enjoy the ride
Sufficient Life
A number of people here have acreage- even 5 acres seems large to me.
So I would love to gather ideas for maxing the use of the land available.
Anyone under two acres- I love hear your multi-purposing of garden and livestock.
I have 2 and 1/2 acres of which 3/4 of an acre is in redwoods and not useful for much except getting out limbs and stuff- no livestock graze- what grows there regrows too slow to let the goats have much of it.
There is no way I can avoid buying hay for my goats and horses.
But I do cut back my roses, fruit trees and other things while it is still in leaf, earlier than most people because I use it as supplimental feed (mostly treats,) for my girls. Sort of next day composting. All they have to do is see the clippers in my hands and they are running to me.
I have two manure piles in the woods- the shade keeps down insects and the composted manure is spread on the bit of grass I have for grazing. My land is very poor for grass production but the goats help keep the weeds down and I close off a section of it each year to allow the grass to recover some.
My front yard has only a small area for flowers- the rest is for herbs and vegies.
The "lawn" is set up so that the horses can graze it down for me- I can control how much they are in there in order not to let it get as nuked as the larger paddocks.
In order to let the animals graze as much as possible even around the house, I have removed anything that is poisonous to them, especially if it seeds easily. It was hard to sacrifice my Rhodi's but it was not worth the worry that they might get into them and kill themselves.
I keep thinking chickens but I don't know if I have it in me to clean up after more animals.
So I would love to gather ideas for maxing the use of the land available.
Anyone under two acres- I love hear your multi-purposing of garden and livestock.
I have 2 and 1/2 acres of which 3/4 of an acre is in redwoods and not useful for much except getting out limbs and stuff- no livestock graze- what grows there regrows too slow to let the goats have much of it.
There is no way I can avoid buying hay for my goats and horses.
But I do cut back my roses, fruit trees and other things while it is still in leaf, earlier than most people because I use it as supplimental feed (mostly treats,) for my girls. Sort of next day composting. All they have to do is see the clippers in my hands and they are running to me.
I have two manure piles in the woods- the shade keeps down insects and the composted manure is spread on the bit of grass I have for grazing. My land is very poor for grass production but the goats help keep the weeds down and I close off a section of it each year to allow the grass to recover some.
My front yard has only a small area for flowers- the rest is for herbs and vegies.
The "lawn" is set up so that the horses can graze it down for me- I can control how much they are in there in order not to let it get as nuked as the larger paddocks.
In order to let the animals graze as much as possible even around the house, I have removed anything that is poisonous to them, especially if it seeds easily. It was hard to sacrifice my Rhodi's but it was not worth the worry that they might get into them and kill themselves.
I keep thinking chickens but I don't know if I have it in me to clean up after more animals.
