Making Dehydrated Food
I grow and gather weeds such a Dandelions, Puha, Cleavers, Plantain, Chickweed, Catsear, Yarrow, Wild Geranium etc., leafy greens like Endive and Chicory, many, many types of herbs and flowers such as Calendula, Roses, Fuchsia etc. I only gather in areas that I am certain no wild rabbits have grazed on.
The mix I feed varies from day to day - depending on what I find when I’m out gathering and what I have available in the garden at the time. The beauty of making your own dehydrated feed is that you can customise it to include your rabbit’s favourite plants so there is no waste.
PLEASE be sure to establish the correct ID from a reliable source for all plants, before picking to feed
Here are some photos to illustrate how I go about making dehydrated food. I dry my weeds/herbs/flowers etc at 55-65ºC for 6-12 hours. The timing depends on the thickness of the layer, the humidity, stalk chunkiness etc. I dry at lower temperatures to preserve the nutritional value in the forage. All forage must be dried until every single piece is crisp.
Before storing make sure the food is 100% dry - especially the thicker stems etc. This is important to prevent mould forming. There are a number of ways to store the dried food.
For short term storage you can use brown paper bags - this is suitable if it will be used almost straight away - so within a week or two.
If storing for longer some use plastic ‘take away’ containers - buy these in bulk from your supermarket, $2 shops etc. and include a silica get pouch to absorb any moisture. I use gel pouches that change colour if moisture is present and check the boxes every week. Ziplock bags are good as well, used in a similar fashion.
For really long term storage, a vacuum seal bag would keep all moisture out - I’d still include a silica pouch though to be on the safe side.
All stored, dried food must be checked regularly for signs of mould and discarded if any is seen.
If you want to have a look at gathering food for your rabbit (and maybe even drying some!) have a look at these Files for further info about nutritious and safe plants:
Weeds to Gather, Grow and Feed
Trees and Shrubs - Safe
Herbs to Grow and Feed
Flowers, Vines and Ground Covers - Safe
Silica pouches can be purchased from Silica Gel Products
The dehydrator pictured is available from Vitality 4 Life
Copyright 2019 - Jen Herd/Westley’s World