On gossamer wings…

From a grasslands perspective, our land is divided into three large sections. There is the twenty acres on the East side which was originally planted in an Orchard grass mix for our grazing sheep. There’s the West twenty acres which was originally planted in Red clover for hay production. And, finally, there’s the ten acres down the center which includes the large pond and an island of Ponderosa Pines.

Last week the Hay Guy showed up with his tractor. Years ago we made a deal with a neighbor. He cut the hay twice a year and he took a percentage of the crop for his service. There’s another neighbor who purchases the other part of the crop for his livestock. The cutting keeps weeds, shrubs and volunteer trees from populating the meadows. That means that the species of animals and plants that thrive in native-like grasslands can live here.

The Hay Guy controls when he arrives to cut the hay. That is determined not only around his work schedule, but mostly based on the weather. There must be several days in a row of dry weather or the crop can be ruined. Moisture breeds mold, and moldy feed can kill livestock. But, in the fall our pastures are alive with butterflies and other nectar seeking species that visit all the naturalized wild flowers that have populated the fields over the years. Cutting all the fields at this time could be incredibly destructive to their survival. So, we withhold cutting the center area around the pond, which (because of it’s topography) actually supports the most wild flowers per square foot versus the other fields. All the fields have deep hedgerows that contain many plants like Milkweed, wild Raspberries, and other substantial wild flowers species. But, the pond meadow looks like a living jewelry store at times with all various butterflies flitting about.

Here are some of the lovlies that I captured in the past few days.

I hope you enjoyed the show!