Cyperus papyrus

Uses : Textile, Ornamental. Native to : Egypt
     The history of this plant is long and well-known, but did you know that it has become an exotic invasive in Florida? Once, long ago, someone planted one of these in the shady part of our yard underneath several Cherry Laurel trees, and years later there is still 3 or 4 stalks surviving.
     It is known to grow in areas like ditches and swamps, where abundant moisture can be found.
     Historically, the young shoots can be roasted and eaten much like bamboo. I have fed the stalks and leaves to the rabbits, and they aren't dead yet, so I must be doing something right.
     Unfortunately wildlife seem to have no interest in this unusual plant. It flowers in the spring, but the flowers are green and right in the middle of the big green fan fronds, so kind of easy to miss.

You can cultivate Papyrus like I do, as in, with abandon. Since they are in the grass the family they are very forgiving. What I like to do with them is put a bunch of dead leaves and mulch in he bottom of a 1 gallon pot, then put the piece of plant in, then put mulch and leaves all around the sides of the plant to hold it up. Then stick the whole thing into one of my mini ponds because papyrus loves water. I have literally grown papyrus in rocks in pondwater before. I stopped using rocks because they became annoying when it was time to divide up the papyrus stems and roots.

This plant is part of my master plen to take back the front of my yard, which is a great big mess. But papyrus is sweet and beautiful, and the rabbits like to eat it so I'm going to keep this well-haved permaculture fodder source around as much as I can.

Shibataea kumasaca, Ruscus Bamboo

     I'm not even sure how I got this plant. . I don't think I bought it, or did I? No, I think I would remember if I had bought a dwarf clumping bamboo, because it's very cool -

now that I know it's not a weed trying to take over the lemon tree. 

     Indeed, bamboos are cool. I have another larger grass that I quite enjoy because it's beautiful and grows well. And more importantly, it's edible to the rabbits.  These grasses can be very helpful in their ability to displace weeds. They are also easy to harvest and bring to the rabbits.

Baby Rabbits 2 January 2023

     They are doing quite well, survived their first night of freezing temperatures and fit in the palm of the hand. Still haven't yet opened their eyes. I'm really looking forward to their help in the garden this spring.

Baby Rabbits, January of 2023

     These kits are fresh outta my backyard. Their mother is a Rex rabbit and their father is a New Zealand red. It looks like there are 7 kits with two of them looking awfully dark brown and the rest fairly red. In the next mo th, I will be weaning them and starting them on pellet and green growies from the yard, just like their parents eat.

     People as me what I do to care for baby rabbits,  and the answer is not It Depends. What I like to do is provide optimal nutrition for the mother at all times and let her take care of them. I have her cage wired with barrier hardware cloth around the bottom and the lower portions of the sides, as I have had kits fall out before. This batch of kits are in a plastic basket I bought, which got a little bit chewed on he top but so far so good.  The baskets were about 7 to 10 each, I had to try something being as how rabbit nest boxes are more 25 each and only good for one or two litters before the wood is soiled. I will let you know how durable these plastic baskets are and if they are a good deal. Isabella bunny figured it out right away and lined the basket with leaves and fur, and is keeping the kits covered with (grey?) fur.

     I hope to sell them, any not sold will be lawnmowers for my yard. I really can use the additional help with cutting and mowing. I was saddened after I sold the last batch and realized that I didn't have their help anymore in the tractor with cleaning and weeding the yard. I have even been toying with the idea of buying an expensive cordless lawnmower like this one because I can't keep up with the yard with my crazy work schedule and kids.

     I guess I will sell them on Craigslist? If anyone has a better idea please let me know.

Utilizing Food Waste on the Homestead

      The kids have been driving me crazy lately with what they will eat and what they won't eat. Literally worsened by the idea that their other family just gives them whatever they want, even going so far as to leave the house to drive to get takeout for them. Obviously I am not a fan of this kind of thing, nor am I a fan of encouraging picky eating. So I decided in my frustration to just start cooking whatever I want for myself, and if they don't like it then they can make themselves sandwiches. Mmm... sandwiches.

     The high prices of foods have also changed my life. I used to shop at the good grocery store that had everything, now I shop at two stores to save money, Walmart and Sav a Lot. I particularly enjoy how Sav a Lot has a huge Latin section with dried peppers, tortillas, and many other staples being really inexpensive. One day at Sav a Lot the freezer section had a big bag of frozen whole tilapia, very cheap. Of course, I knew that I wasn't going to get much usable meat from those little fishes, but it was kind of an experiment too, as I wanted to see if the cats would dig in. 

     I got the fish home and defrosted them, the my oldest saw them in the fridge. She, of course, hates me and everything about my life as she is a teeny ager right now. She looked at me like I was absolutely crazy when she found the fish. But then she offered to do the gutting and skinning which she wasn't too bad at. It turns out you have to have a really good knife for skinning, which I have since picked up from Walmart for a few dollars. 

     So the skin and heads and tails and fins all went into a bowl for the cats. Another thing I learned from this experiment is that my male cat who loves ham, sliced turkey, and cat treats will not eat fresh fish; my female cat who loves ham and bits of chicken, will eat fresh fish. She will only eat three small bites before she is full though. I should retry this picky eating with two hungry cats who have had an empty food dish for a few hours.  🤔

     I put the rest of the fish pieces outside for the ducks to eat, which they quite enjoyed. And I learned that the ducks love fish but they prefer it to be cut into bite sized pieces. The heads, which I had not cut up, stayed in the dish for a while before they disappeared into the compost. I don't think they ever did get eaten. But the fins and tail and spine all got eaten.

      So now I deliberately buy foods that have waste so I can feed it to the ducks or rabbits. For example, did you know ducks like to eat shrimp peels and tails? Who knew. And the rabbits absolutely love banana peels, orange rinds, and apple cores. These guys turn waste foods into compost.

Rabbit Forage in Florida

      I get quite a few questions from people asking me what I feed my rabbits, especially after they find out that I feed them almost completely out of my yard. 

     Keep in mind that I live in the deep deep south on the west side of Florida. Most of the year I have some kind of green stuff to give them, even if it is just grass. 

     I don't knowingly give them plants that I know to be toxic, like pokeweed, poinsettia, amaryllis, ferns, cherry laurel, 4 o'clock, croton, and crinum, though I do have those in my yard.

Grasses

     When I feed grass, I always try to offer a higher protein feed with it, like my go-to water hyacinth, which I like to refer to as the alfalfa of the South. 

     - Bahia grass

     - Papyrus

     - Elephant grass, also called Napier grass

     - Sedge

     - Crabgrass

Herbs

     Rabbits can eat everything we can eat and more. These plants are seasonal, and they may have a whole bunch of one plant on one day and then a whole bunch of another plant the next day. They have no digestive issues, despite what you might read online when it comes to varying up diets.

     - Mulberry

     - Pear

     - Hibiscus including Chinese and Turks Cap

     - Roses including thorns

     - Grape leaves

     - American Beautyberry

     - Loquat

     - Gingers, including False Cardamom, Shell, and Shampooo

     - Cannas

     - Perennial Peanut

     - Daisies, especially Spanish Needle

     - Tradescantia species, including Spiderwort, Purple Heart, and Small Leaved Tradescantia

     - Sages, including Tropical Sage and Swamp Sage

     - Hoja Santa

     - Copperleaf

     - Spanish Bayonet

     - Citrus anything including Lemon with thorns, Tangerines

     - Sprouted Dent Corn

Other stuff 

     There are a few plants that they can eat, but maybe they don't like so much. These are what they eat last or not at all.

     - Sago Palm

     - African Honeysuckle

     - Agave

     - Sycamore leaves in the fall

     They get some human food too. My family once asked me why I dont have a compost bin. The reason is because the rabbits eat most human foods, but I don't feed them meat or oily things, not that I have a lot of that around to throw away. 

     - Apple cores 

     - Pear cores

     - Banana peels

     - Orange and Lemon peels

     - Limp fennel

     - Basil,  Cilantro, and herbs that have been forgotten 

     - Pepper tops with seeds

     - Uneaten peanut butter and jelly sandwiches

     - Dry or weird bread

     - Leftover plain popcorn

Would the pet cats eat baby rabbits if they were hungry?

     With the current inflation rate being predicted to be at 15%, I can't help but question my spending habits. I'm trying not to have a mentality of scarcity, as I am happily employed, but I have been rethinking all of my spending in light of my long term goals, which are to hopefully retire early, preferably away from the city, and sell plants. And grow my own food of course.

     I used to have pet parrots, and they were wonderful, but expensive and hard to keep up the maintenance with. Now I have pet ducks, which surprisingly, are providing quite a bit of eggs, which I have been enjoying. They are paying for themselves. But they require quite a bit of maintenance as they need their water to be clean.

     And I started breeding the rabbits again, I need to use their manure creating abilities to help me with the garden. I also thought that they could be eaten at some point, but now that they are small, I wonder if they could be cat food. Or if I could make baby rabbits to create cat food.

     What would you do if you couldn't buy cat or dog food anymore? Or if you had to choose between nutritious food for you and good pet food for the animals? I suspect that a lot more people would stop buying cat and dog food and start giving them people food. Or perhaps baby rabbits and duck eggs?

Do Ducks Eat Tradescantia Purple Heart?

 

    Things are so expensive. A bag of plain chicken food without the additives to promote egg laying is about $20. When you factor in the cost of the baby duck food I have already given them, at this time I have spent about $40 in nothing but feed for these ducks. That makes them kinda expensive if I was owning them for meat. So any supplementation that I can give them from my plants would be a good thing.

     Between the corn sprouts and the water hyacinth, I have learned that they will eat Spanish Needle, but they won't eat Papyrus. And today I covered their splash ponds in Tradescantia Purple Heart, also called Moses in a Boat. It's a lovely succulent that grows in deep shade and is used often around here as a groundcover. Previously I had determined that the rabbits do indeed like it.

     Covered the splash ponds in Purple Heart, and then went on to do the next chore. By the time I turned around they were eating everything in sight, including the Purple Heart.

     That day they didn't finish their chicken crumble food or the corn sprouts because they filled up on healthy plants.

     Ducks love water hyacinth.

Isabella bunny

 

    Earlier this spring I decided that I missed having all the rabbits around to help me in the garden. Ok the adult rabbits didn't help me IN the garden, they helped me by creating small rabbits for the rabbit tractor. And they helped me by turning weeds into mulch and manure. But then the older rabbits passed away.

     Did you know rabbits live for 9 years or so? I didn't know that.

     I bought Isabella bunny from a young lady out in Weeks Wachee, off of craigslist. Now I just need a male rabbit. And then I can have baby rabbits in the tractor again.

     She has been transitioning well off of the commercial pellet she had previously been eating. I have her on the same diet as Princess, primarily alfalfa pellets, plants from the yard, and water hyacinth. They both have beautiful coats and clear eyes, seem to be a healthy weight. 

     And rabbits are by far, the best way to raise protein in suburban Florida.

Eat the Water Hyacinth

Raw

     If you want to grow your own food, you may have to open up to the idea of eating some fruits and vegetables that are not commonly found at the grocery store. And if you live in Florida, you're going to be working with a whole different plant set and growing season changes than them Yankee gardeners. All this flexibility in diet isn't easy, most people eat the foods that they were raised eating and find trying new foods to be difficult.

     Water hyacinth is my new favorite local food. It's a water plant that grows in warm water, and is well known for how quickly it creates baby plants. In the past it has been used to pull toxins out of water sources, indeed, water purification is one of it's advantages. After I had added it to my pond the water instantly cleared and the fish became visible. Because the pond water is kinda yucky, I feel that water hyacinth should always be cooked, and I handle it like it's contaminated with E.coli (as it may be after the great manure spill of 2016). 

     According to Green Deane, the best way to eat water hyacinth is to stir fry, and I completely agree. With oil and garlic preferably. It has a taste not dissimilar from some good fresh green beans, which are hard to come by nowadays. The texture is decidedly different, as the air bulbs are crunchy and airy, like eating potato chips, and can be a bit chewy. Overall I would say that water hyacinth is quite palatable.

     Water hyacinth is very different from other fruits and vegetables. Because it is so unusual I couldn't get the kids to try it, what a shame! It's so easy to grow in the pond - right plant, right space - that is seems to be ever bearing. Like ever bearing crunchy green beans! Even if the kids never eat it, I know I can eat it and the rabbits do quite enjoy the green bits (they won't eat the roots.)

     This video talks a little bit about how water hyacinth is used at this lake to feed local livestock, including chickens.

 

Pennisetum purpureum, Napier grass, Elephant Grass

     At the local gardening club, I picked up some rooted cuttings of this interesting black grass and planted one in the front garden and one in the back garden. I didn't know too much about it then, other than that it was big and black and $12.
     It turns out that Elephant grass earned it name because it is a favorite plant of elephants back in its native home of Africa. It is edible for people too, and by extension, rabbits. Plants for a Future says the young shoots or leaves are added to soups. Elephant grass is closely related to millet.

     According to Feedipedia, it is primarily used in cut and carry feeding systems and used to make silage. It is desirable due to its wide range of habitats and drought tolerance. The fresh leaves an stems are reported to have just 1-10% protein, but to be a good source of carotene.  Historically there have been a few cases of nitrate poisining in cattle fed on exclusively Elephant Grass, but I remember reading the same for Tifton hay also. Archive has a fantastic book about using Elephant grass as a fodder crop in Hawaii.
     It is also used to make thatch and mulch, and to prevent erosion if planted on contour.
   Elephant grass is mainly grown in stands. It produces few seeds and is usually propagated by stem cuttings of at least 3 nodes, 2 of which are buried into the soil. Has been known to grow 4 meters in three months time after planting from stem cuttings.

     It has been growing very well in my yard for almost one year now. I plan on taking cuttings out to the forest to plant on the sandy areas created by cars driving through the corner of the land.

Cannas, surprisingly beautiful

     Came home from my so-called job to find these beauties in my back yard. I have them growing in a standard nursery pot that is sitting in a larger clay pot that has no drainage holes. It usually is filled with a few inches of water. They say cannas like to have their feet wet, and that definitely seems to be the case around here.
     Cannas are edible, and I have eaten the leaves, which have a mild flavor but are chewy. Would be an excellent base for a salad but I wouldnt use them for lettuce wraps. I haven't yet tried the roots.
     This is a plant that can be found at many nurseries. I have even seen them for sale at Meijers in Michigan, what a sight for sore eyes. They are distinctive and come in several varieties, including variegated and purple-leaved.

Texas Sage, Scarlet Sage, Tropical Sage, Salvia coccinea

     It's hard to believe how many flowers this plant has over the course of the growing season. I feel like it blooms if it gets any amount of watering. I have even taken to trimming off the spent branches after the seeds have been thrown off to encourage more blooms. I feed the branches to the rabbits, of course.

   Texas sage is a tender perennial native to Mexico but found in Florida and other parts of the Southeast. It can freeze to the ground in the winter time, and I have lost several plants that way.  I have also lost a few plants to irregular watering. It is edible, has a bitter taste which is good for flavoring chicken. It is in the same family as the hallucinogenic sage, but it is unknown if Texas Sage has hallucinogenic properties. Maybe you can tell me?

    Propagation of Texas sage is primarily done by seed, but I suppose you could do cuttings of new growth if you were desperate. Texas sage is woody, so follow the same cutting directions as if you were making rosemary cuttings. I like to do nothing to propagate Texas Sage, and then later find seedlings in unexpected places, and I move the seedlings to where I want the plants to grow. The seedlings transplant easily.
     Flowers can either be red, pink, white, or possibly other colors I have never seen. Red is the most successful in my garden, but that could be because I have had red the longest. It gets visited by a variety of creatures including hummingbirds and bees.

Shell ginger

     Native to Eastern Asia, Alpinia zerumbet (Shell Ginger) is an amazing addition to any permaculture garden. It thrives with very little water and deep shade.
     It is edible, with the leaves being used to wrap rice dishes and rice cakes. Tisanes are made with ground leaves, stems, and roots. It is considered to have many antioxidants and to lower blood pressure.

    According to this study, Shell Ginger has many effects including antimicrobial (against E. coli), antiparasitic, insecticidal, anti-cancer, antiproliferative, antiinflammatory, analgesic, antiallergic, neuroprotective, and antioxidant properties. It has a proven efficacy against HIV virus and against neuroaminidase enzymes (Influenza viruses). Phytochemicals in Shell Ginger inhibit oxydative stress in adipose cells, and contribute to lipolysis. The phytochemicals also decrease intracellular triglycerides, which limits fat cell production/growth. A chemical in the roots called labdadiene inhibits glycation, preventing glycation related diabetic complications. Essential oils, specifically terpenin-4-ol, relax smooth muscles and decrease blood pressure.

     Apparently Shell Ginger is the local superfood that no one knows about! And here I am telling everyone. The superfood outside the back door...
    Propagate gingers by lifting the rhizomes and dividing them. Plant the rhizomes at the same depth ad the parent plant, or closer to the surface when in doubt.  It should be about as deep as the rhizome is tall.

     It has been my experience that all gingers hate being disturbed, and may look poorly for a year or two after dividing. One source says that after a Shell Ginger produces flowers/seeds then thay stalk can be cut to the ground and the rhizome will send up a new shoot. If you do any cutting, the stems and leaves make great rabbit food. Indeed, they think it's a treat! The cut leaves also have a wonderful aroma, not unlike a mixture of cardamom and ginger. Not too bad in a smoothie either.

Fortress of Solitude - Building a Moat

     Other than the Prickly Pear cacti that ai am propagating for my moat, I also have plans to use Yucca filamentosa as an additional barrier. If the yuccas were spaced appropriately it would be enough danger to stop most large animals, in theory. No deer preying on my garden!
    I planted out some of the immature yuccas from my house with enough spacing in between them for a row of prickly pear and then Agave americana on the inside row. Of the three aforementioned species Agave americana is the moat useful to me at the moment, as a leaf from it needs no adulteration in order to feed the rabbits. They like it! So having agave on the inside seems to make sense to me at the moment, even if I am sick from a cold and sleep deprived.
     Here is the beginning of the plant fence near the road.

Beans, Spring of 2019

     This spring I decided to try something different.  I planted a bunch of mystery beans in my containers, along with some morning glory. The beans were cheap and white, and said they were bush variety, so why not? I guess I am a why not kind of person.
     The germination rate on the beans was pretty decent - more than half sprouted. I can't complain about that.

     The best thing about beans is that they have been hybridized to grow quickly. This is a boon in our short spring growing season. Beans share this trait with peas. Every day you can walk over and visibly see that there has been a change from the previous day. Suddenly there are flower buds and tiny pods. Leaves are good in salads and smoothies, or with the stalk fed to the rabbits. And the flowers are gorgeous!

     There is a lot growing on in these pictures, as I am a big fan of polycultures and diversity. I am learning to appreciate the traditional choice of potting mix - that spaghnum moss is an excellent moisture sponge. It makes me wonder what other traditions people are growing on? I will post more pictures as they flower and fruit, assuming I can keep up with rhe watering!

April 29th, 2019

Rabbits, Spring of 2019 update

     As cute as she looks, today she has become a mothering failure. All of her kits (2?) have disappeared. It is unclear whether the kits have become the victim of rats or another predator or some other calamity. Setbacks happen. You just do the best you can.

Rabbits, Spring of 2019, part 2

     Early Saturday morning, I remembere d that one of the rabbits was about to kindle, so I quickly scrubbed the nesting box and threw it into her cage, beautified with a new cardboard bottom. It was a good thing that I had done that right then too, because when I went out there Sunday morning to feed the rabbits, she had filled the box with fur and squirming masses. And inhaled every last drop of water and food. So I topped her up with an additional water bottle and plenty of greens with more to come every day.
     The garden has been producing growies in abundance this year, thanks to my super plant selections and attention to watering. This morning the rabbits received leaves of ginger, tropical sage, turks cap hibiscus, and Spanish Needle.

Rabbits, Spring of 2019

     It has been a long time since I have bred my rabbits. They are like my little garden buddies. They turn leaves into compost for me, the ultra fast way. And they are always eager to see what soggy fruit or vegetable peel i have for them. So this week I put two of them together and they seemed to have a successful coupling. I should have kits in 4 weeks! And extra buns for sale in 2 months!
     Check out this blackgrass I have planted for them. Edible for rabbits. And beautiful as well.

Opuntia, a revisiting

     I have been rethinking the case for planting spiny Opuntia at the new place. The spiny Prickly Pear still makes a delicious fruit, and it has the added benefit of keeping out people, deer, and anything else soft and fleshy.
There is a very nice overview here.
     I must have at least 20 starts in the front yard ready for transplant. Exciting!