Wednesday, June 25, 2008
The second day of thistle removal has made a real visible difference in the hayfield and since 1) young thistles will pull straight up out of the ground root and all and 2) a nice breeze kept us somewhat cooler today I thought, maybe I could handle having a 5 acre hayfield. All it would take is one spring and summer of walking regularly through the field every other day and hand pulling thistle until you’d eradicated it, and then checking carefully once every spring after that.
We’ve also learned about fencing for goats and sheep. These are all things we could read in a book or ask my dad about, I’m sure, but there’s nothing like hands-on experience, right? You’d think sheep would be more docile but no – they’ll push over or jump over or trample a wire fence to get to the grass that’s greener on the other side, so the only way to keep them from doing that is to make the fence posts very strong, the fence fairly tall, and with a wooden rail on the top AND a couple lines of barbed wire to keep them from pushing on it or climbing up on it.
I got up early this morning by this house’s standards – 7:30 – and got the animals fed and watered and weeded some more onions before breakfast. The five adolescent chickens have taken to following me when I’m weeding because they can find lots of tasty bugs where I’ve pulled up weeds. They’re starting to feel like my little pals and I certainly enjoy their company and their soft little clucks. There is also a mother hen with 6 young chicks in the yard; she is the model of a mother hen, too. The other day the old cat – not a threat to the chickens at all – was sitting too close to something the hen wanted her brood to be able to eat and she puffed herself up and flew at the cat like a fire breathing dragon. And who would have guessed that baby ducks will eat mice? One of the ten young ducks in the yard is quite a hunter, the other day he had a mouse, a slug, and a snail, not to mention all the bugs and grass normally on offer at the lawn buffet.
2 comments:
"...the La Pochiniere lawn buffet."
Great image, Carol!
Over here in Johnson, Washington, we're pulling thistles too, tidying up the gardens and getting things in shape for the infamous Johnson 4th of July Parade.
It's interesting that, indeed, you can pull thistles, sometimes even barehanded, if you grab them low enough and they've been growing in tall grass. It would be more fun to have the entertainment of a little rabble of chickens following along to "clean up" the bugs after....
Hay was cut here about 2 weeks ago and baled this week. It'll be put away before the parade on Friday.
Thanks for blogging!!
T - you'll be glad to know we finished the thistling after about two weeks of working at it two or three hours a day. We carted tarpful after tarpful up the field to the sheep and goat yard for them to munch on as they seem to enjoy the flowers as if they were little purple bon bons. My back couldn't take much more so it was a relief to be done. Now we're just waiting for the farmer to come do the hay. All of the other hayfields in the area were done first things this week, when the sunny weather finally arrived, but the guy who is doing this hay has been busy with some building project, aargh. All I've been living for is to see that hayfield freshly mown!
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