WORKING SMARTER NOT HARDER - WITH THE ANIMALS

Often, people wonder how I can get so much done.

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The truth of the matter is... I don't. Okay, sometimes I can accomplish a lot, but many times it is because I am getting help. My current task is to turn almost ten acres of land from a wild forest full of poison ivy and green brier into a permaculture food forest for my family to enjoy for the rest of our lives. So, I'll just squeeze that in right between enjoying my marriage and raising five @little-peppers and creating content to help build up steemit, right?

This is where working smarter, not harder comes in, and why I love animals so much. I'll drop the videos first so the folks who just like to listen and watch don't have to deal any more text.

WORKING SMARTER NOT HARDER WITH ANIMALS - VIDEO 1

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WORKING SMARTER NOT HARDER WITH ANIMALS - VIDEO 2

Basic Idea and Plan

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In the photo above, you can see a big difference between the land on the left and the land on the right. On the right, we see mostly exposed earth and bare branches. On the left, the earth is still covered in green plants. In order to sculpt and design the land that we are purchasing, I've got to remove the undesirable plants from the property. This can be a very time consuming process.

Because I do not want to do a mediocre job using man-power, I am choosing to do it right the first time with animal-power. The main workers on my crew will be goats and hogs. Both @bluerthangreen and myself are on a family adventure called life, and we both desire to be at home with our families providing for most of our own needs ourselves. This is why he picked up some goats a while ago.

Goats are such great animals for this project because they will eat just about everything. While they are munching down on poison ivy, green briers, blackberry bushes and everything else, they are enjoying themselves outdoors. The animals get to have a great time eating whatever they find, and no one has to buy them food. This works out very well. As the goats continue to eat and remove the unwanted plants, they add some fertilizer in their path too!

The hogs work in a similar fashion. A pig can actually live out in a field if people let it. The ones that we picked up (thanks to steemit and @smailer) all came from "pasture raised" families. Except for the periodical grain to keep the hogs coming when called, they lived out in a field and got all their food from what grew there.

Too often pigs are just kept in tiny cages and fed slop or GMO corn. These tiny areas quickly become nothing more than mud and feces, and so the hogs live. Eventually, I want to allow mine to have their own field that is big enough to support them without them destroying it. For now, I'm aiming for areas that are small enough for them to remove all the vegetation and uproot the roots of the plants as well. Once they eat all the greens in an area, I sprinkle some soured corn on the ground near the roots of whatever plants remain. Those hogs will tear up the whole area searching for that last kernel of corn.

Then, once an area is finished, I move them to the next area and let them start all over again. This allows the hogs the opportunity to get plenty of fresh grass, other plants, and sunlight, so they are happy while they "work." The end result is an area that is better than I could have cleaned it up.

Once they worked their way through this section, I used my new STEEM-Powered Chainsaw to chop down whatever other little trees I did not need in the area. I didn't have to trip over any vines or get poison ivy to use the chainsaw now. Soon, I'll let the goats and hogs back in here to finish the job.

If I find a useful plant, like the small Persimmon tree above, I'll keep that ans work it into the landscaping plans. Once the hogs and goats are completely done with an area, I'll cover it in mulch and plant some soil-building plants like Daikon Radish and Comfrey. These plants send down large roots which will help break up the clay and rock. Also, if I leave them in and do not harvest them, they will be adding to the soil as they decompose.

I will then be planting my edible shrubs, trees, and vines. I'll probably build some swales and hugel mounds to help shape the land and retain water, and then begin to establish plants. No matter what, this project will take a lot of work, but if the animals can do the hard stuff, it'll save me a lot of time and effort.

I'm heading down to the land for a bit right now, but I'll be back to catch up on comments later. Steem on!

As always, I'm @papa-pepper and here's the proof:

proof-of-working-smarter

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Until next time…

Don’t waste your time online, invest it with steemit.com

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