Carrot tops!

[MamaSheepdog]

I just had 30 bales of Bermuda grass delivered, and they brought me about 25 lbs of carrots with tops (fresh from the field!), and 3 huge heads of lettuce! WOOT!!!

I am afraid that the tops will wilt before I can feed them all unless I also let the horses and goats have some, and I'd prefer to give them to the bunnies. I can store some in a cooler and the fridge, but I am wondering if they would dry well hung from the rafters of the barn where they are protected from the sun and rain or snow. I thought I could leave a bit of the end of the carrot on to keep the leaves together, and string them up with hay twine.

 

[ladysown]

you can do that.. or put them in the fridge in some water and let them grow.

Not sure how'd they dry though...

 

[MaggieJ]

I dried plenty of Queen Anne's Lace last summer... which is botanically the same as domestic carrots. The main thing to be careful of is the humidity... Sometimes greens will go mouldy before they dry. If you can find a space inside the house (mudroom, laundry room... hang them from the clothesline maybe?) that would likely be best at this time of year.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Our fridge gets packed pretty tightly since we stock up only once a month, so I don't have room for a carrot garden in there, ladysown, much as I'd like one! :roll:

Maggie, right now it is 26% humidity both outside and in the house. The huge pot of minestrone soup on the stove may have something to do with that though! :lol: Forecast is cool and clear for several days at least.

I bought an ancient food dehydrator at the church rummage sale that I could try out... or I could string some up near the fireplace where the air has less moisture.

Should I dry them to the point that they snap when bent or leave a little bend in them? Also, can I feed them during the drying process, or are wilted greens harmful if fed?

:bow: Thank you, oh great Guru of Bunny Greens! :bow:

 

[MaggieJ]

Lol. Not I!

I'd string them by the fireplace if it is not too inconvenient. They should be quite dry before you store them. The stalks will be somewhat brittle but the leafy parts not so much. Make sure the container breathes. Big mesh sacks like those onions or oranges come in are great. I do not feed greens when they are wilted.

If you want to keep some for fresh feeding, they should keep quite well for several days with just the bottom part in a container with water. That way they can fresh now and dried later on. Lucky Bunnies!

 

[AnnClaire]

Oh, yeah, don't worry about drying the carrot tops ... the bunnies will act like they are on crack for even the dried tops. As for drying, just hang upside down in a cool dark place like you would any herb ... and leave the tops of the carrots on, they will like that even more! If you don't have any place to hang, you can dry on old window screens, just turn twice per day to keep from molding. Once dry, I find that empty tyvek feed bags make good storage places and you will find a bunch of "shake" in the bottom that will be especially loved

And, if you really want to get into it this summer, when you mow, expecially if there is an area full of weeds, let those clippings dry in the sun and then bag them for winter feeding. Just be sure there isn't any fertilizer or weed killer on the grass.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Lol. Not I!

I beg to differ! :bow:

I'd string them by the fireplace if it is not too inconvenient.

If you want to keep some for fresh feeding, they should keep quite well for several days with just the bottom part in a container with water.

I will do both! Thanks!

I find that empty tyvek feed bags make good storage places and you will find a bunch of "shake" in the bottom that will be especially loved

Tyvek is the woven plastic that all the feed seems to be sold in now instead of paper?

And, if you really want to get into it this summer, when you mow, expecially if there is an area full of weeds, let those clippings dry in the sun and then bag them for winter feeding.

Lawn? What lawn?!? :lol: The only time we have grass is in the spring and early summer, but it is the "wild" grass, not anything we planted, and our land is too hilly and rock strewn to mow. We don't even have a lawn mower, but I could put the kids to use with the weed whacker.

 

[AnnClaire]

Yes, Tyvek is what all the feed bags have gone to. Not too good for the environment, but a ton of secondary uses!!!! And practically indestructible! Need a pee barrier for a spraying buck, hang a bag Need to store something dry, use a bag and stuff it full! Need something wet contained ... grab a bag ... or use duct tape to put two open bags together for a water-proof barrier ... I am using 4 for the bottom of the inside cardboard corral and for a week, they haven't been able to chew it or shred it and it is easy clean up with a little vinegar water when I take the sheet up for daily cleaning.

I am also saving bags to tape together to replace 2 tarps, that keep the rain off the bunnies, that the wind is shredding ... I'll just turn the white, inside to the outside, and the green outside to the inside which should help reflect the heat of the sun this summer :lol:

Oh, yeah, put them kids to work weed whacking and gathering My mower punked out on me last summer so I didn't mow and the bermuda got about 6-8" long by the end of the summer. Over the winter, on warm days, I would go out with a big plastic bin and just pull grass by hand (OK, it wasn't time to plant in the garden, so I wanted my hands in something :lol and it doesn't take very long to get a big container full of the dry grass. The bunnies absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! But you wouldn't catch them eating green bermuda in the summer for nothing!!!!

I am also trying horseraddish this summer. A breeder in Tennesee sent me a start and she dries the leaves for her bunnies for winter along with feeding as greens in the summer.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Yes, Tyvek is what all the feed bags have gone to. Not too good for the environment, but a ton of secondary uses!!!!

They are good for the environment here- they get used so many times before the sun starts to make them brittle, and their final service is as a trash bag! We always had to be careful to protect the old feed from access to the cats because they would chew the bags open- didn't matter if it was chicken scratch or beet pulp- they'd open it up on the off chance they could eat it. The tyvek bags hold up really well to their assaults, so no more spilled feed here!

I use them to gather and store the waste hay before it gets fed to the goats, fill them up with raked leaves to take to the compost bins, fill them with cans and bottles for recycling so the cats don't scatter them everywhere, stuff them full of horse blankets for storage, and when we had hay stored outside under a tarp I used them as a second line of defense where the tarp had small holes and leaked. I like your idea to use them as urine guards, but thankfully my rabbits don't spray much at all. Knock on wood!

 

[AnnClaire]

Yep, I still have one more bag full of fall leaves sitting out waiting to be used for topping off the 2 potato bags I have going in tyvek bags :lol:

 

[OneAcreFarm]

My feed still comes in a paper bag....

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Put it through the paper shredder and use it for nests! I have stopped using re-usable shopping bags at stores that have paper bags, because otherwise I don't have any brown paper to shred!