We split our yard and kept the goats behind a fence we had secured – allowing them to graze almost a 3rd of the yard. It worked for almost three weeks and last night we received a call to let us know that the goats had managed to cross to the other side.
The goats were staying in the yard at the top of the hill. Richard and I were both very excited to see two of the “sticks” we planted now have blossoms – and so does the mysterious tree that I thought was a cherry but Richard thought apple. I guess it’s apple; a daughter to a neighbor’s tree – though the once producing apple tree no longer exists.
Richard and I spent three hours outside refiguring the fence and allowing more space for Sugar and Cocoa to roam. When Cocoa returned to Mary’s yard, Richard was able to coax Sugar into crossing over also. And then we shut the gate between our yard and Mary’s as we continued to secure the fence.
We put up a fence around one of the trees, patched where we thought there might be holes for Cocoa to escape (but Sugar cannot get through the holes as Cocoa can; and really he’s the least mischievous goat of the two.) and I put a time limit and said we would have to return to the house by 6:00 – though we did not until almost 6:30.
We’d gone out this morning to tweak the security of the other tree as Sugar wants to eat the blossoms. We’ll squirt the goats when we catch them doing something we don’t want them to do. But we are not always out there to guard what we planted.
There are a ton of weeded vines all throughout the yard. Way more vines than there is grass. Richard weed-wacked a small area and threw the weeds over the fence which Cocoa appreciated. We had the gate shut and the goats were bothering Mary’s handy man. But when we had finished with the tree we opened the gate and they were chowing down and seemed to enjoy it – though I noticed Sugar attempting to find an escape.
We’re not perfect by any means but are slowly finding a way – and enjoy having the animals do the work of mowing our lawn before summer hits – which is when we’d be mowing in Salt Lake. But we don’t always have that option during fire season. I have posted pictures. We still have a hill in the yard. Slopes. Slippery. Wet . Muddy. Looks as though it will rain again. The goats don't like the rain. I don't have a problem with it. Most of the time I welcome it.
