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digitS'

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driving around Oregon while visiting and seeing so many Blackberries growing everywhere. To the point of Invasive!
Dang Right.

As a young kid on the Oregon farm, I was involved in pulling wild roses and blackberries out of our upper pasture. Dad did the pulling with the tractor and I was supposed to set the chain/cable. He usually had to get down to help me crawl in close enuf for the berry bushes. Roses, and their thorns, I could deal with better.

My first garden on my own was on the north coast of California. Over the back fence was the back lot of a mechanic's garage on the nearby arterial. Where space was not needed on that lot, blackberries grew. Rampantly! The previous residents had allowed them to grow under the board fence. About half my garden, about 20'x30', was cleared. Good thing I was young and willing.

Steve
 

Alasgun

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Following up on the Raspberry tea; today we made tea from fresh leaves and brought some in to dry. Fresh; it definitely matches the description. “Taste like a fruity black tea, astringent (slight puckering / drying in your mouth” and beyond the written info we discovered it does have a stimulative effect. We’ll have to see how the dried herb compares but i believe they will be very similar.

 

Dahlia

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Im not sure but a quick Duck search brought me to this. Mountain Rose is a trusted source who we have used for years.
They say it’s good for you! To my knowledge no Blackberries grow up here. I’ve been envious driving around Oregon while visiting and seeing so many Blackberries growing everywhere. To the point of Invasive!
I hope everyone in the Pacific Northwest just gathers their own BlackBerry leaves! So fresh and ever so abundant!!! I am super picky - I only like tea made with totally fresh ingredients! Lol!
 

Alasgun

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A nice batch of Compost tea was ready this morning and well received by all the Greenhouse stuff and houseplants.
 

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Alasgun

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6 more weeks and these (5ea) Sweet success starts will be living up to their name!
The very slight nutrient burn (yellow tipping on leaves) tells me the soil mix is about right. Going forward these will get preferential treatment and hopefully keep me in Cukes till after the first of the year? Lord willing!
 

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ducks4you

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A nice batch of Compost tea was ready this morning and well received by all the Greenhouse stuff and houseplants.
I inadvertently made some compost tea when I left some straw in a bucket--one that didn't leak!-- and it filled with rainwater. When I found it I had made some lovely compost tea, which I used in the garden.
 

Alasgun

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Compost tea comes in more flavors than ice cream and many folks brew and use an “anaerobic” (non aerated) tea like you are describing. The Queen of non aerated teas is to simply place a good handful of Comfrey in a bucket of water and wait till the water turns black; or the smell makes you doubt your sanity!
I refer to these teas an “nutrient teas”. On a scale of 1-10 these teas will come in under a 5 in comparison to an aerated “aerobic”Tea.

no microbes in one and lots of “home grown” microbes in the other. I attached an very elementary Rodale link which gives good (beginner’s) instruction for each.

Over the years i’ve helped numerous folks up their garden game if they are Organic minded and the first thing that comes out of my mouth is “learn how to make good Compost tea”. Now days im good enough at it to tell when the tea is mature without resorting to a microscope.

It’s simpler than you'd think and all plants love your efforts!

 
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Alasgun

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The new McKissic hammer-mill showed up today and of course i had to try er out. Words don’t do it justice and i am very pleased with the possibilities. Using an aluminum grain scoop to toss Compost into it; i cant keep up; the instant it drops into the hammers it’s pulverized. Ok, id expect it to do that, how about Beef and Yak rib bones? Same thing, they are instantly ground but not to as fine a texture as the compost.

In the next couple of days i want to run some raw Compost thru and see what happens? If it handles it without plugging it might he nice to have a large part of the pile more consolidated going into winter?
 

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