Working Goats

 I hope there will come a time when using sheep or goats for landscaping our home lawns and woods is a norm. Those of you who followed On the Pond Farm eight years ago and more, know how effectively the goats could cut a straight line in the field or on the pond hill.

The fear for people who haven't had the up close experience, including one of my old neighbors, is smell. At least for goats, unless you have a breeding age buck (intact mature male), the smell you will find is in a dirty barn. Grazing and "fertilizing" on pasture, or in my suggested case, on a lawn, spreads the wealth and there is little to no smell. You don't believe me? That's okay, but when your neighbors decide to give goat landscaping a try, wait to judge. 

This week an old Ligonier friend posted this WSJ article and I'm glad to see the positive comments within the article. But best of all the good news to one neighborhood in California.

Well-Employed in Pandemic Times: Landscaping Goats - WSJ

"And they leave no cut grass behind. He credits their appetite with saving his neighborhood from a 2018 blaze called the Woolsey fire, which destroyed more than 1,500 buildings on 97,000 acres and took several lives. Mr. Gerstel said the flames reached the edge of the area the goats had grazed on, then stopped."

Sheep grazed on the White House lawn in 1919.

PHOTO: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

A New Kid - Owen Riley

December is a big month for our family, as it may be yours, with all the holiday madness. In the past few years its gotten even bigger and busier here, with grandson Jacob's birthday on the 4th, mine on the 11th and between the two of us now is Jacob's baby brother Owen Riley, born December 9th. With the hereditary lack of promptness, Owen was able to spend his extra time growing to 21 inches and weighing in at 8lbs. 3 ounces at 8:27AM when he was delivered by Cesarean section.

Once again the labor and delivery area was a madhouse, and the nursery short staffed for the flurry of activity that morning. I was lucky to be waiting in the visitor's room when Owen was rolled up the hall for a visit before he went to the nursery for his "bath".  Because of the lack of staff to prepare and supervise the rooms, I felt like I was at the airport with three peoples worth of "carry-on", sitting there with bags and cameras and reading materials.

Jacob holding his brother for the first time.

My daughter Kristin and son-in-law Andrew were able to bring Owen safely home during one of the warmest December days in history. All the grandparents and Auntie Jess have taken a turn at burping and changing, with some cooking and big brother entertaining on the side.

Now that I have these two December birthdays around me, I am planning my future getaways with my boys. Oh! What fun we will have!
(And I am dreaming of the next little goat farm for the future 4-H duo!)

Jock - The Border Collie: A Wonderful Life. A Wonderful Experience.

Jock at two soon after we first adopted him -2004

Its been six weeks.

I knew I had to write this blog, but it always seemed too soon.

I know how many fans Jock had, and he was the last part of On the Pond Farm that we had with us. I saw the immediate reaction from a Facebook post, and that just made things harder.

I posted the night he died when the whole thing hadn't hit me yet, and I think I said it then best, so I think I'll just paste that post here.

Almost a dozen years ago we acquired a hand me down pure bred Border Collie, knowing nothing about working dogs except they needed a lot of exercise.

Well tomorrow, we don't know how we will get our exercise, as our best training partner died from what appears to be a seizure or stroke, possibly from a brain tumor.

Our favorite park near our Connecticut home - October 2014

Jock took a long walk as usual this morning and still looked amazing for a 13 1/2 year old dog.

We learned so much with Jock, and he was my companion and work mate at the farm and at home, always quiet and watchful.

The sadness hasn't set in yet. We expected a couple more good years, even though he was slowing down in his "retirement". I know he made many friends with you my friends, so I hate to pass on this news, but there it is. I hope you enjoy the album of his pictures over the years.

Sylvester and Jock learning to get along in the early days

Snickers with her buddy.

Dressed for the Ando Walk to raise money for the K-9 program

The "retirement" years in Connecticut.

Teaching Jacob how to walk Jock

Jock being gentle taking his bone

In the woods at River Bend

The Toughest People - Farmers

I just don't know how we did it.

Working in this weather. Outdoors. All hours.

We were one of those tough ones, in our own small way. Our animals were guided in and out of the barn every day, even with temperatures in the teens and ridiculous wind chills.  If the snow was too deep, we had to first make a path with our own bodies to get them out there.

Manure would be chipped away into the wheelbarrow and slogged out through two feet of snow and ice.

Just about every goat was pregnant or lactating, so keeping their condition up took plenty of feed. Twice as much hay and grain would be distributed to keep the animals calories ahead of the cold.

This was kidding season. Singles, twins and triplets were birthed in this weather, dried and cleaned and cuddled in that big ole 1800's, drafty, Pennsylvania bank barn. There was always that dumb twin that had to be held under its mamma's udder till he caught on to suck that teet - for hours! Meanwhile our fingers are splitting from the milk and the cold. Or a nanny with mastitis would have to be milked, usually with a fight, sending us on our cold but well padded behinds on to frozen manure, all in this weather. And we just did it every day, no matter what. And when I was down and out with a blown knee, or we had to be away for a day or a week, our fantastic neighbors Karen or Allison did it. It had to be done everyday, no matter the weather.

You and others have asked if we miss the farm. Of course we do. It was a fantastic ten years. The lessons learned with the goats just make me shake my head to myself. A lot of you that followed the blog back then, know the stories. Stories I couldn't have imagined ten years before and truthfully, did my best to avoid by buying the easiest, mellow goat breed I could find. Nice try!


Who could imagine our "first born" dying in this weather and stupid me trying to use the loader to bury Uno when the ground was frozen solid. I did it though, even though the grave was a bit shallow after two hours of scraping and digging.

Who can forget all those wonderful births and the kids(human) and friends and neighbors that came to share the experience.

But do I miss going out on a day like today where the weather was so cold and windy that Jock doesn't even want to go out to do his business? Heck no! But Jock also is a dog in his fourteenth year and living his retirement as a house pet. He has an excuse. And he hates dog clothes! Me. I'm back to being "soft".

Remember this? So cold the eggs split.

At the same time I find it difficult to complain about the cold as most people seem to be in the Northeast. Sure, all this snow has become tedious, if not a nuisance. However, most of us get to be indoors for our daily lives and just run to a car that usually warms up on our way to the next warm place we are running into to. We don't live in the cold or work in the cold and if we have to be out in the cold, we just have to do what the farmer does - dress for it appropriately.

Last month the power company scheduled some maintenance work which turned out to be a pretty darned cold day, and the sight of all that tan Car-hart fabric brought back so many memories of the Farm Fashion blogs. Memories of those ridiculously cold days where dressing and undressing was a chore of its own. And we did it every winter day because there were animals to care for. No days off or going home early. And at the time, I really think we loved the challenge.


Today I just want to thank all the tough working farmers out there for doing the job they do in this weather, and every day, for you and me.

Really - Alright

Phew! We're back online!
I have all sorts of blogs in my head and photos taken, but then I couldn't open Blogger. I think it started a month ago with a fix for one problem, that caused another issue, and next thing you know, I'm getting messages from my computer that I have to go online to decipher. Well, I'm back - at least for now.

I always like to start January with some seed starting, and so I had to go and hunt for my supplies in the yet to be organized basement. I started a few seeds with dreams of the coming spring and my newest garden.

This is a memento of  my herd. Weird maybe, but so be it. 

I thought it a neat image in the snow.

When the polar vortex come through, even the dog wanted to stay in and quilt. We have a few projects underway and I'll have to download those photos from another camera to show you.

So lets hope I can get on a roll and catch up with you.

Happy New Year - a bit late!

Last Looks. Lasting Memories.

This has been a difficult past couple of months.

Budding blueberry bushes

Mostly because it has been difficult to have to say goodbye to so many friends and to the farm that we have grown with - and helped grow - for the past ten years.

As we continued to the last days as if we would be there forever,

Can you see the egg?

...the hens continued to entertain us with their antics like hiding eggs in silly places.

The cats got along with the hens;

the dog got along with the cats;

and with the chickens;

but the cats couldn't get along with themselves

(Look in the background)!

I think it was my neighbor Karen who said that if we weren't On the Pond Farm, we would be named Harmony Farm, because everyone gets along - usually!

It some ways, I am glad the weather became cold and the skies dismal, so that it was no pleasure to venture outdoors.

But the last few days of our stay at the farm brought the blue skies, the warm breezes and dry air that would drag anyone outdoors.

The days became gorgeous.

Moments to cherish.

And then the tears came really close many times.

A barn swallow takes over the blue bird house.

I took my camera out in the fields again, as I had been, but not sharing because I didn't know how to end our stay at this beautiful place. 

Our last Sunday breakfast

Hill of bluets

It all came together beautifully on its own.

Here are the last glances and happy wanderings for me at On the Pond Farm.

The farm's reputation and pride and joy has been the Boer goats. I would love to take them with me, but the last four girls stay with the farm to carry on the herd with the new owners.

Blue gill came to visit in full force

The striped bass were the biggest I've seen in the pond this spring

Blue, green and barn in the middle. My favorite combination.



Jock has his last run of the farm. He is joining us in the move to Connecticut.

 Our final farm memory in Ligonier, taken by the new owner Kris, as we lingered one last time.