Fences Make Good Neighbors

Well that is my theory at least. We got ugly when Tom's heifers kept getting loose when he and his wife went on holiday, knowing the fence was down and figuring his neighbors would fix it...

We are rebuilding whole lines of fence this year. Dave has been furiously ripping old fencing out. We'll at least finish the perimeter and work with the temporary stuff this summer for interiors.

Sheeps and goats require the 5 strand minimum. It is a nice idea for heifers as well. Cows only need 2 strands. We'll do the perimeter 5-strand. Just in case sheep or goats want to go for a walk. I'd prefer it to be in the farm, not on the road.

Claire is busy throwing rocks into the stream bed. Dave figures it will stabilize it some and Claire loves the sport. It's funny she have named that stretch of stream (or rather "river") "the Jungle". Didn't think that those leaveless trees and bushes could look like a jungle, but not a bad idea really. These is the "Big hole" too. This is an erroded bit on the lower stretch of the "river". Kinda a miny grand canyon effect. The previous owners brought fill in and let the stream make its own way. With heavy rains for two years and then drought, it took a toll on the stability of some stretches.

We are going to fence off the stream. We did take it out of the EQUIP program because they wanted 40' stretches and that would take up the whole blooming pasture. We are going to plant bushes and maples along the stream. I also want to encourage the tiger lilly and wild iris's like we had in Chesterfield. Oh, they were pretty. I looked in a book on native endangered plants for NY and they are in there. I have to return the book, but it gave me ideas for the plantings I want to do for the buffer stretch in the southern part of our farm.

The surveyers have finished in the swamp. There is going to be potholes, maybe a nature path and some plantings to improve the swamp. We should be meeting with the designer/contractor some time this week. I was firm about invasive species and told him I was more interested in native wet land species. Theresa did say that they could get us wood duck houses and the like if we sign something about maintaining them. Gives us more reason to have a path I figure. Some of the wetland vegetation is pretty cool. We already have Canadian geese, wood ducks, peepers, coyotes, deer (too many), foxes, musk rats, porcuipines, littel weasles, owls, a red tailed hawk, some chicken hawks, and other creatures. Claire and I also find a lot of fossels in the stream beds. I'm not sure if that is native to this property or brought in with the fill. The little shells look pretty awsome.