| Comfrey was the wonder plant of the hippies! Do not let this put you
off. A perennial, it requires permanent beds but these can easily be
worked into The System. Excess feeding of this plant causes mineral
imbalances but fed to no more than 30% of the diet and combined with
stover or other cereal straws it makes a
complete feed.
The leaves can be placed under potatoes at planting for truly
remarkable results.
Fed to worms it accelerates the whole decomposition process to a
remarkable degree.
There is also some evidence to suggest Comfrey may be beneficial in
filling mineral gaps in the diets of human vegetarians. Research this
carefully, I am unable to recommend either way on this. |
A brassica, Woad is grown primarily for its blue dye. Other plants
produce a lot more of the indigotin that is the chemical
extracted from woad but woad is the easiest to grow.
Beware!! It is a declared weed in some parts of the world because of
its free seeding nature.
To learn how to process woad into indigotin
click here.
Woad can be a useful plant to grow if you are hand dyeing fibre. Blue
is especially hard to create organically, especially if you live in a
temperate climate.
Other colours can be achieved from many natural sources (click
here) but blue is basically impossible without woad/indigo. |
Local councils have been poisoning this plant and clearing it from
waterways for a decade. Quite successfully too. I suggest it has a
place in The System for a few reasons. Pollarded and cut yearly, it
produces wonderful raw material for basketry and wreath making. The
leaves make excellent stock feed. I've even dried them to create a
sort of willow hay that is relished by stock during winter.
Twisted willows add a touch of variety to basketry and wreaths as
well as forming the basis of Celtic Christmas trees.
Willow are easy care plants that produce a raw material that can be
stored to fill in those long winter nights and produce high quality/high
income products. |
Needs still water, nutrients and a temperature range of 18º to 30º
Celsius. This is quite a productive aquatic plant that can become a
weed in waterways. Can be fed to fish, stock or used in compost or as a
mulch. It is relatively high in protein and is loved by chooks and
ruminants.
Smothers algal blooms by floating on the surface and denying light to
the algae.
Harvest by simply skimming the surface with a pool skimmer or kitchen
sieve, depending upon the size of your system.
Duckweed may also be useful as an input for ethanol production. |
