Recycling Olive Branches Part of our goats' diet includes prunings of olive trees, other brush, you name it!
Goat Waving Olive Branch (of which most is in her mouth) Part of our goats’ diet includes prunings of olive trees, other brush, you name it! This week they are busy at work on branches from three olive trees in our courtyard. There is a cyclical process here: the olive leaves nourish the… Read more »
Fall's Brilliance
Fall’s Brilliance The forest floor is red these days from the poison oak, which has changed color. The air is decidedly cooler on our morning walks. What joy!
Photos by Barbara and Ivan Linderman In Biodynamic farming we are asked to include animals on the farm, something most farmers no longer do. We want to have enough of the right kinds and numbers of animals to provide manures to compost to then fertilize our crops—and have enough food to feed the animals. That… Read more »
Neptune’s trident behind a small but strident goat. I know this flower as Neptune’s trident, although there are several other common names. It comes late spring along with the Mariposa tulip, a member of the lily family. It too is part of the natural biodiversity here, both supporting our native pollinators. We wait to mow areas… Read more »
We walk the hills this morning without the dogs, who abandon us almost at the beginning. The vultures are circling and swooping low, a sure sign of a recent kill, something that Moka and Leo cannot resist searching out. No amount of calling dissuades them. The goats walk solemnly in a straight line behind me…. Read more »
Petunia at work clearing fresh shoots of poison oak. When the goat has been wading through tender shoots of poison oak! View Our Lavender Products
Mission Bells (or Chocolate Lily) is hard to see. Surprise of the underside! Mission Bells, or Chocolate Lily (I do not know the difference), is blooming! It is a rare wildflower on our ranch, maybe because its coloring makes it rare to see! Last year as I was attempting to photograph one blossom, it suddenly disappeared… Read more »
If you don’t want your goats in your garden, and believe me, you don’t! —then bring your garden (weeds) to your goats! Goats (and llamas) are energetic disposers of weeds, in this case, lots of plantain and mallow, turning this windfall of green into manure to compost. This also cuts down on the hay we… Read more »
Agaleah at work on spring’s first poison oak. There is an old practice, I am told, for building immunity to poison oak. You are to eat a leaf of the plant each day for two weeks, starting when the leaves are tiny and first unfurling from their buds. In this way, you get progressively larger… Read more »
Lot Number Natalie 11 We named this lavender field after our first queen goat Natalie. Natalie was a tiny pygmy goat, very attached to me but reticent about meeting anyone she did not know. She kept order, giving a good butt if another goat (like Boris!) was out of line. She also was the mother… Read more »
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