SAINFOIN - AN INCREDIBLE PLANT TO HELP BUILD OUR PASTURES?
This plant was a blessing to find out about, so I thought I'd share it with all of you!
It didn't take me much research to decide to order some seeds, but the more that I read about this plant the more that I am impressed with it. Until about a month ago, I hadn't even heard of it before. However, I'm glad that we stumbled upon it.
SAINFOIN?
Sainfoin is an interesting name in itself, and comes from the French words meaning "Holy Hay" (Saint Foin) pr "Healthy Hay." It's a perennial member of the legume family, which is good news for many reasons. Since it is a perennial, it'll come back year after year once it is planted. Since it is a legume, it has some great characteristics like fixing Nitrogen in the soil.
Here on our homestead, space is limited. We want to have grazing animals, so providing a healthy pasture for them is key. The more healthy, beneficial, and nutritious the pastures are, the better they will work for raising our herds and flocks. It's also considered to be one of the healthiest forages for animals. Many grazing animals prefer Sainfoin to grass, it can actually help prevent bloating in animals too. Since it grows well in a wide variety of climates and is drought resistant, it'll work great for us.
A NATURAL ANTHELMINITIC!
While all that is very good news for us, it was another characteristic that really interested us. Sainfoin is a natural anthelminitic, which means that it can help destroy parasites. Basically, rather than using chemical dewormers, just by eating Sainfoin our animals can actually help deworm themselves and prevent parasites from attacking them.
For us, this is a huge bonus. We want to keep our land as clean and "natural" as possible. Every solution for common problems that we can prevent just by growing plants is major blessing to us. Think about it, what would you rather do, plant some plants that your animals love to eat or purchase chemical dewormers to give to your animals. For us, that choice is simple.
CRAZY-LOOKING SEEDS!
The seeds were also very interesting to see. I had never really seen what they looked like until they showed up when I ordered them, but they are crazy looking. They look like some interesting and savage alien eggs or something. From the strange texture to the spiked ridge, they are a sight to behold. Thankfully with my macro lens I can show them off to all of you up close.
Have any of you ever heard of Sainfoin before? Have you ever grown any for your animals? If not, doesn't it sound like a great plant to have growing in the pasture?
As always, I'm @papa-pepper and here's the proof:
proof-of-sainfoin-seeds
Until next time…
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Well, not quite. Sainfoin is French comes from the adjective "sain" meaning sane, healthy and yes "foin", hay. So, yes "healthy hay", but not "holy hay".
In French, Onobrychis viciifolia is usually called "sainfoin cultivé" (cultivated sainfoin). It is also called "esparcette à feuilles de vesce", which I found a beautiful name.
Nice to have someone who speaks French, you know how the internet is! Healthy Hay it is!
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Those Sanfoin seeds look crazy and they provide a lot of benefits to your land and animals. Sounds like a great investment with a year after year ROI. Thanks for the knowledge for life bro
Very cool! I can't wait to see that. I was really impressed with your story and I'm glad that our friendship developed from there!
Thanks bro, I knew you would enjoy it. I am glad we stemmed from this point and have grown since then.
as always your post are good quality and of good length. all the photo and information is useful.
Yeah, people used to say that they were too long, so I try to keep them more digestible. Hopefully it helps. Thank you.
yes sir i understand why people say so, but its not always possible to present all our thought in just some lines, we must take care what we are proving to our readers.
Yeah, especially with so many posts every day on steemit. It's hard to have time for them all anyway.
The seed is crazy have never seen such before thanks for bringing new things so lovely
I'd never seen such either!
Incredible plant serving a notable purpose. Thanks for the update. I've added to my list of plant
I agree, I am continually impressed by all that God has already provided for us and the animals of the earth.
Really common in UK for hay producing meadows. Attracts lots of bees to the flowers :-)
I believe it. People have been using in their pastures for at least hundreds of years.
My friends grow it on 5 acres as they keep horses, she says the hay is the best as it prevents horse colic :-)
You're living the dream mate, best wishes to you and yours :-) Love seeing the pics each day, especially of the livestock !
Very cool! Thanks for the encouragement. It certainly is our dream!
I just went and read some more on Sainfoin. It sounds like an awesome plant to introduce to your pasture. Best of all it's something different. I love trying out new things. I have no need for a pasture but I've tried some different types of vegetables in my mom's garden.
We live in the city. They are out in the country and have tons of garden space. I buy them some varieties of seeds that you don't find in the stores. This is a picture of some of the different varieties of cucumbers that we tried. I try to buy heirloom seeds of varieties of vegetables that are less common and we try them out. It's great fun.
I hope your animals like the cool new addition to their pasture.
Very cool! Are you in the States? If so, I could get you some interesting seeds that you might not have.
No. Unfortunately I'm not. I'm in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
I really appreciate the offer though. Thanks.
I love this seed sharing idea, we used to do it when we had a large garden and space. pape-pepper is into the seeds thing big time and I'm sure he has some exciting new ones you haven't tried. I do like the effort you make into growing. So valuable and if you know of a seed for Ridged cucumbers I'd be happy to hear that one as we can't find them in the U.K. and like to make Bread and Butter pickles. Happy Steeming, happy growing!
My mother and grandmother traditionally just used a boston pickling cucumber for all of their pickles including bread and butter pickles. It's only been the last few years that we've been trying some different types of cucumbers. I think my mom may have tried a type of english cucumber before but those were for eating fresh, not for pickling.
She has been experimenting with some of the new cucumbers as pickles and has been finding out which ones make a good pickle and which ones are better eaten fresh in a salad or just eaten by themselves on the side. I mostly stuck to cucumbers that looked like they were well suited for pickling just for the fact that you can only eat so many fresh cucumbers in a season.
There were some white cucumbers called white wonders that look just like a boston pickling cucumber but they are white. Mom made dill pickles with them and they turned out a really light green, I'm assuming from the dill. As far as taste and texture go, I couldn't tell the difference from her regular pickles. I assume if they work as dills they'd be fine for bread and butters as well.
Thank you for your informative and interesting reply.
I just heard about Sainfoin, and this may be a new discovery in the field of animal health. Hopefully I can get some grains to give to my farm animals. Thanks for information
It seems that people have been using it for their herds for hundreds of years! I'm glad that I finally found out.
Sainfoin that sounds like a food.
I like your healthy choices of life sir. It's our responsibility as parents to show our children the best and most healthy way to live.
Could it be possible to get some samples over here sir.
Yes, the health of our animals is very important to us and if we can take care of their needs naturally, then it is all the better.
It been incredible that you sharing all this with us ..just amazing.