Regrets: wish I'd never planted that.....

[JimWWhite]

Well, my Mama wouldn't use anything other than lard to fry with. She used it in biscuits, cobblers, pie crusts, and about anything else she baked. My Sister was always trying to get her weaned off of lard but she wouldn't do it. She's now living with Sis and whenever Sis cooks something that Mama thinks should use lard she'll let her know when Sis serves it up. Something like: "This is a little too tough. Should've used lard..."

 

[The Mama Chicken]

Then I'm in good company.
You know I think my Mama's cousin lives near you, he's in Concord.

 

[grow_my_own]

I have about 8 million seedlings in the garden for amaranth...The elephant head type, not the love lies bleeding (which I really like and never reseeds....) My biggest regret is that little pot of mint, I brought from my Mom's garden. I was just tonight, wondering why mint hasn't taken over the planet. If the chickens would eat it, I could save thousand on feed!

Just goes to show you how everybody's chickens are different. My chickens ate all the mint we had when we lived at the house in Sacramento. They ate my mint, my oregano, my basil, my rosemary, and a little bit of the lavender (after a while, they stopped eating that... dunno why, don't really care why, just glad they did LOL). Some people's chickens LOVE bell peppers. Mine won't eat them, but they like the plants when I thin them out early in the spring or when I pull off leaves, etc.

 

[lesa]

Funny, my chickens won't eat peppers or pepper plants. Go figure. Still cursing that amaranth- but I will say the chickens eagerly eat everyone I pull up!

 

[catjac1975]

Did the eggs get any flavor form the mint and herbs?

I have about 8 million seedlings in the garden for amaranth...The elephant head type, not the love lies bleeding (which I really like and never reseeds....) My biggest regret is that little pot of mint, I brought from my Mom's garden. I was just tonight, wondering why mint hasn't taken over the planet. If the chickens would eat it, I could save thousand on feed!

Just goes to show you how everybody's chickens are different. My chickens ate all the mint we had when we lived at the house in Sacramento. They ate my mint, my oregano, my basil, my rosemary, and a little bit of the lavender (after a while, they stopped eating that... dunno why, don't really care why, just glad they did LOL). Some people's chickens LOVE bell peppers. Mine won't eat them, but they like the plants when I thin them out early in the spring or when I pull off leaves, etc.

 

[Teka]

I am changing my mind about the amaranth -- I did look up how to eat them on the net, and there are lots of ways... I've been adding the leaves to stir fries or any other situation where spinach is called for. The stems are like a cross between asparagus and celery when cooked. I'm now waiting for the seeds. They can be cooked like quinoa, used to thicken soups, and so on.

I'm using up my mint making no-alcohol mojitos every night -- crush 3-4 leaves in the bottom of a glass, as a wedge of lime, ice and seltzer water.

And no, chickens can eat mint and other herbs without affecting their egg taste. In our home, the chickens get every thing that we (or the dog) don't eat, and all of the weeding and trimmings from the garden. Hot peppers to garlic, eggs are always great!

 

[digitS']

. . . It's probably that "invasives" invade different parts of the world . . . or, don't.

I planted perilla a couple of times. I suspect that I'll discover one here at home this season but haven't noticed one yet. There were quite a few sown in the big veggie garden once - then, I learned that it can be a serious problem for farmers and take over in hay fields. It is only "kind of" edible and not at all suitable as a livestock forage. But . . . a few plants showed up out there the next year, then they disappeared completely. After about a half dozen years, I think that has finally happened here at home. It just wasn't a good enuf environment for perilla. . .

I guess I was right . . . funny how I said it both ways back in May: the perilla would reappear, the perilla would not reappear.

It reappeared -- I have 2 plants that are about 12" tall. I have so little anxiety about them, I won't be at all concerned if they go to seed.

As you are researching your amaranth's usefulness, finding something for me to do with perilla might be interesting .

Steve