Things are beginning to slow down here at Pleasant Places. The vegetable garden is finished and has been mowed down. Most of this year's crop of goat kids have moved on to their new places of residence. Still, there are always the daily chores to do: feeding, watering, gathering eggs.
As the grass dies out, we will begin to supplement all our grazing animals with hay. It looks like our grass is going to hold out into November this year. We are happy about this as it means that our pastures are much improved. The first couple of years we lived on the place, the grass was all gone by late August and we had to begin supplementing with hay. That can get expensive.
As the cold weather approaches, the animals will also choose to spend more time in shelters, and that means more cleaning out of stalls and sheds. Work on the barn continues and we really need to get busy splitting the wood that has been cut, but in general, fall is a very pleasant time on the farm when there aren't so many pressing needs.