Signs of life…
April 25th, 2010
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Posted in Gardens, Irrigation | 
Tags: comfrey, gardening, Greenhouse, Irrigation, Permaculture, propagate
4 Responses to “Signs of life…”
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Thanks for the video, it was interesting to see. How do you intend to cut and harvest the mulch?
Regards, Gary
Hi Gary
The plan is to cut the comfrey with a brushcutter, or even better scythe, and then rake it up. We are only talking 1/2 to 1 acre so it is manageable. Mind you the harvest could potentially be very large with Comfrey able to generate ~100 metric tonnes per acre under ideal conditions. Unfortunately, or fortunately if you are holding the rake, my conditions won’t be exactly ideal so I dont expect harvests anywhere near this humongous amount. 50 tonnes per acre will do…
Excellent project Shane. I’ve been a Comfrey afficianado for over thirty years.
Years ago there was a Japanese newspaper that began a campain promoting Comfrey and sent out over one million plants (that’s right, one million) to farmers for their sheep and cattle. Now, the country would go to war if some mob like the TGA or the boof-head naturopaths and herbalists said it was a poison!
I drink the tea regularly. Nearly every day. I raised five kids on the stuff. Used it as a vegetable and a tea and as an ointment for cuts and bruises. Yes, that’s right; on cuts. I know it’s almost a sin to use it on cuts or lacerations but it and honey are seriously superior in healing these wounds.
It could be a serious move in the right direction to educate stock growers to the value of Comfrey and do a test with a number of sheep and cattle and show the benefit of using the herb as a stock feed. In fact you could take in cattle and fatten them up for a fee. Could be worth a thought.
Best regards…..Robin
Hi Robin
I understand your position and agree, well at least partially. From my side, having studied herbal medicine in the past, I believe that it is something that we should treat with caution until we are certain that there aren’t any long-term problems with internal use.
The studies, which were used as justification for the scheduling of the herb, did show that large amounts of pyrrolizidine alkaloids can have a carcinogenic effect on liver. However the issue I have is the ‘large amounts’ aspect. Let’s not forget that it has been used as a herbal medicine for centuries…
So I guess the best advice I could ever give anyone would be to make up their own mind and, if they choose to use internally, use appropriately. Too much of anything isn’t a good thing.
Cheers
Shane