They are not weeds!

Ok maybe they are, technically "weeds" but these weeds actually work for us. But we don't call them weeds we call them "free food." We have a lot of weeds around here - like the cover crops I planted last winter. They do double duty by improving the soil and ripening into snacks for chickens.

The hens went wild for the cover crop of grains. Free food, not weeds.

We had a bit of an incident last week. The Old Man Neighbor (not the Bad Neighbor and certainly not the Good Neighbor) mentioned to me in passing that he felt bad for us because all we had was that (crappy) push mower. He mows his acre lot with a full sized tractor, so he figured he'd help us out and mow down some of those weeds in the front of the property. I really didn't think much of it... until it hit me that he might be talking about the hay I planted! So I ran right out there.

Yep. There it was. Some, but not all, of my hay mowed down. And not just mowed down, brushhogged down. With the tractor. Demolished. He said he didn't like weeds. So he helped us. Ugh.

The only thing that stopped me from becoming completely unglued was that he stopped short of mowing down the comfrey and the clover/sunflower mix I just tilled in. But the expensive pasture mix with alfalfa was done for - not all of it, but enough that would have been several meals for the goats. You'll remember we were cutting it down gradually and feeding it to the goats, then tilling it under and replanting in an attempt to improve the soil.

I have to admit that I was so shocked that I kept walking out there and looking just to make sure I wasn't imagining it. While I feel bad that the Old Man Neighbor doesn't like to see weeds - just across the road from us the farmer has about 100 acres of "weeds", I mean, hay.

So we went to Tractor Supply and got some more fencing materials. We'll be working on driving some of those heavy duty tposts  ...oh... 3 feet into the ground. Good thing we got the survey done last year so we know exactly where the property line is located. And yeah my weeds.. I mean my hay.... is on my side.  

These thistles are at least 6 feet tall. The birds love the seeds from the flowers and the patch is always covered in butterflies. The goats love these weeds - they are good and good for them!

I'm also considering planting a big patch of thistles all along the fence line. Those are really weeds. They are nutritious, improve milking, and help with bad soil because their roots are so deep. Of course, I don't mind of they are invasive because I can feed them to the goats. Since, you know, goats actually eat weeds. And expensive pasture mix. That I intentionally planted and let grow. For heavens sakes.

Happy Wednesday everyone! Now go out and make sure your hay isn't mowed down!