• Farming

    Lazy Gardening

    May 10, 2023 - By 

    Last year, as spring approached and gardening season was about to begin, I got — well, there isn’t really a better way to put this — I got a bit lazy about it. Good gardening stewardship says you need to clear out all the dead brush from the previous year’s harvest. Removing things like weeds and dead vegetation helps prevent insect pests from overwintering in the debris, making their grubby little homes in there and emerging in the summer to annoy you and make your gardening life more difficult. We just tilled it all under and called it a day.…

  • Farming - Fun

    Herding Goats

    April 21, 2023 - By 

    Did you know that you can rent goats. I mean, if you’ve been following my blog and you’ve read this post then you know this already. But if you’re new here then – yes, you can RENT GOATS. Rented goats are, in my opinion, some of the best kind of goats because you get all of the benefits with none of the responsibility. The wonderful, spunky, capable, knowledgeable lady who owns the business (aptly named Goats on the Go) takes care of all the details. She sets up a perimeter fence to keep the goats contained to their area. She…

  • Family - Farming

    Goat Rental

    July 7, 2020 - By 

    We have quite a bit of Poison Ivy in our backyard tree grove. I am highly allergic. This makes me not want to hang out in our beautiful creek area. But when you have it carpeting the ground like grass, taking over small bushes, and winding its way up trees in arm-sized vines, the task of getting rid of it seems daunting. Where would one even start in eradicating this invasive vine? As it turns out, the answer is: This year I learned that you can rent goats. In case you’re curious, goat rental is priced by the acre, and…

  • Farming

    Tree Hugger

    February 12, 2020 - By 

    I like being outside. I love nature. So, I went to college and studied things like dendrology, limnology, hydrology, biology, meteorology, geology… basically, lots of scientific -ology stuff with some physics and calculus thrown in. I ended up with a degree in Environmental Science and despite all this extensive collegiate training my years of education have often been brushed aside with a sneer: “Environmentalist.” Look, I love nature and the environment. But there’s a balance in all things and I try to look at the bigger picture. To do better when I can but acknowledge there is no such thing…

  • Family - Farming

    Field of Dreams

    May 6, 2019 - By 

    Tonight I was reading the boys bedtime stories with the windows open, enjoying the fresh spring breeze, when we became distracted by a noise outside. It was the sound of our neighbor running his tractor through the field. The boys and I looked out Aiden’s second-story window towards our backyard, and the field that lay beyond. That field was corn that first fall when we moved in, and soybeans last year. Which means due to the mechanics of crop rotation, this year it should be corn again. It was strange, looking out that window and watching him work the ground,…