Drying weeds for the cold season

[biochemnerd808]

Right now our yard and field and tortoise habitats are growing more tortoise food than my tortoises can eat. Thinking ahead for dry Summer months and cold winter months (during which my Russian tortoises are brumating in the fridge, but my leopard tortoises still need food!), I've picked a bunch of thistle, broadleaf plantain, wild violet, and fresh grape leaves, and am drying them.
To feed in the winter, I soak the dried leaves in water for a few hours, and then mix them in with the cold season grocery greens. Provides good nutrients and fiber that bought greens don't have.



Ps: I got the drying net from Amazon for $15. Not sure if external links are allowed, but just do a search and choose the one you like best. Mine is 5ft x 2ft and has 8 levels.

 

[Tom]

Yeah, but your stuff will never dry in your climate having it outside like that!!!

Here in my climate, that stuff would be dry in less time than it took me to type this sentence.

This is a great idea and it will serve you well. I buy my stuff like that from @Kapidolo Farms . I don't have a surplus at all in spring or summer. My little piggies inhale every scrap I offer them every day. I need every leaf I can get.

 

[biochemnerd808]

Yeah, but your stuff will never dry in your climate having it outside like that!!!

Here in my climate, that stuff would be dry in less time than it took me to type this sentence.

This is a great idea and it will serve you well. I buy my stuff like that from @Kapidolo Farms . I don't have a surplus at all in spring or summer. My little piggies inhale every scrap I offer them every day. I need every leaf I can get.

We have a week of hot, dry (well, dry for our standards) days coming up, and that south porch gets good cross winds. I think it will work. The really hot humid weather starts in about a month, where you have to swim through the air.

I would have even more to dry, except my husband saw 'a patch of weeds' growing behind the house (where I had thrown a bunch of tortoise mix), and helpfully weed whacked the area. Doh!

I have that big 50ft x 50ft fenced area where Tortellini the foster Babcocki roams on warm days, where my little leopards will be when they are bigger. Used to be a goat pen. I've seeded it with tortoise weeds, transplanted in a ton, plus the many native (tortoise safe) plants (virginia plantain, mallow, thistles, dandelion, etc.), and there is SO much growing it looks like a jungle. Gotta thin it out before chigger season... I'm sure when my leopards have reached their full size, I'll have to work harder to keep everyone fed... But right now I have so much, I'm gifting armfulls of greens to our chickens every day.
Here is a photo from a month ago before the thistles got tall. Now it's all waist high!

 

[Tom]

We have a week of hot, dry (well, dry for our standards) days coming up, and that south porch gets good cross winds. I think it will work. The really hot humid weather starts in about a month, where you have to swim through the air.

I would have even more to dry, except my husband saw 'a patch of weeds' growing behind the house (where I had thrown a bunch of tortoise mix), and helpfully weed whacked the area. Doh!

I have that big 50ft x 50ft fenced area where Tortellini the foster Babcocki roams on warm days, where my little leopards will be when they are bigger. Used to be a goat pen. I've seeded it with tortoise weeds, transplanted in a ton, plus the many native (tortoise safe) plants (virginia plantain, mallow, thistles, dandelion, etc.), and there is SO much growing it looks like a jungle. Gotta thin it out before chigger season... I'm sure when my leopards have reached their full size, I'll have to work harder to keep everyone fed... But right now I have so much, I'm gifting armfulls of greens to our chickens every day.
Here is a photo from a month ago before the thistles got tall. Now it's all waist high!

I can currently use 3-5 firmly packed 5 gallon buckets of food daily. Can you send me your excess?

Grass hay and 100s of pounds of cactus pads are saving my bacon right now.

 

[Markw84]

Right now our yard and field and tortoise habitats are growing more tortoise food than my tortoises can eat. Thinking ahead for dry Summer months and cold winter months (during which my Russian tortoises are brumating in the fridge, but my leopard tortoises still need food!), I've picked a bunch of thistle, broadleaf plantain, wild violet, and fresh grape leaves, and am drying them.
To feed in the winter, I soak the dried leaves in water for a few hours, and then mix them in with the cold season grocery greens. Provides good nutrients and fiber that bought greens don't have.

View attachment 344447View attachment 344448

Ps: I got the drying net from Amazon for $15. Not sure if external links are allowed, but just do a search and choose the one you like best. Mine is 5ft x 2ft and has 8 levels.

A thought for you - I've used a drying rack just like that, but indoors. Sunlight is bad for the nutritional content of items when drying. Hanging indoors with a little circulation seems best.

 

[Tom]

A thought for you - I've used a drying rack just like that, but indoors. Sunlight is bad for the nutritional content of items when drying. Hanging indoors with a little circulation seems best.

I didn't know that. Is it the UV? Or the excessive heat? I'm thinking of the middle of my breezeway. It gets a little morning and evening sun but shade all day and good airflow. The heat from the metal roof will dry things out too on a sunny day.

 

[Markw84]

I didn't know that. Is it the UV? Or the excessive heat? I'm thinking of the middle of my breezeway. It gets a little morning and evening sun but shade all day and good airflow. The heat from the metal roof will dry things out too on a sunny day.

I got that from Will @Kapidolo Farms He told me the sunlight destroys a lot of the nutrients so I always do mine away from sunlight. Perhaps Will will respond and add more...

 

[biochemnerd808]

I can currently use 3-5 firmly packed 5 gallon buckets of food daily. Can you send me your excess?

Grass hay and 100s of pounds of cactus pads are saving my bacon right now.

I'm not sure if it would keep dyring shipment, or be worth the shipping cost, but in theory, I guess yes, I could send excess your way.

 

[biochemnerd808]

I got that from Will @Kapidolo Farms He told me the sunlight destroys a lot of the nutrients so I always do mine away from sunlight. Perhaps Will will respond and add more...

Ah, good point. The south side of our porch has a big oak by it, so I thought it would be OK. But I can move it inside. Thank you!

 

[DoubleD1996!]

Right now our yard and field and tortoise habitats are growing more tortoise food than my tortoises can eat. Thinking ahead for dry Summer months and cold winter months (during which my Russian tortoises are brumating in the fridge, but my leopard tortoises still need food!), I've picked a bunch of thistle, broadleaf plantain, wild violet, and fresh grape leaves, and am drying them.
To feed in the winter, I soak the dried leaves in water for a few hours, and then mix them in with the cold season grocery greens. Provides good nutrients and fiber that bought greens don't have.

View attachment 344447View attachment 344448

Ps: I got the drying net from Amazon for $15. Not sure if external links are allowed, but just do a search and choose the one you like best. Mine is 5ft x 2ft and has 8 levels.

Definitely gonna look into this. Thanks for sharing.

 

[wellington]

I'm going to Amazon next. Thanks for sharing this.

 

[Tom]

I'm not sure if it would keep dyring shipment, or be worth the shipping cost, but in theory, I guess yes, I could send excess your way.

Only kidding. It would not be remotely practical or cost effective to ship weeds.

 

[biochemnerd808]

I'm going to Amazon next. Thanks for sharing this.

I can PM you the Amazon link to the one I got if you want. But honestly, I think any one would work. This one was $15 and came with gloves. There were some that came with little trimmers too, but I'm a snob and only use Fiscars in my garden, and tortoise food gets picked by hand lol.

 

[biochemnerd808]

Only kidding. It would not be remotely practical or cost effective to ship weeds.

Well, I have actually shipped USPS flatrate boxes of weeds to friends when we lived in WA. My tortoise yard and mulberry tree kept producing long past when the Russian tortoises went down into my fridge for brumation... So the idea is not so far out there.... But a little box would barely make a dent in your daily needs!

 

[biochemnerd808]

I didn't know that. Is it the UV? Or the excessive heat? I'm thinking of the middle of my breezeway. It gets a little morning and evening sun but shade all day and good airflow. The heat from the metal roof will dry things out too on a sunny day.

Pretty sure the black netting would filter out UV, but I'm moving it anyway.

 

[wellington]

I can PM you the Amazon link to the one I got if you want. But honestly, I think any one would work. This one was $15 and came with gloves. There were some that came with little trimmers too, but I'm a snob and only use Fiscars in my garden, and tortoise food gets picked by hand lol.

Thanks I think I got the same one just a little more cost but it comes with extra stuff, gloves, clippers, maybe more. I couldn't find the one you got for 15

 

[RosemaryDW]

I think I recall your drying racks getting larger every year? Soon you'll need a hay bailer!