Our homeowner’s association is responsible for maintenance of several common areas in our neighborhood. There are a few empty lots that perhaps will be developed into parks some day, but now are simply mowed during the summer. There are some other common areas that are left completely natural. And there is a settling pond. Rainwater that falls onto driveways and streets runs into a storm sewer system that empties into the pond. When the pond is full the overflow runs down a ditch to a place where it flows into Terrill Creek about a half mile from where Terrill Creek flows into the Salish Sea. The settling pond is fenced. The area outside the settling pond is kept mowed by the same crews that mow other common areas. Last year the area inside the fence was trimmed from time to time by crews using string trimmers. This year, however, the area inside the fence is being maintained by rental goats.

When we went on our walk yesterday there were a trailer load of goats eating their way around the area between the pond and the fence. The trailer was backed up to the gate and the owners of the goats were standing by as the animals fed. When we saw them I expected that the goats might be left inside the fence overnight or even for a couple of days. However, by the time we returned from our walk to the beach the goats had all been loaded up and taken away. I don’t know the plan for the goats. Maybe the goats only work a few hours each day and are taken home at night. Perhaps the fence is insufficient to keep the goats corralled and they need human supervision when in the area. Maybe the goats ate the amount deemed necessary for yesterday and will return at a later date as the grass and weeds grow in the area.

What was fun about the goats was that our neighborhood not only got weed control from the goat rental, we also got entertainment. When the goats were in the enclosure, children from the neighborhood lined up along the fence to see the goats. A few managed to get a short pet of a goat by putting their hands between the bars of the fence. Some of us who are older were entertained by watching the human kids interact with the goat kids. From my point of view, it seemed a lot more fun than the noisy, smoky weed eaters that the crew ran in the area last year. I’m curious if and when the goats will return.

With apologies to Stephen Colbert, I’m imitating his comedy bit for a series of short vignettes.

Meanwhile, the choir at our church put together a small gift for our Minister of Music who is leaving our church as her family is moving to Oregon. Since she loves chocolate, we put together a basket of specialty chocolate bars for her. Each choir member brought one or two bars to contribute to the basket. When I heard of the idea, my first thought was to get a few truffles from the C-Shop, a family business just down the street from our house near the beach. They make their own candy and sell it along with ice cream, snow cones, popcorn and other treats all summer long. I also thought of a shop in Mount Vernon, were we lived for a year before moving up to Birch Bay. Forté Chocolate is an award-winning artisan chocolate company overseen by Master Chocolatier Karen Neugebauer. They have a retail store in Bellingham as well. From another choir member I learned of Seattle Chocolate Company, a woman-owned and run company in the Pacific Northwest. From yet another choir member, I found out that a Bellingham chocolate factory is now the largest chocolate maker in the Pacific Northwest. K’UL Chocolate produced more than 300,000 pounds of chocolate chips last year and is set to produce even more this year. K’UL is Mayan for “the energy and interconnectivity between all living things.” That’s a mouthful for one word. Their specialty dark chocolate bars are also a mouthful from what I hear. Who knew there would be so many specialty chocolate shops in the Pacific Northwest or that so much chocolate would be produced here?

Meanwhile the berries are starting to come on in our part of the country. Strawberries and cherries are already available at area fruit stands and the you-pick strawberry fields are available. The cherries on our tree aren’t quite ripe and I’m having a bit of a contest with a crow who insists on stealing cherries before they ripen. Our tree produces enough to share, but I guess I’m a bit greedy and I wish the crow would at least allow the cherries to ripen. A few ripe cherries have been picked and they are sweeter and more wonderful than the ones from the freezer. Last year’s cherry harvest produced enough to last us all winter long. We’ve still got at least one big bag of cherries in the freezer. At the farm the blueberries are starting to turn color a sure sign that we’ll be picking them soon. Like cherries, blueberries freeze wonderfully, providing good eating all year round. Blackberries are late season fruit here and will ripen with the raspberries in August and many stretch into September. The blackberries however are blooming and providing a good source of pollen and nectar for the honey bees.

Meanwhile I have two colonies of bees that are going great guns and don’t need to be fed. They are sending out plenty of forager bees and I’ve already added honey supers to their hives. It is looking like it will be a good year for honey. I also have two new colonies that are struggling to get established. I have them in another area of the farm, on the other side of the barn and am still feeding them. They are going through a quart of syrup for each colony each day right now, so I’m assuming that they are producing brood and soon will have larger numbers of foragers bringing nectar and pollen back to the hive. A honey bee will produce a teaspoon or less in its lifetime, so it takes a lot of bees for the gallons of honey we harvest each year.

Of course there are a lot of other things going on meanwhile, but some stories will wait for future editions of my journal.