Part two - September 2009

I did seem to have such a dilemma on my mind about what to do with the 10 acre pasture where the horses graze and the butterflies flutter.  It had grown all summer, providing cover for ground birds to nest, mice I am sure were thriving, rabbits could munch and hide from predators.

Do we mow the pasture?  Do we leave it looking a little untidy?   If we "bush hog" it to mow, it will not look tidy but eventually it would all breakdown and by spring look good again.  If we don't mow and leave it over winter it will look much like someone who got up in the morning and never brushed their hair.  It would become a tangle of grown up, mature plant life, with next year's grown intermingled.  If allowed to go back to the wild, you would most certainly start seeing little trees popping up.  It would no longer be a horse pasture.  Well, all of that is pretty extreme, it wouldn't happen for years............  but I still didn't know just what the answer was.

It was suggested to leave a strip of the summer growth for all the wildlife I'd like to nurture and cut the rest.

Hummm, that is certainly an excellent idea.  But when do we mow the rest?  That was the question that I "put out there".  Out of the blue my neighbor came to the rescue.  He called and ask if he could mow the pasture for hay to feed his cows.  Can you imagine my joy?  It was difficult to explain leaving a wide strip of the summer growth for the butterflies to a farmer who plants so close to my blue bird boxes that I can no longer check them. 

Our pasture has be mowed and baled, it looks nice and a little naked right now.  And I have toured the strip of pasture not mowed.  The butterflies are even more evident than before.  All is good in the horse/butterfly pasture.