Soil Needs a New Home

I corralled the four sheep today with a very minimal effort. The calves found their way back, and I even got Cleo back in with the other cows.

Just to make sure nothing is ever dull, Cleo is limping badly. The leg shows no signs of injury, and the hoof itself looks sound. The tender place between the toes looks a bit cracked, though since I have never looked at another cow's hooves, and wouldn't know how to begin to try, I'm not sure what's normal.

The cows made me laugh today. They have plenty of good hay, and plenty of water, but when I came to check on them in the evening, they all came near and mooed pathetically. Phil figured they were just so used to moving to new green grass, they were protesting their "miserable" lot in life (shade, some greenery, companionship, water, and hay: really a hard life).

In keeping with the idea of prevention, I pulled all the grass that's about to drop seeds from my original little homestead garden. That rich compost and topsoil has grown the best crops on the farm, and I want to keep it productive and as weed free as possible.

However, we need to find a new home for all that soil. Phil needs the garden area for spraying access to the orchard: right now the tractor is unable to drive around a good portion of the trees.

So much of farming is a puzzle, and so much of life is materials handling.