Hi there, everyone! Thanks for tuning in. This is the first of a flow of updates and stories from the S.H.I.R.E. Pilot Project down here in Manor, Texas at the Hundred Acre Wood. I'm excited to share with you what we have been up to; there's so much to say, I don't know where to start. In lieu of boring you with endless descriptions and chronologies, I think each time I'll just pick one "theme" to focus on. So here we go!

    A brief description of the space, so you can construct a picture in your head: The land is rectangular in shape and is a mixture of native grass pastures, about 40 acres of agricultural pasture, and a brushy forest of cactus, mesquite, and scrub oaks. Wandering around the land for just 15 minutes brings enthusiastic brainstorming about the potential of the space and what can be done with it. Near the north end of the property there are various buildings: a two bedroom house, barns and sheds, and a beloved old green shack, whose paint is flaking slowly off to reveal the weathered wood beneath. 

So far in 2010, the overarching theme has been growth! The year has started off on a productive note for us. We kicked off the year with our New Year's Solutions volunteer day on January 9th. Around 20 volunteers came out for the day and participated in various activities.

These included building water filtration islands out of used plastic bottles, mesh fencing and water plants, constructing erosion control terraces around the back pond, building bird and bat houses with reclaimed building materials, starting seedling flats for the kitchen garden and even picking rocks out of a field in exchange for hot cider and freshly baked pastries! It was a great day; very brisk and sunny with a high of 35. We have kept the ball rolling in the weeks since and whenever the weather is nice we are outside working on land improvements and projects. When the weather is more rainy and cold, we stay under the eaves and do research and planning for future projects and events.

On top of all this internal activity, we have had some lovely and interesting guests come to stay and are expecting three long-terms visitors to arrive by the end of January. It is fun to imagine all the progress that will be made in February with the help of all these eager extra hands.

As Sandor briefly mentioned in his article about the Hundred Acre Wood, we have three goats, two pygmy does and a Nigerian Dwarf buck. January is also a month of growth for them; I am happy to announce that both of our does are pregnant! We will have 2-5 brand new baby goats bouncing around sometime soon! The kids will be a pygmy/nigerian dwarf mix. We are raising all our goats for meat and milk; I am excited to soon be adding cheese-making to my repertoire!

I'll be sure to keep you updated as kids are born and veggies start producing! We are beginning out spring workshop series in early March, so keep checking the calendar to see when you can come out and learn how to build a wind generator or can that bumper crop of green beans and okra.

Last update: February 19, 2010
05:44 pm

Published in : Research, General Rants

Keywords : goat, workshop, trash island, passive filtration, pond workshop

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