How I use herbs - Lucerne (Alfalfa)

Lucerne AKA Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) is a legume that is commonly grown as pasture or for hay making. I call the pasture and the hay lucerne, but I call the sprouts alfalfa. Lucerne, is also a place in Switzerland, which I'm sure is related to the plant, but I can't find any information. Confused yet?

I'm about to make it worse, you probably thought I was going to talk about alfalfa sprouts, but I actually don't eat them since I read that:

Raw alfalfa seeds and sprouts are a source of the amino acid canavanine. Much of the canavanine is converted into other amino acids during germination so sprouts contain much less canavanine than unsprouted seeds. Canavanine competes with arginine, resulting in the synthesis of dysfunctional proteins. Raw unsprouted alfalfa has toxic effects in primates, including humans, which can result in lupus-like symptoms and other immunological diseases in susceptible individuals.

This is explained in Isabel Shippard's book, and also on Wikipedia with independent references.

Actually I use the full-grown lucerne plant. It has a very deep root, so it is rich in various minerals, and the mature plant does not have the same toxicity issues.

eight acres: how I use herbs - lucerne (alfalfa)

How to grow Lucerne?
Lucerne grows easily from seed, if you had some for sprouting, forget that and just scatter them around your garden instead. Once established, the deep root helps lucerne to survive through dry weather. Its flowering in my garden at them moment, and I allow it to self-seed, so it pops up all over the place.

How to use Lucerne?
In the garden, lucerne is a legume, so it adds nitrogen to the soil. It also produces lovely flowers with nectar and pollen to feed bees and other pollinators. The chickens and the cows enjoy the high protein leaves.

Medicinally, lucerne is used for its high vitamin and mineral content. This is probably why the cows and chickens like it so much too. Lucerne leaves can be made into herbal tea, or used fresh in salads. I add it to my herbal tea mixtures when its growing well. I also read that the roots can be used as a toothbrush!

Do you grow lucerne? How do you use it?

The new Eight Acres website is live!

Very soon this blogspot address will automatically redirect to the new Eight Acres site, but in the meantime, you can check it out here . You will find all my soaps, ebooks and beeswax/honey products there, as well as the blog (needs a tidy up, but its all there!). I will be gradually updating all my social media links and updating and sharing blog posts over the next few months. I'm very excited to share this new website with you!

Chicken tractor guest post

Sign up for my weekly email updates here , you will find out more about chickens, soap and our farmlife, straight to your inbox, never miss a post! New soap website and shop opening soon.... Tanya from Lovely Greens invited me to write a guest post on chicken tractors for her blog. I can't believe how many page views I get for chicken tractors, they seem to be a real area of interest and I hope that the information on my blog has helped people. I find that when I use something everyday, I forget the details that other people may not be aware of, so in this post for Tanya, I tried to just write everything I could think of that I haven't covered in previous posts. I tried to explain everything we do and why, so that people in other locations and situations can figure out how best to use chicken tractors with their own chickens. The dogs like to hang out behind the chicken tractors and eat chicken poo. Dogs are gross! If you want to read more about...

Farm update - August 2017

Its been cold this month, and very nice to have the fire going every night. Here's a photo of my boy in his cape, great for late night woofing at things. Most of July we were either preparing for the butcher to come or putting meat away. Its always a big job, but its only once a year, and its all done now. My lovely neighbour came over to help, so it was fun to have the company and work together. Taz was a champion once again as she helped us to move cattle in the yards ready to load for the market. Gus is not at that level yet and had to stay home (he cries when he gets left behind, but he just gets in the way and scatters the cattle). We have had a few sprinkles of rain here and there, but also plenty of cold nights, so the grass is mostly dead and dry, waiting for the warmer weather to revive our summer-active pasture. Gus in his cape Taz after she helped to move cattle Food and cooking It was all about beef in July and we are v...

Eight Acres

Search This Blog