chipmunks, beer, crushed egg shells, salt water, copper, homemade garden soap, and hand picking. You will find details for each of these slug deterrents here. 

2. Squash Bugs

More than half of gardeners in one survey reported that squash bug had sabatoged summer and winter squash harvests. The Free Range Life gardening blog shares 6 Ways to Control Squash Bugs in Your Garden (see here). These include: hand picking, planting companion plants, attracting beneficial insects, using diatomaceous earth, watching your mulch, and avoiding over-planting your squash. You will find more information on The Free Range Life website.

3. Aphids

These pesky little enemies tried to take over the gardens of half the gardeners in the survey. However several home gardeners responded with effective warfare methods, which included: pruning, applying insecticidal soap, attracting beneficial insects, and planting companion plants. Home gardener at Gardening Know How (find here) gives detailed information for how to get rid of aphids naturally.

4. Imported cabbageworms

Experienced gardeners recommend that if you see these little white butterflies in your garden, you need to take action to protect your plants before these cabbageworm moths lay eggs. There are several ways to control them naturally, including attracting paper wasps and yellow jackets. Other gardeners recommend biological pesticides, but report that companion planting, and garlic-pepper sprays had disappointing failure rates. One experienced gardener (find here), shared 8 natural ways to get rid of nasty cabbage moths.

5. Squash vine borers

These vine borers caused trouble for nearly half of the gardeners surveyed. Most gardeners recommended that the best control methods were crop rotation and growing resistant squash varieties. The Toxic Free NC website (find here) gives wonderful recommendations for dealing with these garden enemies.

6. Japanese beetles

Although Japanese beetles are not a big problem in extremely hot or cold climates, they came in number 6 with most gardeners. There are several effective ways to get rid of these garden pests, including: handpicking, and companion plants, but things like garlic-pepper spray and row covers had high failure rates. Many home gardeners enlist the help of guinea fowl and ducks, as well as springtime bug-eating birds. The experienced gardener at Veggie Gardener.com shares several natural ways to control these garden enemies (find here). 

7. Tomato hornworms

42 percent of gardeners surveyed battled infestations f tomato hornworms. Many gardeners preferred handpicking because these pests are large and easy to spot. Gardeners also recommended using the help of wasps and companion plants for reducing their hornworm problems. The Veggie Gardener.com knows these nuisance caterpillars can destroy a plant in no time—they are eating machines. This website gives several tips for finding and eliminating these pests in each stage of their life (find here).

8. Cutworms

Although many gardeners reported problems with cutworms, most recommended the common practice of using rigid collars to protect their young seedlings. One gardener with ten years experience said that it wasn’t until he became a Montana homesteader that he ever came across this garden pest. However he learned that cutworms can quickly decimate your garden. Read the research and tips he discovered for dealing with these enemies of your garden (find here). 

9. Grasshoppers

Grasshoppers have been a big concern to gardeners since biblical times. Many gardeners expressed that they felt the problem was getting worse with grasshoppers. Some experienced gardeners mentioned two interesting setups using chickens: a chicken moat around the fenced garden perimeter, and a series of three small fenced garden with gates into the chicken yard for easy rotation of pecking services. You can find directions for how to construct a chicken moat for effective garden pest control here.

10. Cucumber beetles

The danger with these pests is the fact that they transmit deadly bacterial wilt to cucumbers and melons. Some effective treatments mentioned included handpicking, good garden cleanup of plant debris, and row covers. Others found success with companion planting and yellow sticky traps. The Gardening Knowhow.com website will provide you with very thorough information for identifying and controlling cucumber beetles in your garden (find here). 

11. Corn earworms

These were listed as serious pests by many of the gardeners surveyed, and a variety of methods for eliminating them included: using instruments to add oil to the ears of corn, choosing resistant corn varieties, and popping off the end of the ear. Planet Natural.com gives a great description of these garden pests, discusses the damage they do to the ears of corn, and describes several natural ways for getting control of corn earworms (find here). 

12. Whitefly problems

Whitefly-plagued gardeners used exclamation points to emphasize their frustration with these tiny sucking pests. Many gardeners found insecticidal soap effective, including homemade insecticidal soaps. These common insects have developed resistance to many synthetic pesticides, but there are proven organic techniques for eliminating them, including yellow sticky traps, the Bug Blaster, natural predators, and organic or homemade pesticides and insecticidal soaps. You can find lots of information here. 

Now that you’ve read through this list of 12 dangerous garden pests, you are probably hoping—just like I am—that none, or at least only one or two, of these garden pests find their way into your garden. But just remember…you may lose a battle or two with some of these garden pests, but if you arm yourself with this information and have ready the weapons you will need to get rid of these enemies, you can win the war and reap a wonderful harvest from your garden. Let’s go get busy driving off these pests!

Natural Remedies for Garden Pests The Paleo Mama

Sources

  1. https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/pest-control/organic-pest-control-zm0z11zsto.aspx
  2. See links above for individual pest information.

 

Essential Oils On a Farm

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One of the statements I can remember my mother saying whenever she counseled with someone about a problem in a marriage relationship was: “You have to always remember that you bought the farm!” So what does that mean? It means that in relationships, just as in farming there are cute, cuddly animals and bountiful harvests; there are also weeds, predators after your chickens, fleas and ticks on your barnyard animals (and sometimes your kids), and lots of manure to deal with. However, I’m coming to realize that essential oils can be used for so many things and so in this post I’m going to share with you how to use essential oils on a farm. 

I know that truth a lot better today after just a few short years of homesteading, than I knew it in my head before I experienced it…homesteading is NOT easy, nor is it glorious. I want this post to help us find ways that we can deal with some of the more negative factors in homesteading through the use of essential oils.

Yes, that’s right, you can use essential oils on your livestock and in the care and management of your farm. But you don’t just start using essential oils indiscriminately wherever and however you choose. Just as you want only to better the health of your family members with your essential oils, so too that’s your goal with your animal family, and it takes a bit of forethought and knowledge to get it right.

If you are interested in my trusted brand and how to get started using essential oils, then CLICK HERE! 

I want to concentrate in this post on using essential oils on animals. There are many other uses for essential oils in farming, but we’ll start with our animal family in this blog. Let’s consider briefly the use of oils with:

  • Flies, Fleas and Ticks
  • Cats and Dogs
  • Chickens
  • Goats
  • Dairy cattle
  • Pigs

Flies, fleas and Ticks

OK, I know we are not choosing to raise flies, fleas and ticks, but every barnyard animal will have to do battle with these pests. Flies are a major health concern all across the globe. The common housefly is a serious threat to people and animals alike because of the many infectious diseases they carry. Fleas and ticks like blood of any flavor—human, animal, or poultry.

Researchers in India did studies testing essential oil usage for dealing with flies. They discovered that peppermint oil successfully repelled larvae and egg laying, with ginger oil, cinnamon oil, and gooseberry oil also giving respectable assistance. (Source) You can find a Homemade Fly Spray Recipe using essential oils here. 

Finding a nontoxic insect repellent to use on your barnyard animals is not easy. Chemicals like prallethrin and piperonyl butoxide are often used in livestock sprays, as well as the proven toxic chemical, deet. These chemicals accumulate in the liver and put our animals at risk. However, researchers seeking organic and naturally healthier ways to get rid of insects and have developed nontoxic sprays using essential oils. You can find four of these natural livestock spray recipes here. 

Cats and Dogs

cats

There is a wealth of helpful research available online to help you find nontoxic, natural solutions for the health problems experienced by your household pets. It is important to remember that the essential oils blends and aromatherapy that humans can enjoy and handle might not produce the same reaction in our pets. Some oils can be quite dangerous. If used correctly, however, essential oils contain a host of biologically active and powerful compounds and are an indispensable part of integrative medical care. (Source)  You will need to research carefully to learn how to successfully use essential oils on your pets. 

There are cautions and principles for safe use you will need to be aware of. Do your research before trying anything. One veterinary who uses aromatherapy in the treatment of his animal patients has recommended the following essential oils that are safe for use. You need to see his recommendations for use and to know what they are used for here.  The oils he considers safe for use are:

  • Lavender
  • Cardamom
  • Fennel
  • Helichrysum
  • Frankincense
  • Spearmint

Once you are familiar with the essential oils safe for your pets, you can begin to develop essential oil remedies. You can find several suggestions for sprays, shampoo, flea collars, ear problems, paw pad care, skin irritations, doggie smell deodorizer, and calming mists here.  

Chickens

chic

To be successful using essential oils on chickens you must first understand that chickens breathe differently than mammals. They do not have a diaphragm, and use the rib cage and breast bone to move the air in and out of the body. Their lung rely on air sacs to distributed oxygen to their bodies. As a result, chickens breathe in higher concentrations of oxygen and whatever else in is the air. (Source) 

A buildup of fumes from chicken droppings, spilled water and cleaning products irritates their breathing system and leads to illness. So using a coop cleaner made with natural products will clean the coop without irritating the chicken’s respiratory system.

Lemon essential oil and other citrus fruits have natural cleaning and disinfecting capabilities. You can easily make a homemade coop cleaner that is easy on your nose and easy on the chicken’s respiratory tract. Use the recipe you will here for cleaning out the old shavings and coop bedding, and to spray down the coop. 

You can also make a salve ointment with essential oils for chicken care. You will find one recipe using lavender and frankincense essential oils here.  Coconut oil is also a great carrier oil to use for homemade chicken ointment.

Heavily diluted oregano essential oil is used by many chicken owners for many uses. Using essential oils for chicken care is a wonderful natural approach. Just make sure you do your own research so you are comfortable with the choice that is right for you to use.

You can also find a recipe for Natural Garlic Juice Spray  here. 

We like to add a few cloves of garlic to our chickens waterer. The garlic infuses the water and provides a good immune support every time they take a drink of water. 

Goats

One essential oil that has proven success in improving health issues in goats is lavender oil. It has traditionally been used for everything from respiratory problems, to skin health, and even as a natural aid during labor. Emotional issues in goats can also be alleviated with the help of lavender oil. (Source) 

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If a goat is being kept in a stall due to illness, you can put drops of oil around the stall to help eliminate some of the animal’s stress. Some goat farmers will also add a few drops to a vaporizer or diffuser to alleviate respiratory issues. Lavender oil can be very hard on the liver and kidneys of animals, so avoid internal use. You can research all aspects of raising goats here. 

Dairy cattle

Essential oils with dairy cattle is now being considered as a way to improve or alter rumen fermentation (the cow’s first stomach) in order to reduce methane gas production. If you are interested in learning more about using essential oils with dairy cattle, one resource lists the essentials oil that may be helpful along with their properties, and possible uses. (Here)

Essential oils can benefit cattle during summer months with heat stress and pesky insects. Flies, fleas, and lice irritate cattle. Strongly scented essential oils like rosemary, cedar, lavender, and eucalyptus naturally repel pests and lessen the stress on the herd. Cinnamon oil, known as a “hot oil,” and along with garlic oil, clove oil, and oregano oil can help to reduce fermented protein in the rumen. Garlic oil can help to relieve digestive upset and the production of methane gases. You can find specific instructions for their use here. 

Pigs

One non-conventional use of essential oils with pigs is in animal feed. Some time ago Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDv) was spreading rapidly throughout pig farms and causing a drastic impact on pork supply and prices at the meat counter. To combat this epidemic, many pig farmers began using a pig-feed ingredient that contained essential oils, oregano, and chili powder along with other all-natural organic ingredients. There has been a big boost in immunity to PEDv as a result. Essential oils are known for their aromatic effect, and the combination of essential oils, oregano, and chili powder have made pig barns at feeding time smell like and Italian pizzeria. (Source) 

It’s so encouraging to Frank and I as newbies in the business of raising farm animals to find that more and more farms are putting essential oils into practice. A number of companies are even selling plant extracts as feed additives, but very few big companies are willing to readily offer that information. Essential oils are truly a secret weapon, an unsung hero being used successfully, but not quite openly. Our farm plans to continue openly trying to find more and more uses for these powerhouse essential oils in our farmyard.

If you are interested in my trusted brand and how to get started using essential oils, then CLICK HERE! 

Essential Oils Around Your Farm

Sources

  1. https://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2014/07/essential-oils-livestock.html
  2. https://www.hobbyfarms.com/crafts-and-nature/4-diy-bug-repellents-for-you-and-your-animals.aspx
  3. https://www.optimumchoices.com/animals_essential_oils.htm

 

Vegetable Gardening for Beginners

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I know you’ve heard me telling you about our dream farm we just moved to, with its ready-made flower and vegetable gardens. What a blessing for us! The former owner was a master gardener, and it’s going to take me some time to just get a grip on how to manage what has already been planted. But I’m determined to grow into a mini-master gardener as soon as possible so here is a few tips I am learning and wanted to share with all of my wonderful readers! 

One thing you also already know about me is that I like to live life from a laid-back, take-it-as-it comes point of view. That is, until I become really passionate about something I like doing—such as living a Paleo lifestyle, and proclaiming the virtues of using essential oils to maintain health instead of the chemicals most drugs shove into you.

So I know I’ll become just as passionate about gardening—but for now I want to share a few secrets I’ve found from my beginning research into gardening. Let’s just say this is a first installment on “Vegetable Gardening for Beginners.”

Let me start by saying I am aware that not everyone reading this will have ten wonderful acres of farmland on which to raise their fruits and vegetables. But hopefully you will find in this post some easy and potentially workable ways to start your garden no matter how much land you have—or don’t have.

I want to take a look at four starting points for any gardener:

  1. Where can you plant your garden?
  2. What are you going to plant in your garden?
  3. When are you going to plant your garden?
  4. When will you be able to enjoy the harvest from your garden?
  5. Where can you plant your garden?

1. Where can you plant your garden?

To get from wanting to have a garden to planting a garden you have to first of all determine where you will plant the garden. Are you stuck in an urban area where you see more concrete that dirt when you look out your window? Then you may want to bone up on Container Gardening. You can use just about any container— Smart Pots, wood, terra cotta, clay, an old sink, wheelbarrow, rubber boot, watering trough, and even cardboard boxes or bags or dirt. If you don’t even have a small balcony or patio to place your containers on, you can consider windowsill gardening from inside your home.

If you are fortunate to have some dirt—even a small area—where you can plant your vegetable garden outside, there are a few blunders you could make that would keep you from ever reaching the harvest stage. Avoid these five blunders:

  • Don’t bite off more than you can chew by planting your garden without considering the time and effort needed to maintain it. Do the necessary research to learn all you can, and then draw up a weekly checklist of maintenance tasks and stick to it.
  • Don’t ignore the light requirements for your plants. Full sun means six or more hours of direct sunlight, and some shade means that those plants don’t want to be wilting in the sun all day long.
  • Don’t forget to amend your soil. This is your most important starting task. Good soil means the right combination of silt, clay and organic material. Sandy soil requires working in a higher ratio of organic material to a depth of at least 4-6 inches. Clay soil needs to have compost material added to it.  Take a sample of your soil to your local university extension office for testing to determine what nutrients you need to add, or do it yourself using a store-bought soil sample test.
  • Don’t overdose your soil on added nutrients. Even the fertilizer made for organic gardening comes with specific instructions, which must be followed to the letter for best results. I like to use natural methods to eliminate garden pests.
  • Don’t overwater or underwater your garden. It is recommended that you stick your finger about an inch in the soil, and if it feels dry, water thoroughly. If the soil is still moist, wait a day and check again. Avoid watering above the plants, it can cause leaf spot and blight problems. Water directly over the plant’s roots.

2. What are you going to plant in your garden?

At first, when deciding what to plant in a garden with vegetables, it’s best to start small. Many gardeners get a little too excited at the beginning of the season and plant more than they need—and end up wasting food and feeling overwhelmed by their garden.

So first, take a look at how much your family will eat when you think about how to plan a vegetable garden. Keep in mind that vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, and squash keep providing throughout the season — so you may not need many plants to serve your needs. Other vegetables, such as carrots, radishes, and corn, produce only once. You may need to plant more of these. You can find a list of 10 must-grow vegetables here. 

What you grow will be partially determined by how much space you have available. Remember that you don’t need a large space—you can have a good harvest from just a few container plants. Here are some great ideas for growing veggies in containers. 

3. When are you going to plant your garden?

Starting seeds indoors can help you get a jump-start on spring! Learn what you need and get tips for successful seed starting here. 

Knowing the right time to plant your seedlings outside in your garden depends on where you live. For example, I know that summertime gardening can be a challenge with hot, humid summers and mild winters in the South. Heat-tolerant plants will do best. You can get some ideas for when and how to garden for your area here. 

Vegetable gardening is divided into climate groups: cool season and warm season. Here are some tips to get it right for your area:

  • Plant for your zone. See this zone map. 
  • Cool season vegetables germinate best in cool soil. They are usually planted as soon as the soil can be worked in the spring.
  • Warm season crops can be started indoors, but wait until at least two weeks after the average frost date for your region to plant outdoors. Give them some shade while they adjust to outdoor temperatures.

4. When will you be able to enjoy the harvest from your garden?

During the time between planting and harvest you need to diligently care for your plants. Your veggies will grow faster and give better crops if you feed them. Choose natural products. Well-rotted animal manure from plant-eating critters (rabbits, goats, horses, sheep, chickens) is a great source. Look for prepackaged organic materials online or at your local garden center.

Build your own compost station. Adding good quality compost to your garden provides nutrients in a form plants can use, enriches soil health and enhances the soil food web, builds soil structure, improves drainage, and acts as a butter to toxins. You will find six ways to make great compost here. 

When harvest time comes, it comes big-time. For the gardener, the challenge now may be to keep ahead of a tsunami of vegetables. It’s best to take a basket out to the garden every day to see what has ripened. Picking vegetables as soon as they are ripe often encourages the plant to produce more. Most vegetables are at their peak of tenderness and flavor when they are relatively small.  Zucchini, for example, are best when they are no more than six or seven inches long. Then they get tough and woody. You will find some great harvesting tips for various vegetables and fruits here.

It’s crucial to keep track of what you planted and keep the seed packet so you know what to expect. There are many cultivars of vegetables today, bred for different characteristics such as size. You can plant a watermelon variety that ripens at eight inches across or one that’s not ready until the fruit weighs 30 pounds.  And it would be a shame to pick yardlong beans (which actually are best when they are 15 to 18 inches long) at the five to six inches that would be normal for pole beans.

When you harvest, look out for signs of trouble, such as yellowing leaves or rotting fruit, and remove the problem parts. Even if it’s something you can do little about—such as blossom end rot or cracking from too much rain—there’s no point in letting the plant put energy into fruit you won’t be able to eat.

If you do the proper research, and learn the lessons mentioned here in my blog, who knows? You may become the master gardener you always dreamed of being. Now…I’ve got to get back out to my gardening maintenance!

Vegetable Gardening for Beginners

Sources

  1. https://www.dummies.com/how-to/home-garden/gardening.html
  2. https://www.birdsandblooms.com/gardening/fruit-and-vegetable-gardening/5-common-mistakes-backyard-vegetable-garden/
  3. https://www.bhg.com/gardening/vegetable/vegetables/planning-your-first-vegetable-garden/
  4. https://www.bhg.com/gardening/vegetable/vegetables/when-to-plant-vegetables/

Log-Grown Shiitake Mushrooms

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Moving onto a beautiful, fully-functioning farm like Frank and I just did is a bit like having your first child; it needs your love and care immediately—even if it didn’t come with a Farming for Dummies instructional manual. That’s what happened when we went for a walk on our land; we found oak logs already inoculated with lots of potentially tasty Shiitake mushrooms, and not much “this is how to take care of them” from the former owners on how to take care of these log-grown shiitake mushrooms. 

So, as with many other farming chores, we began our own research into raising Shiitake mushrooms successfully. I want to share some of the basic information we have uncovered that should allow us—and you, if you would like to join us by growing your own—to harvest some delicious and healthy log-grown Shiitake mushrooms.

In this blog post I will provide some basic, practical answers to these five important questions:

  1. Why grow Shiitake mushrooms?
  2. How do I prepare my logs for growing Shiitakes?
  3. What do I do with my inoculated logs?
  4. Why do I have to shock my inoculated logs before harvest?
  5. When can I harvest my Shiitakes?

By following the information in these answers, we will be able to reap a bountiful harvest of these delicious and healthy Shiitake mushrooms.

1. Why grow Shiitake mushrooms?

Are you thinking, “Why on earth would I want to grow fungi?” If you’ve never learned to appreciate the taste of the many different kinds of edible mushrooms, that’s the place for you to start! Get beyond your knowledge that mushrooms are fungi, and get some sample tastes of how delicious and healthy these mushrooms are. Shiitake mushrooms are the third most popular mushroom in the world, and they are perphaps the healthiest of them all! Here are four unbelievable benefits to Shiitakes:

  • They are loaded with B-Complex vitamins.
  • They are believed to deliver anti-cancer properties to your body when you eat them.
  • They are low in calories, yet high in fiber content and loaded with protein.
  • They contain a multitude of minerals. Just one raw serving contains 1/20 of the magnesium and potassium you need each day, along with 10 percent of the phosphorus. But eat them dried or raw because they lose up to ¾ of their nutritional value.

2. How do I prepare my logs for growing Shiitakes?

The name shiitake mean “mushroom of the oak,” but shiitake mushrooms will also grow on sugar maple, hophornbeam, ironweed, alder, poplars, and yellow birch. But the mycelium’s (the vegetative part of a fungus, consisting of a network of fine white filaments) favorite food for producing a flush of lovely brown shiitake caps is oak, either white or red.

It’s not necessary to cut down an oak tree in order to get the logs you need for your mushroom growing. You can read some expert tips for acquiring logs from unique sources here (page 10). However you cannot grow shiitake on dead wood, such as old logs in your yard or woodland, or on firewood, because local fungi have contaminated these logs or the logs have dried out.

Early spring, before the trees leaf out, is the season most suggested for inoculating bolts for mushroom production. The logs should be 4-6 inches in diameter, which gives a prime amount of sapwood (the lighter colored outer layer), which is the primary part of the log where the fungi will colonize.

You will need to have a supply of shiitake mushroom spawn (mushroom mycelium) which is already impregnated in wooden dowel plugs, either in liquid form or mixed with sawdust. If you are using impregnated wooden plugs, use a 3/8-inch drill bit to drill to a depth of 1-1/4 inches before pressing in the plugs. Drill in 10-inch intervals down the length of the log. Leave 2 inches between each row, and stagger the holes from one row to the next. Then you will need to cover each plugged hole with very hot food grade wax (cheese wax or even beeswax will work) to ensure an airtight, flexible seal. CLICK HERE to order mushroom spawn. 

3. What do I do with my inoculated logs?

Now you are ready to create your laying yard—the place where the inoculated logs will incubate, and where you can give routine maintenance to them. This should be in a place of year-round shade to keep the logs from drying out due to sun and wind. A laying yard under the canopy of a forest is best. If you have just a small number of logs and no wooded area, behind the north side of a house or shed, along with a shade cloth, can provide year-round shade. Remember that you need to be relatively close to both electricity (for drilling), and water (necessary to irrigate and soak the logs).

shrooms

There are several ways you can lay out your logs. A stack of criss-crossed logs works well, as well as forming an X-pattern by stacking logs end to end, leaning each log against a strong wire. Be sure to label each log with the date of inoculation, spawn type, and force date (see below). Keep the logs off the ground, stacking them on pallets or non-inoculated logs.

Your logs need an incubation period of 8 to 18 months, or spawn run, during which the fungus colonize the wood. You will need to maintain favorable conditions so the mycelium can spread through the logs as quickly and evenly as possible. Your maintenance will include:

  • Keeping the moisture content well above 30 percent.
  • Using artificial shading if the natural canopy of trees thins out.
  • Protect the logs against competing fungi.

There are at least five common fungi competitors you may encounter: Black Bulgur or Bachelor’s Buttons, Trichoderma, Hypoxlyon, Turkey Tail, Split Gill fungus. You can find further information about fungi competitors here (pages 28-29). 

4. Why do I have to shock my inoculated logs before harvest?

Shocking your logs, or forcing bolts, is a matter of speeding up Mother Nature. Shiitake mushrooms are one of the few mushrooms that can be made to fruit on demand. Shocking involves soaking logs in cold water for an extended period of time (12-24 hours) to induce fruiting. By shocking your logs on a schedule, you can generate a steady supply of shiitake mushrooms on a predictable rotation.

There are several ways to determine if your logs are ready for shocking. One option is to observe the mycelium growth (white discoloration) on the end of the bolt. During March-April, and October-November, logs are allowed to fruit naturally with being soaked. During the warmer months, May-August, groups of logs are forced by shocking them every seven weeks. You will find complete information for these shocking procedures here (pages 30-34). We shocked our logs this week by putting all 20 of them in the creek that runs through our property. You can, also, use a child’s swimming pool or a livestock trough. 

5. When can I harvest my Shiitakes?

Shiitake mushrooms are usually ready to be harvested 7-10 days after shocking. Gills should be visible, and the outer edge of the mushroom should be slightly curled under. It’s normal to expect ¼ to ½ pound of mushrooms per log, or a higher yield with two shockings per season. Over the course of five years, each log should produce 3-4 pounds of fresh mushrooms.

When harvesting mushrooms, the goal is to efficiently remove the mushrooms without damaging the bark. Most experiences growers simply twist and pull the mushrooms off the log using their hands. Gently brush off any dirt and place each mushroom in an open basket or paper sack or other vented container. If you see thrips (tiny, slender black insects crowing in the gills) on your mushroom, they will usually dislodge by tapping lightly on the top of the cap.

For high-quality mushrooms, it’s important to get the in the refrigerator as quickly as possible, certainly within one hour of harvesting. Do not seal them in an airtight container. If you want to freeze your mushrooms, you must steam them first with a mixture of 1 teaspoon lemon juice or 1/5 teaspoons of citric acid per pint of water for 5 minutes to reduce darkening. Steam whole mushrooms for 5 minutes, pieces for 3.5 minutes. Cool promptly, drain and package, leaving ½ inch headroom.

You can also dry shiitakes, which will preserve them for up to a year. You will find great information on storing and preserving mushrooms here (pages 43-44). 

Now all that is left…

…is enjoying these wonderfully tasty and healthy shiitake mushrooms. While you are waiting to harvest your Shiitake mushrooms, start collecting some delicious recipes for ways to add them to your diet. One of the first things I want to make when we harvest our first crop of Shiitake mushrooms is some delicious Shiitake Soup!

How to Grow Shiitake Mushrooms

Sources:

  1. https://www.healthy-holistic-living.com/mushroom-information.html
  2. https://www.treehugger.com/green-food/how-to-grow-shiitake-mushrooms.html
  3. https://northernwoodlands.org/articles/article/growing_shiitake_mushrooms
  4. https://www.uvm.edu/~susagctr/resources/ShiitakeGuide.pdf
  5. https://www2.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/for/for81/for81.pdf
  6. https://www.centerforagroforestry.org/pubs/mushguide.pdf

The Training of a Livestock Guardian Dog

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I know that by now you have seen the many pictures I have posted of our wonderful Livestock Guardian dog, a beautiful Great Pyrenees named Esme. She has been a great addition to our family, and by now, at  more than eighteen months of age, she has developed into a fantastic guardian dog for our goats and chickens. The care and training of a Livestock Guardian Dog is an investment that will NOT disappoint, as long as you do it the right way. 

Great Pyrenees are one of the oldest dog breeds in the world. They were bred as dogs of war and then used during peacetime as sheep guarding dogs. They are one of the least aggressive of the large guardian dogs (LGD), so often people cherish them as family dogs. They are regal, independent and aloof compared to other dogs breeds, traits necessary to spend days alone guarding flocks. This independence shows when you call them—they come, but maybe not on the first call.  

Raising a livestock guardian dog is much different than raising a pet dog who lives with you in your home. Making the right decisions in the period of training will guarantee that you livestock dog performs his duties perfectly for the rest of his life. But choosing to raise him as a pet with little or no specific guardian training will give you a dog who cannot be trusted with your livestock.

Raising puppies to become livestock guardian dogs is a 12 month to 18 month venture. These breeds of dogs are slow to mature and thus are often not trustworthy and reliable before this age. I want to take a brief look at three major areas of training for a livestock guardian dog.

  • How do I teach my livestock guardian dog to bond with my livestock?
  • How does my livestock guardian dog learn to obey fence and gate boundaries?
  • How do I socialize my livestock guardian dog to people and my surroundings?

How do I teach my livestock guardian dog to bond with my livestock?

baby esme

Livestock guardian breeds come with an inherent ability to guard that which they bond to. When you bring your pup home be prepared for him to spend the night where you expect him to spend his nights as an adult. With the stock. Not in your house.

Every day the pup will need to exercise and have interaction with his charges. You can allow free time outside the puppy pen whenever you are around to keep an eye on the action. For the first few weeks, lock the pup up when you are not there to supervise. During the small puppy-stage (which doesn’t last long in a Great Pyrenees) we used a large dog kennel and kept it in the barn with the goats. Our Esme slept in the large dog kennel at night and during the day we put her in a separate fenced section. She could smell and be out with the goats and chickens, but the fence kept her from developing any bad habits of chasing the livestock. 

NEVER throw your puppy in with your livestock and expect him to naturally take on the role of a Livestock Guardian Dog. A Great Pyrenees does NOT equal a good Livestock Guardian Dog. A well-trained and time-invested Great Pyrenees DOES! 

Over the next several months supervise the pup and discipline any unwanted action toward the animals such as chasing, chewing, and biting. And by discipline, I do not mean you EVER hit or kick a livestock guardian dog. This will leave a bad impression and could ruin the demeanor of the dog forever. You firmly say, “NO…my chickens,” and then walk away from the dog and show them no attention. If they continue to misbehave, you lock them in their pen (which they utterly hate). You can also praise the pup for good behavior. Pet and feed the pup when he is with the livestock, not when he is away from them so that he never develops the bad habit of being possessive of his food. Do not take the pup up to the house for food and attention. As the pup matures you will notice if he is bonding to your livestock or not.

If the dog is to guard, it is not good to raise it around other non-Great Pyrenees dogs where it can pick up bad habits such as chasing poultry or livestock. Great Pyrenees don’t normally chase, but if the big puppy bounces up to a chicken and the chicken runs the other way, the dog will give bounce after it. Once chasing starts, the chicken soon becomes a diversion, and that dog can no longer be trusted with poultry. Closely monitor your Great Pyrenees puppy for its first 12-24 months if you desire to raise a trustworthy poultry guard. Some dogs take 2 years to become trustworthy around chickens. We found that Esme took 15 months till we were confident in leaving her alone with the chickens but the training was SOOOOOO worth it.

Esme 

How does my livestock guardian dog learn to obey fence and gate boundaries?

A large part of success with raising puppies is being able to teach them to respect boundaries. Under no circumstances is climbing over or crawling under the fences going to work. Supervise and correct any attempts to go over or dig under fences as you see them. Use the time that you have the dog nearby and bonding to stock to set up the enclosure with hot wires, and allow the dog to learn the consequences of crossing electric fences.

Gates also need to be included in the training. LGD’s are smart dogs and will figure out that fences may be not so good but gates are okay. They need to know they do not cross gates unless invited out by you or moving with the flock. When raising puppies doing the work of teaching the pup respect for fences will go a long way to eliminating the core problem seen in LGD’s—wandering away from the flock and farm.

Adult Great Pyrenees will naturally cover a one to two mile radius. If that’s not allowable, the dog will have to be trained to a smaller area.  Fences, electric fences, and invisible fences all work good. Neutering helps to keep a male dog at home. Close supervision and correction the first two years will help yield a dog that stays within the property lines. 

When you bring your new puppy home, make sure you walk the perimeter of your property every day for a few weeks so that pup understands it’s boundaries. 

How do I socialize my livestock guardian dog to people and my surroundings?

esme and ari

The calm nature of Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dogs around livestock, combined with proper training, will bring out the naturally gentle and submissive breeding that makes these dogs a wondrous thing to behold around small and delicate kids and lambs. However, we need to always remember that these dogs aren’t bred for obedience. Patience is a must. We expect our LGDs to think and react when we aren’t there to protect our flock. We cannot simultaneously expect independent thinking and mindless obedience. These dogs are ALWAYS multitasking; they are bred to reject human instructions where they see a better way to behave. This is what makes them the perfect pasture companions to our chickens, sheep, goats, cattle and even horses. This is also why we have trouble with them obeying fencelines and expanding their territory. They are good at what they do, and they know it. Be patient with them and they will be everything you expect, and then some.

Some livestock guardian dog trainers believe that LGD pups should be raised with the livestock they will be guarding, isolated from humans. In reality, this is an exaggeration of recommendations made by scientists in the USDA bulletin about selecting, raising, and using LGDs. The publication’s language about minimizing the dog-to-human bond has been incorrectly interpreted to mean elimination of contact with humans. Training cannot be accomplished without human contact. We love, pet, show affection to our Esme, and in return, we have seen that nurturing blossom into an incredible human-dog bond. 

Livestock guardian dogs are working dogs and a balance of how much interaction to have with the dog must be found. Be wary of how much attention you foster on the pup. The idea is not to make him into a pet but to let him know your touch by petting him and handling him. Let him know you control the food, and the access to stock and you set the boundaries. LGD’s grow into large independent natured dogs. You will need to stay on top of the pecking order, not by using force but by quietly assuming the role because it is your place and your stock and your duty to keep everyone safe.

The health of your Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dog

essss

Great Pyrenees generally stay in good health. Some more common problems may include mats in the fur (especially around the neck and ears), the double dew claws growing too long, ear infections (due to dirt and moisture in the ear), eye infections (pink eye), allergies and “hot spots”. Hot spots are caused when an area of the skin becomes inflamed. The fur will fall out, the skin will turn bright red and the dog wants to bite at it. Some ointment from the Vet and keeping the spot dry cures this problem or a mixture of lavender and melaleuca essential oils mixed into a all purpose salve (here’s my recipe I use).

Genetic problems include: underbite, entropia (small eyeballs), seizures and hip dysplaysia. Pronounced underbite shows up as wet spots under the chin and neck. Entropia is when the eyeballs are small for the socket size and the eye lashes stick inward causing irritation. This can be cured with simple surgery, but the dog should not be used for breeding. The cause of seizures is unknown, but from what we have heard, changing owners, being confined to a small area, or other highly stressful situations will tend to bring them on. Hip dysplasia is not quite as common as in other breeds because Great Pyrenees have not been over bred. The most common form of death that we hear about is being hit by a car or being stolen.

We had to have stomach surgery on our Esme due to the fact she ate two rocks that got lodged in her stomach and small intestine. Thankfully, she made a full recovery! We corrected this behavior by providing her plenty of raw marrow bones to chew on in the late puppy stage and continuing to feed her a large breed high quality puppy chow to supplement the raw feeding that we do with her when we have extra meat laying around. 

Conclusion:

Investing in a Livestock Guardian Dog was the BEST decision we made when we started our homestead. We found our puppy on Craigslist and she came from a working farm with working parents. We have invested hours of training into her and I couldn’t imagine our farm without her. The ultimate satisfaction of this investment comes when I look out the window and I see her laying down near where the goats are grazing and our free-range chickens are pecking happily in the dirt beside her. 

The Training of a Livestock Guardian Dog

Sources:

  1. https://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/raising-puppies.html
  2. https://www.lgd.org/civilizedpyr2.htm
  3. https://hoeggerfarmyard.com/early-training-of-livestock-guardian-dogs/
  4. https://www.milkandhoneyfarm.com/dogs/training.html