Whenever other parts
of the homestead give me breathing room, I’ve been plugging along
for about a month trying to bring order to our pastures.
I’ve written before about my goal of cutting
the tall weeds out of our pastures before they go to seed, a technique that has brought
our older pastures into line. The younger pastures, though, need TLC, as
do all the fencelines.
There’s not much new
to say, except that my current technique is to wear only one
glove, on my left hand. That lets me grab multiflora rose or
blackberries with the gloved hand, then cut them with the ungloved
hand. You might wear a glove on your cutting hand too, but I
hate the loss of dexterity.
The long-term goal is
to ensure that all plants in the pasture help chickens. That
means they either need to be within chicken reach and tender
enough to eat, or they need to be perennials that produce
bountiful fruit. While I do see laying hens in unimproved
pastures leaping for jewelweed
seeds at this time of year, I figure most biomass
produced by tall, nonwoody perennials goes to waste from a chicken
perspective. At least after I cut those weeds down, our
flock can pick through the leavings, and there will be fewer weeds
next year.
make it simple to bring clean water to the backyard or the
pasture.
