[Gpdd] CARE Food

Penny Charlesworth piggyfriends at tesco.net
Sun Nov 16 11:04:50 EST 2008


Hello Sarah,

Good to hear from you again.

My Piggyfriends have a vast array of fresh greenstuff. Their absolute favourite, of course, is fresh grass, free and plentiful for most of the year here in England. My own garden is totally organic and when they have eaten all of my lawn, I have a few places, where grass can be cut, that I know are not treated in any way that they can munch until my lawn has recovered.

They much prefer foraged weeds to any shop bought greens. Number one weed is Smooth Sow Thistle ( also called Milk Thistle ), which grows in abundance in spring and summer but is, sadly, now finished for the year. They love chickweed, which will carry on growing until we get a hard frost, dandelions and groundsel. Another favourite is plantain leaf ( not the thing that looks like a banana but a weed that grows a rosette of leaves.) They prefer the large leaved variety to the narrow leaved. Its botanical name is plantago major. There is always a stampede of tiny feet when I bring home the weed bag.

Favourite traditional greens for my herd are cauliflower leaves. They also like the veg that I buy as spring cabbage, preferring the dark outer leaves to the centre, which I can eat. I give them broccoli leaves from the garden but most prefer the florets themselves. 

Occasionally they get kale, usually in the winter then everything else is frozen in the ground. Some will eat some turnip tops ( the leafy bit ) and most of them like beetroot leaves, which turn their urine bright red. Quite scary the first time that you encounter this.

Everypig loves carrot tops and Gulliver says don't forget the parsley.

Anyone thinking of foraging for weeds, please make sure that you can correctly identify them and that they are from a safe area that has not been treated with chemicals or frequented by dogs........

.............and yes, I do realise that many people do not live in the country, with immediate access to these piggy delicacies but this abundance of free food means that I can afford to give a home to an extra Piggyfriend or two.

Penny and the Piggyfriends.


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