Fauna and other natural things

[mamselle]

Very true, I've seen them (the goats, that is) in action.

That's also quite consistent with very early standards of care for the grounds.

There's at least one 17th c. record according a resident leave to pasture his sheep in the grounds 'to keep the grass down.'

M. 

[Harlow2]

Arrived home just in time to see a hefty woodchuck walking purposefully next to the back sliding glass door to the patio. He/she doesn't seem to have eaten anything on the way.  A couple of years ago one stepped on my foot as I sat at the table drinking breakfast coffee. It's an interesting kind of casual behavior.  Any woodchuck experts here?

[nebo113]

Haha. It's not that bad! It's just tennish welts, and only one looks like I melted my skin on the stove.

Weirdly, though, I have no idea where or when I brushed up on some. My arms are usually covered outdoors.

Years ago, I was weed eating an old family cemetery which was full of poison ivy.  I was covered from head to toe, including tucking pant legs into my socks.  I still was struck by the evil ivy.....through the slits where my shirt sleeves buttoned.  It spread in places where the sun don't shine....steroids, back in the day before Zpac so I had insomnia for much too long.  The next time it struck, ZPac was available, so I healed and slept both!

Eek!

Besides the poison ivy/oak/etc....which, yes jewelweed (so-called because its hairy leaves hold O2 and glimmer with a silvery sheen when submersed) can assuage.

But, further...um...

I can understand your wish to do caretaking in the yard, but I hope you're staying far clear of the stones themselves.

Just a friendly reminder, weedwands are responsible for much damage to early gravestones: they've been banned in most historical cemeteries and early burying grounds since the 1980s.

They're hard to control, and they can do serious damage even in a glancing blow that may go unnoticed. The rotating nylon arm cuts into the patina of the stone and cases flaking, spalling, and exfoliation, thus destabilizing the base and allowing, over several seasons,  for freeze-cracking and breakage.

Lynne Strangstaff's book on the care of the stones, "A Gravestone Primer," (AGS website) gives more details and options.

A small, scruffy grass collar is much to be preferred to a trimly-cropped, scratched stone base.

Hope that's helpful...

M.

Just ordered the "Primer" and very much appreciate your suggesting it.  The cemetery where I got poison ivy is pretty much overgrown and with the exception of a few more recent graves, will stay overgrown.  We visit but are not in a position to do any clean up there.  The cemetery for which I am a trustee is kept relatively mowed, though folks are dying and aging out.  Alternatives to weed eating which will meet the approval of those still living (a tough bunch) will be helpful so am hoping to find them in the Primer.  A few stones have already been cleaned improperly.Things are what they are sometimes.

Goats love poison ivy-- if you can find some to rent or borrow, they will gladly take care of that problem for you. There are people who rent goat herds specifically for this purpose (they will set up temporarily electric fences and supervise the goats during the time they are there).

We actually talked about goats the other day.  Our concern (seriously!!) was they would eat the fake flowers, including the metal stems, and scatter detritus and poop over the cemetery!  Then we'd have to pick up poop and fake flower detritus.   The real issue for us is that we're all getting older, as is the case with many family cemeteries.

[Puget]

We actually talked about goats the other day.  Our concern (seriously!!) was they would eat the fake flowers, including the metal stems, and scatter detritus and poop over the cemetery!  Then we'd have to pick up poop and fake flower detritus.   The real issue for us is that we're all getting older, as is the case with many family cemeteries.

Goats are actually very picky eaters. They nibble at things to find out what they are, the same way babies puts toys in in their mouth, hence the false reputation for eating tin cans etc. But they won't actually chew up things that aren't their preferred foods.

They will of course poop, but it's pretty unobtrusive poop-- little pellets very similar to deer scat. You can just leave it be and it will soon disappear into the ground and be good fertilizer.

(Why yes, I did have goats growing up).

[nebo113]

We actually talked about goats the other day.  Our concern (seriously!!) was they would eat the fake flowers, including the metal stems, and scatter detritus and poop over the cemetery!  Then we'd have to pick up poop and fake flower detritus.   The real issue for us is that we're all getting older, as is the case with many family cemeteries.

Goats are actually very picky eaters. They nibble at things to find out what they are, the same way babies puts toys in in their mouth, hence the false reputation for eating tin cans etc. But they won't actually chew up things that aren't their preferred foods.

They will of course poop, but it's pretty unobtrusive poop-- little pellets very similar to deer scat. You can just leave it be and it will soon disappear into the ground and be good fertilizer.

(Why yes, I did have goats growing up).

Thanks for this info.

[apl68]

The sky has turned black
A rabbit crosses my path
No time for a chat

[mamselle]

Ah, assonance...

M.

[apl68]

Thanking about both our struggling World War I memorial tree and the first child to come to our story time on this stormy morning:

That little sapling
Will need much help to survive
In a world of storms

[apl68]

From an early-morning walk before work that was long, but not really long enough:


By a wooded stream
I listened for ten minutes
They passed so quickly!

[AmLitHist]

Coming home from Kid #1's farm home after 10 last night, I saw the prettiest little doe.  (There are herds of deer all along that 10-mile stretch through woods and corn and bean fields, so I had the brights on and was watching; we often see deer from late afternoon onward.) She was standing about 8 feet from the right side of the road, just watching; I sensed her there before the headlights caught her, so I slowed way down and had a good look.  She had gorgeous markings and was so petite, clearly born this year.  She didn't get scared or run, but just looked curious.

ALHS saw a family of skunks crossing the road out there the day before (mom and 3 or 4 babies)!

[mamselle]

Skunks are the prettiest little things...their little faces are so pensive.

M.

[Morden]

Baby jackrabbit ate all of our carrots. The full grown ones are too big to squeeze under the gates, but this little one played hide and seek with us for a couple days.

[Harlow2]

Kayaked through a lake full of large red sliders. Wonderful.

[apl68]

I was reminded over the holiday of a family story involving goats.  In the early 1950s one of Dad's uncles developed a stomach cancer.  Since he couldn't eat properly, the doctor advised him to get nourishment from goat's milk.  They got a dairy goat to keep for just that purpose.  Fortunately they lived outside of town--on the property that I would later grow up on--and had plenty of room to keep a goat.

The new goat turned out to be about to have triplets!  This left the family with three kids in addition to the six (human) kids that they already had.  Since the nanny goat's milk was urgently needed for the patient, the children were put to work bottle-feeding the kids.  The children amused themselves by making the little goats get up on their hind legs to get their bottles.  They got into the habit of springing around on their hind legs all the time.  Dad remembers seeing their little goat heads peeping up from behind the fence.

[mamselle]

I love baby goat faces!!!

And their little underbites are adorable.

I've already posted the link to the site I've been watching, but they, too, started raising goats because one of their family members needed goat's milk for dietary purposes. They now make several cheeses, too.

Speak chevre to me...

M.