This is another field we've been working on this summer. As I mentioned in a previous post about the other field we cleared, this was also part of the same, once-productive farm. This used to be exceptional hayground about 40 years ago. We know that because the fellow who picks up our trash said his grandfather once owned this land, and he worked with his grandfather to hay it when he was a teenager. He said they would get 10,000 bales from these various fields we've been restoring.
That hay production included a 10-acre pasture adjacent to this cleared one; we grazed it this year and hope to try haying it next year, though at the moment it's pretty weedy. We're counting on grazing pressure to help bring down the weed burden.
This next shot is looking inside another 4-acre "field" next to the cleared land; we took this photo at the tree line at the top of the photo above. This is what the cleared field looked like a couple of months ago:
That was once high-quality, highly productive hay ground. <Sigh.> We might tackle that next year, or just turn the goats out into it. It may not be hay land, but it sure is perfect goat habitat!
This is what happens in this climate when people let cultivated land go ... it naturally reverts to forest. The only way to prevent it is to mow it or graze it. It's really a shame to see this happen, because it took such back-breaking effort and labor to create those wonderful hayfields originally, back in colonial days, and after two hundred plus years of farming, people just abandoned them in the last half of the 1900s. Now we're expending a lot of effort and labor to restore them to their original purpose, though thanks to machinery it's not the back-breaking burden it was back then.
Here's another view of the same cleared field, looking up towards where we took the first photo:
The only benefit to this project was getting a year or two's worth of firewood from it. If you click on the photo for a larger image, you should be able to see two large piles of logs up next to the treeline at the top of the photo.
I seeded this field with grass seed a week ago. Two days later, a torrential downpour washed most of the seeds away. I seeded it again on Saturday, and yesterday "rolled" the seeds into the ground with our land roller. We have several dry days ahead. Now what we need is a nice, soft, gentle rain.
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Please Vote for the Farm!
The latest Shelter Challenge started Monday, July 9 and ends at midnight on September 16. Grand prize in this round is $5,000, plus $1,000 for weekly winners and $1,000 for state winners. There are also other categories ... please see the Shelter Challenge website for details.
*** We are now LISTED UNDER OUR NEW NAME, ROLLING DOG FARM. State is still NH for New Hampshire. ***
Please remember, you can vote every day ... consider bookmarking the voting page to make it easy.
We just won $1,000 as a weekly winner in the last contest, and thousands more in the previous contests. The Shelter Challenge really does bring in a lot of money for the animals here!
You can vote in the Shelter Challenge here.
Thank you for your votes!
The goats and their dog will love to help you clear!!
BTW, been voting(several times a day on different work computers) and RDF has moved up a spot! Yeah
Posted by: Anne in FL | August 24, 2012 at 07:35 AM
Helping with that gentle rain dance!
Posted by: Glenda | August 24, 2012 at 05:18 AM
When I see this type of photo I realize you put so much hard labor into the farm. I then wonder what is was like for the original settlers. Physically, as well as mentally, it must have been brutal at times to just get by. Wishing you continued success.
Posted by: Mary H./Washington state | August 23, 2012 at 10:00 AM
It's a lot of work, but it will certainly be worth it when it's all done and you have a working farm that is just the way you want it. I'm glad to see that you are restoring the land to its original use. This definitely puts the "farm" in RDF :)
Posted by: Ann | August 23, 2012 at 01:57 AM
You're putting in a lot of hard work. In a year or two the farm will be running like a well-oiled machine. Hope you get a few gently rainy days to get the grass started.
Posted by: Tonya Allen | August 22, 2012 at 05:31 PM
Wow, that's all so interesting......I love that you don't waste a thing.
Posted by: Leila K. - Western Wash. | August 22, 2012 at 02:50 PM
The Farm is pretty amazing - looking at the pictures gives a good but I'm sure limited idea of what you have there, what it used to be, and how you are working it to bring it back. I will do my gentle rain dance!
Posted by: Linda | August 22, 2012 at 12:17 PM
I agree with you on that! It looks great but I do know how much work goes into that.
Posted by: toni ezell | August 22, 2012 at 10:06 AM
"It may not be hay land, but it sure is perfect goat habitat!"
Looks like good habitat for pigs too.
http://www.naturesharmonyfarm.com/ossabaw-pork/
Posted by: Lynne Parker | August 22, 2012 at 09:41 AM