Gardening

Chamomile

Manure Tea

Okay, so now you think I’ve really gone off the deep end. But really, manure tea is good stuff! Let me explain. This is for my garden, not to drink.

I have geese, horses, sheep, goats, and a very opinionated Macaw named Rita, all of whom supply the needed material to make manure tea. It just so happens that the geese roam at large and like to hang out next to the house. This makes for a very messy yard if not raked every day. The horses need their shelters cleaned out, and the goats, well, they just roam around. Rita’s cage tray is also a good source for well, I guess there’s no polite way to put this, Rita Bird poop.

The first ingredient for manure tea is, you guessed it, manure. All these types of manure, including the Rita Bird poop, is good for tea. I keep a wheel barrow (any barrel or some such thing will do) next to the water spigot, and fill it with the raked-up goose droppings, some horse manure, and the Rita Bird poop from her cage. I then fill it with water from the spigot and let it steep for a few days. Walla! Manure tea. You will have to strain it with anything you can think of such as an old pillow-case, then dilute it to the approximate color of regular tea, then apply it to your garden soil.

I’d use the goat and sheep manure, but they roam also and their manure is not concentrated in convenient, easy to pick-up piles. So, my garden will have to survive without their contributions. They do okay fertilizing the Chamomile, which grows all around the house. My motto? If possible, nothing wasted.

Barb