Happy Friday!

Please enjoy this adorable little Eco-Goat: Napoleon. Find more videos of Sir Cuteness (and his friends, family and roommates) on my YouTube channel.

Cecil County Couple Challenges Zoning Law for Pet Goat

An interesting article was published in The Baltimore Sun this morning regarding a goat turned pet in Cecil County, MD. The Balunsat couple purchased Snowbird for several hundred dollars through a newspaper advertisement and have raised her alongside several other animals since she was just a kid.

Snowbird, who lives in a home with less land than zoning laws require for animal husbandry, was not the original complaint. A rooster was - and the family already got rid of it (seemingly without objections). Neither the law or the family involved are concerned with whether or not the goat (or chickens, dogs, etc) qualify or act as working animals - or about the natural needs/purposes of/for the animal in question. 

The idea of farm animals in urban areas has been a hot topic lately as many urban and suburban neighborhoods are circulating petitions to allow residents to keep chickens for the purpose of fresh laid eggs. University of Maryland Extension sheep and goat expert, Susan Schoenian, points out the separation human beings have had from farm animals and processes and that there is a growing movement back towards that connection. 

But this particular case does not appear to be affiliated with the growing "backyard farmer" movement - which begs the question: What is it that draws human beings to animals? Is it for food? Survival? Companionship? Or a need to nurture? 

To keep up with Snowbird's story, 'like' her Facebook page.

Goats vs Tortoises?

When talking goats here in Maryland, I like to point folks towards my favorite herd, the Eco-Goats, who are fighting the good fight against invasive plant species (and helping out the state's endangered turtle). But as you all are aware, not all eco-systems are created equal and what may benefit one place could be detrimental to another. No where is this truth more visible today than on the Galapagos Islands of Espanola. There, a population of hundreds of thousands of tortoises (Geochelone hoodensis) has decreased to a few thousand as the population of goats, introduced to the islands by humans, increased exponentially.

So what did scientists decide to do to save the population of tortoises to extinction? A pretty brutal goat eradication program that I'd rather not paraphrase. Read all about it here. The good news is: their efforts, that have been going on unbeknownst to me since the 1970s, appear to have been successful and the turtle population is going to be a-okay. The bad news is: their war on goats has been going on unbeknownst to me since the 1970s.

All kidding aside, it sounds like a success story. One eco-systems' trash is a blogger in Maryland's treasure.

Goats: Now on Golf Courses Too!

Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, CA has employed a team of 150 grazing goats to clear 80 years’ worth of non-native plant growth (such as pampas grass and acacia trees) from the canyons and barrancas surrounding the course. Read all about it here.

Got Goats?

The University of Maryland's Public Health Garden sure does!

As so many of our friends, family, fellow students and co-workers are aware, the UMD Public Health Garden team is working hard to clear weeds, grow seeds, and break ground in the garden space next month. A fun and exciting part of that plan, which includes 25-30 weed-eating goats from our friends and colleagues at Eco-Goats, will be highlighted with several demonstrations hosted by Brian Knox (of Eco-Goats) and the PHG Gals on Monday May 2nd at the garden site: Between the School of Public Health & Eppley Recreation Center. UMD IAA students are invited to attend the demonstration with yours truly at 11:00am. There will be additional demonstrations at 1:00pm and 3:00pm as well as nightly events.

The official Eco-Goat kickoff party starts at 5:00pm on Sunday, May 1st. While the goats fill up on thistle, the Public Health Garden gang will be sharing pizza with all our guests. Stop by anytime before 10:00pm!

We've got several weekend activities as well. Stop by on Maryland Day (Saturday, April 30th) to enter to win a small herb garden and paint/plant your own sustainable container garden (while supplies last) with our resident expert Allison Lilly, of Adventures in Container Gardening. If you'd like to go a step further and volunteer with us, please sign-up here.

Just in case you haven't seen it, check out our final design in this very cool video:

Got Goats?

In case you haven't heard, goats are the new green, weed-clearing machines. Expect to hear lots more about them in the coming weeks. Not only do they love to eat the weeds we hate, they are helping out local turtles (wink, wink)!

Slow Season!

Warmest wishes and deepest apologies for the lack of posts lately. The holidays are a busy time of year around here! Please feel free to spend some of your Internet-browsing hours looking through old posts here on Just Saying or on the following sites/blogs/links/stories that have captured our attention lately:

Mental_Floss: 18 Fun Facts About Your Favorite Christmas TV Specials

MSN 'A Year of Mystery Meat' - Read about the experiences of a Chicago area public school employee who ate school lunch every day for a year

Green-Up Your Computer with ECO BUTTON

Recent GMO News - Bt Cotton Failures in India (also here)

Get to know The Fabulous Beekman Boys or just watch Farmer John's Goat Cam!

And if those happy Beekman goats made your heart grow three sizes, consider making an end-of-year donation to one of our favorite organizations, Heifer International, to gift a goat or a share of one. Learn more and donate here.