The beginnings of the alfalfa patch. There are lots of little sprouts, but they are practically impossible to photograph as of yet. This used to be our grandparents' lawn - they have not been able to keep it up lately and starting to grow forage plants here is a good way to get a green spot for them to look at without wasting the horrendous amounts of water to sustain a lawn. Also, being close to the house it is easier to take care of and harder for wild animals to raid.
This patch is only about 6' x 15', but I fully intend to plant more. My goal is to try to plant enough in the next few months to produce 1% of the horses' yearly needs. More on this later on. The way I figured it out is, with Mira on a mostly concentrate diet, I use roughly 6 tons of hay a year. In this area, with decent soil amendments and LOTS of water, a person might be able to harvest a couple tons per acre. Say I would need two acres. One acre is 43,560 feet, or (squared) about 208.7 feet x 208.7 feet. One percent of two acres is 870 feet, or 20' x 43.5' patch. So far I have 90' planted. I will keep you guys updated on this project's progress!
L
1 comment:
I need to do some planting here. It's been too cold and now I think it's going directly to being too hot. Sometimes the elements win, I guess.
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