GOAT SALAD
Is a bit of a misnomer because the pigs, chickens and lambs love all of this stuff as well… but it ALL started out for the goats at the Colchester Farm.
All of the animals will come a-running to get fruits and vegetables. It has to be fairly fresh though, not more than one or two days since you peeled and ate that banana.
What Other Stuff???
Table scraps consisting of vegetable and fruit – peelings, seeds, and cores – apples are a big hit with all!
Banana and orange peels…
Lettuce and other veggies from your fridge that aren’t quite fresh enough for your family, but not quite ready to start decomposing
Corn husks and cobs
The chickens will cheerfully peck at cucumber, carrots, and other veggie and fruit peelings and cores, especially melon rinds, and…
when pumpkin time arrives, ALL of the animals like to munch on the seeds, innards and gone-by pumpkins. In fact we have pumpkin carving days at the farm in late October so you can carve your jack-o-lantern and leave the mess with us.
If you are clearing brush, they will eat most scrubby bushes, the leaves from rose bushes, poison ivy, large thorned brambles, etc…
A few exceptions: raw potato and peels are a no-no for the animals – cherry, peach, plum, azalea, and rhododendron branches and leaves are toxic especially when dried
More toxins: milkweed (even if it is offered, they won’t eat it), mountain laurel and European hemlock (although they love most evergreens) – our first year here, we sold Christmas trees, and the goats actually jumped their fence to get at the balsam / Fraser fir trees.
Got an oak tree in your yard? Pigs LOVE acorns.
Bring ‘em by for them but leave some in your yard for the chipmunks and squirrels.
COMPOST
If you can’t get to the farm while your table scraps are fresh, you can still participate in the earth-friendly activity of adding to our organic compost. Your trash won’t be nearly as smelly or bulky & messy.
Tall weeds and grasses from your yard, even dandelion greens and the flowers… are all welcome.
We’ll gladly and gratefully take grass clippings (chemical -free, of course) eggshells and coffee grounds; they are all valuable in the compost. Please separate from the goat salad!
Leaves:
When doing your fall raking of oak, maple, birch, etc… bag ’em and instead of bringing them to the dump, bring ’em to the farm.
We discovered that the first year we tilled the soil, there were no earth worms to be found, after adding this stuff for 4 years we noticed a few. Now, there are lots and lots of beautiful earthworms in Colchester Neighborhood Farm ground… a sign of a healthy and happy soil.
We have learned that it takes about 10 years to build up a strong organic soil so, we need all of this matter to add the nutrients.
Pine needles are great mulch for berries!