Gray November Days

Today, as I look out my office window, it’s sunny. But it’s the first sunny day we’ve had in a week or more. In the winter, this area tends to get socked in with fog and gray for weeks at a time. What a gift sunshine can be in November. But it does make for some nice photographs.

A few weeks ago, our neighbor asked if we wanted to graze the sheep on a piece of ground he’s been rehabbing all summer. We jumped at the chance, and using the movable electric fence, we moved the herd around the field for a few weeks. (Our neighbor even donated a fence gate to put in between his place and ours to facilitate moving them. Now THAT’S a great neighbor!) The sheep got fat and happy, the field got fertilized, and the grass got mowed. Our pasture got a break as well, which was needed. The goats stayed home. They get into enough trouble with the permanent wire fence that we didn’t want to trust them to the electrical fence when there were two houses with yummy-to-a-goat landscaping just on the other side.
I wrapped up the garden, doing the last harvest of kale and small cabbage and the like, just as the sheep were finishing up at the neighbors. We fenced off a few garden rows that still have garlic, green onions and lettuce planted in them and then let the sheep and goats have at it in the garden space. Much joy, and munching of anything in the cabbage family, ensued. Instant compost. I love it. And the best part is that the chickens follow them out there and eat the slug population that has been building up slowly all summer. Awesome!
Miles Away Farm Blog © 2013, where we not-so-secretly wish for fewer foggy days, and are anxiously waiting for the new wood stove to be installed to ward off the chill.