Ohiofarmgirl'sAdventuresinTheGoodLand-where ya been? whatcha been doin

[Henrietta23]

Yup, I'm a chicken thief.

we may just need to hear more about this... care to elaborate on your thievin' ways?? we need the full story over in your journal please.

Done!

 

[emilosevich]

I'm with you biblio. My family laughs at me but I figure if people are going to pay good money to sit in mud it can't be that bad for my feet.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

ah yes, ladies.. its all fun and games to go barefoot... until you find out your entire property is infested with poison ivy!! yikes

*absently scratches leg*

 

[Wifezilla]

i HATE real shoes. i mean, they are great in the winter, but from about March to November, i'm in flip flops or bare feet. i figure, poo or not, that's what water hoses are for!

LOL
EXACTLY!

(now pass the hose...)

 

[bibliophile birds]

ah yes, ladies.. its all fun and games to go barefoot... until you find out your entire property is infested with poison ivy!! yikes

*absently scratches leg*

i am HORRIFICALLY allergic to poison ivy. i've had it in my eyes, mouth, and nose. i've had it so bad that i have had numerous cortisone shots. in short, i HATE the f-ing stuff.

but those days of horrible pain and constant worry are OVER. here's what you do:

1. get a goat. Billy wiped out every single bit of PI in our yard. we've got a tiny patch coming back now (7 years later), so we're going to hit it with the goat again.

2. invest in some good soap. the key ingredients you need to look for are lye (wonderful in every way) and jewelweed (otherwise known as impatiens or touch-me-nots). the combination of the two DESTROYS PI. the one i like the best, i get at Co-Op (it's made by Dragonfly Soaps- don't know if they are local) and has lye, olive oil, coconut oil, lard, water and jewelweed- not terribly "local" ingredients, but it works and it makes your skin oh-so-soft. there is another that i liked because the jewelweed was hand-picked in the mountains behind my farm, but they use soy in it, so i've stopped buying it.

if you think you've been exposed, go ahead and wash thoroughly with the soap and you stand a good chance of not getting it (this works for my mom, who's not quite as allergic as me).

if you are like me, you will get it either way, so then you attack! this sounds counter-intuitive, i know, but you need to scrub the affected area VIGOROUSLY with hot water to BREAK OPEN the little pustules. this will release the oil they are harboring. wash thoroughly with the lye/jewelweed soap and rinse VERY WELL. then you want to make a thick lather of the soap and reapply to the affected area. don't rinse this lather off, just let it dry. these steps will work to dry up the blisters AND the lather completely soothes the itchiness.

oh yeah, this works for LOTS of skin ailments, even the itchiness caused by picking okra! insect stings/bites and lots of other stuff.

eta: once the blisters start to dry up and look scabby, you can stop busting them open. if you keep busting them open after that, you're going to get scars...

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

1. get a goat

* walk out outside and yells: "hey you b*tches! put down that expensive hay and go eat that poison ivy!!" *

well that takes care of everything.

hee hee hee actually. nothing is worse than milking a goat who's just been draggin her udder thru the poison ivy field. but we let them eat on it sometimes (wash really well), then use the 'homeopathic' theory of drinking the milk. actually i'm having fewer and less horrible reactions now. and we put the pigs in the biggest field of the poison ivy. they loved it.

 

[bibliophile birds]

* walk out outside and yells: "hey you b*tches! put down that expensive hay and go eat that poison ivy!!" *

well that takes care of everything.

hee hee hee actually. nothing is worse than milking a goat who's just been draggin her udder thru the poison ivy field.

ahahahahahaha! perfection!

eta: maybe that's a good enough reason to get a billy, or a whether if you don't want to deal with the hormones! i doubt you'd spend much time messing with HIS bits that drag through the PI!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

*snort* aint THAT the truth!!!

actually the reason we got Little Nibbles and her hellish sister, Morel, n the first place was because i simply could not get the stupid PI again.

so i literally threw down my tools one day, got in my truck, and drove up to this gal's farm who had advertised mini-manchas on CL. i bought them on the spot - never really knowing WHAT a mini-mancha was..... just that she swore they ate poison ivy. we drove home, i threw them in the hen yard.. and the rest is history.



but since we started milking and all... at some point we might get some wethers for market (or the grill) but the pigs did a great job on the worst spots.

 

[Javamama]

OMG you guys are hysterical
...but I have been wondering about the whole homeopathic poison ivy allergy treatment thing. Just trying to get more pros to having goats on my pros/cons list. We just can't get ahead of the ivy here either, it's everywhere.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

there really is a pill form you can get... i dont know all that much about it other than the "take a little over a long time and it helps you becomes not so allergic" theory. someone i knew took the pills and it totally worked.

or just put your pigs in the PI and eat them for dinner. least ways, that what we did. it worked too.

;-)