I saw a young farmer known as RadicalFarmer on Facebook. His real name is Abel Hangoma, a Zambian organic farmer known for challenging traditional agricultural methods and promoting sustainable farming as a viable business and career path.
He talked so much about comfrey. So in my curiosity, I began to look for it in Nigeria. Thankfully, I got someone who had the seedlings for sale.
I purchased four. One died in transit, another died on the ground for whatever reasons I am yet to know.
But I did not allow that to deter me. So I got some seeds to raise a nursery myself.
By God's grace, we have a nursery of the comfrey seedlings now in Abuja.
I want to educate you about the many uses of this wonderful plant in organic farming.
Comfrey is more than a healing herb — it’s a nutrient factory for the soil! Its deep taproot reaches over 10 feet underground, drawing up nutrients like potassium, calcium, nitrogen, and phosphorus — elements most plants can’t reach.
When you cut and return its leaves to the soil, comfrey acts as a natural fertilizer richer than many chemical NPK brands. Farmers who grow it call it “green gold” [/b]because:
[b]It feeds crops organically
Improves soil texture
Attracts pollinators
Reduces dependence on costly fertilizers
💡 One comfrey plant can be cut up to 4–5 times yearly! It’s nature’s renewable fertilizer factory.
One fateful day, I stumbled upon this plant on Facebook. It aroused my curiosity, then I began to look for it. My search took me to several persons' DMs until I got someone who had the seedlings for sale.
I have since planted the few seedlings I got. I also got the seeds and raised a nursery of this wonderful plant.
In this series, I hope to educate you about its health benefits. It is also widely used in Organic Agriculture as organic fertilizer, mulch, etc.
Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) is one of nature’s oldest healing plants — traditionally called “knitbone” because it was used to heal broken bones, wounds, and bruises.
The secret lies in a compound called allantoin, which helps stimulate cell growth and tissue repair. When used externally as an ointment, poultice, or infused oil, comfrey can:
Heal wounds faster
Reduce swelling
Relieve joint and back pain
Soothe burns and inflammation
💡 Comfrey should never be taken internally due to compounds that may affect the liver. But when used externally, it’s a powerhouse for healing the body naturally.
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor nor a veterinarian. You are responsible for your own health and for that of your animals. Comfrey is not to be used by pregnant or nursing women, and should not be taken internally by humans. Please research this or any other herb or essential oil before using.
bigrovar: I have very little context so pardon me. I am responding to this purely on the face of the comment. I have been a solar user now for over 8 years. My first system was a 1.2kw (inverter) paired with a 480w solar and 2 Tubular batteries. That system paired with the grid was able to power basic house loads including a 130L chest freezer. The freezer ran for 4 hours a day.
I later upgraded the inverter to 2.4kw (Axpert inverter) and pared it with 1.8kw solar (and same Tubular battery as before) and ran the house completely off-grid from this setup for over 2 years (no NEPA setup)
In all I ran a 24v system from 2016 - 2022 and had most of my basic loads like fridge, freezer, occasional microwave, occasional ironing etc.
Of cause I did not run all the powerful loads all at ones but my point is, design design design. System design is 80% of the work on solar.
Key is performing a proper energy audit. Designing your system around the result of your energy audit. I used 2 tubular batteries, 2.4kw inverter and 1.8kw solar panels to power a 2 bedroom apartment completely off-grid and I lived quite comfortably (as comfortable as you can live without AC LOL)
Even now with a much upgraded system, you can check my daily usage averages at about 1.5kw (when I have 1 AC a freezer, fridge, fan, lots of computers - running in my home lab including a 64 Terabyte NAS with 64g ram and 8 core AMD Ryzen) all of this is running on less than 2kw and when AC is off house load drops to less than 1kw. My VRM numbers is there for anyone to see https://vrm.victronenergy.com/installation/453590/share/df9180a7
People don't use as much power as they think. It is fine and very possible to use a lean prudent, low power system you just have to have the whole system well designed from load to generation to storage.