Matched Mowers

Although the goats make for a splendid sight when spread across the front lawn, our matching mowers--Millie and Stella, the black-and-white spotted saddle horses--actually do a much better job overall. Now that they've been on the job together for a few weeks, the grass is pretty evenly mowed all over. They even clean between the planter pots in the orchard, but I suspect they taste the trees-greens and bush-sprouts as well because the orchard has once again been denuded. Certainly most of the blame goes to the goats; they really are very thorough when browsing the orchard and garden areas. Sometimes in the evening when I'm sitting in my office, I am delighted to hear Millie and Stella thundering by, racing up to the gate for no other reason than they can run.

Unfortunately Millie has developed some very bad habits. Not only does she believe that fences are made to be broken through, she has now decided that "animal-proof" feed bins are here to provide her with an entertaining--and tasty-- challenge. Such behavior led to her being sequestered to the lushest, greenest pasture we have on the farm. Poor gal.