The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank has acquired 120 goats, following a two-year pilot program at the Farm Institute, and plans to deploy them as living lawnmowers as early as next week. The goats will take up residency at Waskosim's Rock in Chilmark.
The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank has acquired 120 goats, following a two-year pilot program at the Farm Institute, and plans to deploy them as living lawnmowers as early as next week. The goats will take up residency at Waskosim's Rock in Chilmark.
Imagine sheep grazing at Wasque Point on Chappaquiddick, or goats and cattle browsing the greenery at Long Point Wildlife Refuge.
It’s not a long shot if farmers and conservation groups can manage land together, says David R. Foster, an ecologist and director of the Harvard Forest.
“This is a fabulous time for agriculture and there’s a wonderful opportunity for agriculture, land owners and conservationists to come together in a way that they haven’t previously,” Mr. Foster said in an interview at his home this week.
The sound of bleating echoed across the water.
“Do you hear them?” Kristen Fauteux said standing at the edge of Daggett Pond at Cedar Tree Neck Sanctuary.
The still June morning had just settled over the pond on Wednesday as three pygmy goats made their maiden voyage from the head of the pond to its eastern edge, a small wake trailing behind their raft.
On Sunday, Claire Nichols was at the Grey Barn in West Tisbury. “My mom is the cheese maker here.
She’s making yogurt now. I like to play with the goats and walk around the farm.
We just moved here from New York and I like Martha’s Vineyard very much.”
Emily Fischer sat on the steps of the shed in her front yard at Flat Point Farm in West Tisbury, yellow rubber gloves pulled up to her elbows, hard at work on her latest batch of goat’s milk soap.
If this was a children's story, it might be titled Goldilocks
Meets Billy Goat Gruff. But the story is true, however bizarre, so
instead it must be titled something more straightforward, like Goats
Trash Chilmark Home. And the subtitle? Only on Martha's Vineyard.
