Goats in the Garden - by Kainui Rapaport - Garden Intern 2015

The past few weeks have been packed with new experiences in the garden. The repeating tasks of (trans-)planting, weeding, watering are now joined by one of my favorite tasks of gardening, harvesting.

The fava beans are almost ready. The strawberries are becoming a dark juicy red. Blackberries, blueberries and raspberries are also starting to produce.

The interns have also been starting a weekly inspection of the bees with the assistance of Brent. Having been stung many times before, I put on a suit that had less protection which makes the monitoring of the bees all the more interesting.

After almost 2 months of my stay here at Songaia, it finally rained. It was unusual to be so dry and I was getting worried about the garden getting dry and the plants getting sunburnt. Accompanying the lack of rain is the powerful heat from the sun that has slowed our work day. 

Brent, Evan, the new intern Steve, and I helped move the temporary fence over a crowd of weeds for the goats to feed on them and to remove the weeds. The fences were tied with string and secured with breaks where goats could climb under. We led the goats with some feed and they all followed each other into the fenced area. The goats were in bliss in this new area, because their favorite food is blackberry. The goats had chewed up almost all the leaves and stamped the stems down to get the leaves on top in a week. A few days later we found the goats were stepping on the huglekulture too much and the goats were moved to an area near the SW end of Songaia. After clearing a path, Brent said that the goats were saying thank youuuuu  (a goat's rendering of a thank you baaaaaa) to the interns. 

I'm looking forward to the Summer Saturday Soires where we can feast from the garden under shade and good conversations and to new adventures in the garden.
Peace,
Kai