![]() The root of the wild comfrey plant has been found to contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which can cause liver damage if ingested in large amounts. When the goats come this spring, they too will get comfrey. We will throw leaves to the chickens, along with the comfrey they nibble on when free ranging our in the meadow. a few leaves a week are fed to our rabbits, along with their other forage. Several times throughout the growing season we slash back the plant letting the leaves fall around, mulching and composting in place, thus creating bio-mass and top soil.īecause of the incredible nutrition captured in the leaves of the comfrey plant we use them as animal fodder. I also take small roots from these plants and plant comfrey in our orchard meadow and other various places on the farm. We also add the leave to our compost piles, they are great for activating the composting process and adding all those wonderful minerals to the compost. We use the leaves as green compost when creating dead-fall swales and huglekulturs. ( We grow comfrey in one big patch, those are what I consider my stock plants, and I harvest from them in all but the coldest months. Other ingredients are folic acid, the anti-anemia vitamin, and some B12, which controls the deadly pernicious anemia. ![]() The entire plant is a good source of vegetable protein, and the green leaves contain vitamins A, C, E, and several B vitamins, including choline, the fat-emulsifying vitamin that helps fight cholesterol deposits. Comfrey leaves have calcium, potassium, phosphorus, iorn, magnesium and iodine, to name just a few.Ĭomfrey is the only land plant that takes vitamin B12 from the soil. They collect minerals from deep in the earth, bringing them up into their leaves where they can be used by other plants, animals, microbes and us. Comfrey is a bio-accumulator, it has very long deep roots, they can grow to a depth of ten feet. ![]() I will go over the various ways we use comfrey on the farm.Ĭomfrey is widely used in permaculture landscapes. We use this plant for permaculture, animal feed and herbal healing. Comfrey is a vigorous plant, it grows easily in all types of soil, and while it doesn’t’ spread, the clump gets bigger and bigger each year and it is easily divided and grows quickly from it’s woody roots. ![]() Comfrey is one of my all time favorite herbs, ever. ![]()
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