Getting Others to do Our Work

I think sometimes the main reason I love permaculture design so much is that I am inherently lazy.  I don't want to work hard if there is a better, easier way.  Some of  you may be thinking well, yeah doesn't everyone feel that way?  And the answer is No! I have a very close relative who likes to work hard.  They search out projects for themselves all the time.  I am sometimes amazed I am actually related to them.  But wow, they do get a lot done.  So anyway back to me and my laziness.  In permaculture you design your system to help both itself and you.  You do this by putting things that like to be together, together!  Easy huh?  So for example chickens may go in the garden area (unless you are tractoring them which is another win win).  This way they give to the garden in the form of their poo and the garden gives to them in the form of bugs and vegetable waste.  Win, win with a little human involvement.

Way back in Sept. was it? we got cited by CDF for too high grass around our storage building.  So for the last few weekends we have been installing an electric fence for the goats.  This grazing area will eventually encircle both the north and south swales.  Currently we have half of it done.  It starts on the left side of the storage building and curves around the goat pen and then swings to the north and runs parallel to the end of the north swale.  In effect creating a fire break to the north of our property.  The goat grazing/fire break area is 30 feet wide and right now about 300 feet long.  If you remember, the north is our worst fire sector; we get terrible, high, dry winds from this direction in the summer and there is a small town here too.  Most fires are started by silly humans. 

We used metal t-posts and aluminum wire attached to the posts with yellow plastic electric fence tabs.  Here are some photos:




We placed the posts about 20 feet apart.  The fence has four wires with the top wire being white stranded electric wire like that found in mesh electric fencing systems.  This part was more pricey but we think it makes the fence much more visible to the goats and deer. The bottom wire is about four inches off the ground.  We had to put three 4 foot grounding rods into the ground for this fence to be hot enough.  Definitely would not want to try that in the summer.  The electric panel is located in the Ag building.  We got all our supplies from Tractor Supply except the top white stranded wire we got from Premier.

 So to recap.  The "problem" which was high grass, turned out to be the solution to another "problem" which was feeding the goats.  Now the goats are happy to do our mowing and get fed, the fire break is becoming a reality and hopefully CDF won't see any more high grass around our buildings to make them worry.  :) Win, win, win.  This picture below is our sad little pond.  We have gotten so little rain this winter that it has not gotten even close to full.   But we love it anyway and some mallards and killdeers love it too. (Soon after this picture was taken we got a huge storm and the pond has since filled almost 2/3 full!  Yippeee!)