Luckenbach

Mark and his missus arrived to help out on Sunday. We fenced off an area we wish to cut for hay later on and then tried to move the neighbour’s cattle. Without dogs or motorcycles. On foot.

Yeah right!

I thought I had it made. As I approached the cattle they came over to me. They then followed me as I made my way to the new paddock. But when I went though the gateway it was though there was still an electric fence across it. The cattle stopped dead. And no amount of arm waving, shooing, or other negotiation tactics would convince those animals to pass though the portal.

When they had had enough of us they would turn and scatter. Our arms just weren’t long enough to convince them that the distance between the four of us just wasn’t sufficient to get through. And away we would go again to round them up.

It would have looked hilarious. Luckliy we are hidden from the view of the neighbours and the road.

I am not a farmer. Yet.

We took possession of the land today. We have arranged for one of the neighbours to graze 13 cattle for a while. That should leave me with plenty of grass for haymaking. We’ll need the hay for mulch around the fruit trees when we get started on that.

Our own livestock number already in the thousands - I took a beehive nuc box onto the property yesterday. I will transfer the frames and bees to the actual hive in the morning - hopefully before the bees have started their day’s foraging.

We chose to start keeping bees for a number of reasons: the honey, the pollen, and the pollination. Bees are one of those permaculture staples.

This blog will document some of our life, now that we own a small block of land, away from the city. My wife, V., and I have been planning this for a couple of years now.
I’ve been watching the steps that other bloggers (Kevin, Ran for example) have been making. They have made some good points. We’ll soon see if they make sense on our block.

We will be on the land in November.