We have Pasture

Dan-Dave is done. Mostly. The only thing left now is fencing and seed. The seed we need is called an orchard blend. It has no rye, and is blended with alfalfa. This is the best seed for the Alpaca. Essentially, goats don't really care what they graze on (remember the tin cans?) Goats will eat pretty much anything. That's what I hope anyway. Dan-Dave told us that we're very, very lucky, as most of the soil here is rock-laden, everywhere. As you can see from the photo, we have beautiful brown rich soil. This is truly a blessing. What we have to do now is seed, and watch it grow. We ideally need to have a pasture for a year before you let animals loose on it. This will enable the seed to really take root, and will be a heartier field when next year rolls around. Also, the first growth of seed is too rich for animals. So, we let it take root for a year. This will also give us time to petition the town of caroga for livestock permits. This could be dicey, but I figure that now that we're "local" we should have a better chance. I hope so. I'd like to have animals grazing by April of 2009. That would be the best. Then we can shear in Sept or October and have some fleece for winter spinning. It all sounds so do-able doesn't it? Jerry just asked me if I think people think we're crazy. Since our family was here for a week, I guess he is wondering what they Really think. It's possible they think we're crazy. I do some days. But most of the time, I just think we're lucky. I really think that we're lucky we found each other, because we just get each other. That's the real gift. So even if we ARE crazy, we're crazy together. Isn't that the whole point?