Dateline: 5 June 2006
David Taylor, down in Georgia, mailed me an order for Whizbang chicken plucker parts and he thoughtfully enclosed some long red mangle beet seeds, which are something I've never grown. I have heard of mangle beets but never knew anything about them.
Dave wrote that “These beets grow up to 15—20 pounds. They are great chicken feed/supplement and great for winter chicken feed if you skewer a few on some nails. The birds will just peck them till gone.”
Wow! The thought of growing enormous beets that I can store and feed my chickens absolutely thrills me! I will be planting the seeds tomorrow.
If you’d like to grow some of these mangle beets too, you can get the seeds from R.H. Shumways
Here’s what Shumway's web site has to say about the beets:
"Equal in nutrition to grain and produced at half the cost! Relished by livestock, particularly milk cows. Roots frequently grow 2 ft. long, about half growing above the surface, weighing up to 15 lbs. each. Skin is bright, rich red. White flesh with pale rose hue."
Thanks David Taylor, and thanks R.H Shumway.
Ouch.......I feel a dent in my wallet! Oh, that must be the order I just placed at H.A.S., thank you Herrick for posting such a wonderful resource. I am going to be ordering a "Rouge Hoe" (Triangle) for my weeding. I couldn't help but be reminded of you post "My Favorite Hoe", I'm sure this will become mine in time as well. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteRegards.
Ps. It's beets for my chickens as well this winter!
Scott,
ReplyDeleteI spent some time looking those hoes over and they appear to be real nice tools. In fact, came close to buying one but held off... for now.
You probably noticed another notable thing about Heirloom Acres—the folks who operate it apear to be Christian agrarians.
Aaahhhh, another Christian Agrarian. I wonder if they grew up in the city and felt the Lord leading them to life in the country like so many others?
ReplyDeleteI did read about these beets one time. Bob Evans (yes the restaurant guy) has a farm in Southern Ohio. He planted these as part of his year round grazing for his cattle.
I would love to try some, but I may have to wait until next year.
This post set me to Googling, and I came across this great article from Countryside magazine about gardening with an eye to producing supplemental feed for animals.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice! Now that the chickens are laying eggs, I figure I've got to keep them fed! Going over to Heirloom Acres now to check it out. Other Christian Agrarians you say....it seems to be contagious! :-)
ReplyDeleteHerrick, you may want to update this post. I clicked your link to Heirloom Seeds and their pages are gone. I googled Heirloom Seeds and they are getting a lot of negative comments for bad customer service. That's all I know. I wanted to order the mangle beets from them.
ReplyDeleteGary,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the head's up. I'm going to change it right now.
Herrick Kimball