Don't let buckthorn get your goat!

Sometime within the past week or so we mentioned that we're (re)considering managing the buckthorn growing on our property using goats to graze the invasive. This morning we discovered that the University of Minnesota has started looking at How Goat-Grazing Research is Helping with Buckthorn Control. We were unaware that there's "a deadly brain parasite that puts goats in the field at risk." The research is part of the work being done at the Minnesota Invasive Terrestrial Plants and Pests Center.

backyard buckthorn before removal

Photo by J. Harrington

As we were getting some needed chores done today (the "quick-connect mower deck" for our John Deere tractor doesn't connect all of a sudden, so both are off at the dealer's service department), we were thinking about invasive species, like buckthorn. If and when we get buckthorn gone from our property, there will be the perpetual(?) threat of reinvasion since seeds can and will be dropped by birds as long as the neighbors, including the public sector, haven't also cleaned up their buckthorn. That's kind of a discouraging prospect for us and, we suspect, others in a similar situation. It suggests that invasive species management is not a project by project approach but more like an annual activity.

When we search the internet about terrestrial invasive species in Minnesota, we discover that, in addition to the University's programs and projects, the Department of Agriculture is involved, as are the Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Transportation, the Science Museum of Minnesota, plus counties and other units of local government. There's probably some federal agencies involved also. It's a little frustrating that there doesn't appear to be a designated lead agency responsible for pulling all the pieces together. We also would like to see more consideration of permaculture approaches to invasive species management.

On an unrelated and brighter note, we'll soon take a new kind of bread boule from the oven. The last loaf we baked using our current formula and flour sources tasted different than any of the prior versions. We "restarted" our home grown sourdough starter, and the Better Half bought some pricey local flour for us to play with. Today's loaf/boule will be the first production with the renewed starter and new flour. Tomorrow or Friday we'll let you know how it turned out .

Invasive Species

by Samn Stockwell

The bulldozer paws and pauses

at the edge of the marsh.

Water is easy to direct,

impossible to stop, serpentine

in its empire.

The third settlers were chased here

by the second settlers and early death

but not before a softening hand

planted bouncing bet in the yard,

now in scallops and pools along

the train tracks, hiding

the diary wrapped in waxed canvas. 

And everything that follows

seized and scattered: 

another woman kneeling on the floor,

coat on the back of the chair

repairing a fraying rug —

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