Brewing Tea

To the untrained eye this might not look like much....

I see gold....green gold....
Maybe it's more recognizable on straw.....hint...it's from the rear end of a chicken!
Green green gold.... the horse equivalent
This "tea" is brewed from horse manure. Composted horse manure!

(Hubby picked up a few loads last week.)

And this "tea" is brewed with chicken poop!

My poor garden is just so sad this year, partly the weather but part of the problem in my garden this year is fertility. That is a lack of nutrients and compost. We ran out of time in the spring and didn't get much on and used strictly organic slow release fertilizer which would be great in addition to other amendments....

So what is the quick garden food fix??

Research!

Manure Tea!

So I head out to the chicken house and grab a bunch of poop/straw, I pick up the poop that is EVERYWHERE (a whole nother blog post) and dump it into a large plastic container. I've tried to re invent the wheel and didn't bother with the burlap sack or pillow case that most websites recommend the manure is put into....I just threw the poo in, added a scoop of soil (micro organisms), and filled the pails and containers with water.....(Let the water off gas overnight before adding poop if you're on city water!)

Stir often, I probably stir it up to 5x a day. I've read a fish tank bubbler works wonders....or a sock with a rock tied to a string to sploosh up and down.....I find I can lift the straw up and out and sploosh it back in making lotsa bubbles....oxygen is important!!

Chicken manure tea should brew for 3-6 weeks...But the Horse Poop Tea brews fast, like the next day fast........

So I scoop out a bit of the liquid without the chunks....

Pour my liquid green gold into the watering can. Do you know how hard it was to take this picture and pour at the same time??? THAT'S why it's focused on my fingernail.... I still like the photo though!

Dilute with water down to a "tea" colour.....

And water very very carefully (no splashing!) I watered my brocolli, caulis, peppers, and squash.My eggplants already look different, and YES I left some tea free to see if there was a difference.
A quick easy environmentally friendly "mircle" grow food!

I plan to do my rhubarb this week.

I have great plans for my garden next year....