Organic growing and sustainable living

<p>General discussion about organic growing and sustainable living - share and discuss information related to the general philosophy promoted by WWOOF.<br/>
You may also include links to events, activities and media that may be of interest to other WWOOF Ireland members.</p>

Nettles

Submitted by Tracy on

I have too many, the hen run is invaded (why cant they eat nettles like they eat everything else I grow), the lawn is just a nettle patch and the veg beds and poly tunnel are being invaded too. We have eaten a few, we've drunk tea, I have made nettle water to feed the poly tunnel. But we still have too many. They are easy enough to pull from the beds and the poor wwoofers are fed up listening to me explain that ALL the roots need to be removed. One wwoofer said that even wearing gloves "the plants still bite me". Another said she is "afraid" of them.

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Opportunity for Cooperative Development of Organic Farm

Submitted by Dooleys on

Hi,

I am interested in meeting like-minded people who are looking to live and work sustainably on an organic farm. I currently run a forty acre certified organic farm in Offaly. I would like to invite others to join us in cooperatively developing the land and creating a livelihood. Open to all sorts of ideas such as agroforestry, growing of alternative crops, artisan food production etc. There may be the possibility for people to construct a home(s) on the farm using natural building materials. People with skills in areas other than organic farming/growing also welcome.

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Biodynamics

Submitted by Tracy on

Does anyone here grow biodynamically, growing according to the moon phases.. Two years ago I was planting beetroot every two weeks and noticed that some of the time the later sowings where doing better. It could be down to a number of factors but I decided to give biodynamics a go. I looked up the internet, I bought the books, I got a moon chart. In very simple terms we have a waxing moon and a waning moon. In one the earth breaths in, in the other the earth breaths out. Sowing seeds is best during one of these phases. Well that's about as far as I got, it got too complicated for me.

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Keeping stock safe from the fox

Submitted by SusyandFrancis on

We have free-range chickens and ducks, and rescued pet rabbits. They run free during the day and are locked up in fox-proof runs at night, or if we go out. We have two dogs who are out and about most of the day.
In the last few weeks there has been a lot of fox activity, over the last ten days we have lost two chickens, one from right under my nose! I think she was watching and waiting for an opportunity. We are pretty sure it is a vixen feeding cubs that is being so bold, we have seen a cub eyeing up the cages in the middle of the night.

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woofing

Submitted by Former member on

hello, we are two young woofers , We send e-mails since 3month and We received no answer. I'm a little nervous about our journey . We paid our registration and We hope to have at least answers!
What's to be done?
thank you ! Charlotte and Quentin

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Chicken coops

Submitted by Shaun and Michaela on

has anyone had a problem with Red mites in chicken coops? we got them this summer and are battling to get rid of them. we are using Poultry shield to wash the houses, but because they are made of wood, there are too many nooks and crannies where they can hide.
Has anyone got any ideas?

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Converting a range to waste vegetable oil?

Submitted by floris wagemakers on

Has anybody here any experience on how to go about changing a waterford oil range to vegetable oil?
I have lots of sunflower waste oil from my falafel stall and there's an old part to our house that needs heating. The range is there but not connected, It makes total sense to use this oil for burning in this range but i'm not sure of how to go about it.
Is there anybody out there who has experience or has any pointers?

Floris

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