Fuel Efficient Lawn Mowers

I'm so happy! First, let me explain two (of many) daunting 'problems' that our impending economy collapse is providing. One being rising gas prices (obviously) and the other being rising hay prices for keeping animals. Well, Ontonagon, Michigan, is proving to have these 'problems' at top intensity. We are nearly feeding hay out all year round, with the exception of (maybe) one month in the summer. Pathetic! Well, with no time to put in sheep fencing, these poor beasts were facing a whole summer in their pen this year (with the exception of the hour/day herding that the boys give them). Refusing to waste gas on lawn mowing this year, it was determined that sheep grazing/mowing was the best option. A moveable pen was the top choice since that eliminated fencing in the whole lawn. BUT, four fencing panels, such as we needed, cost nearly $100 dollars, at almost $25 a panel!!! We talked about other possibilities with the menfolk, but they were too busy with the summer building projects to offer any help. Fed up with this obvious need, and the ridiculousness of buying gas for the lawn mower and feeding hay to the sheep, I grabbed Theresa this morning and went to work. I am more then a little pleased with our feminine attempt at carpentry.

You can see our overgrown yard in this one: (Miserably overcast today.)

They ate for 4-5 hours and we moved it twice, (though we really didn't need too, it was just so fun to see the 'mowed' areas). You can see the two patches where they ate:

This is our gate; a portion of the fencing that we didn't tie to the frame. We wove a smaller piece of wood into the fencing and attached it to the corner post with bungey cords.

You can see the sad state of our fleeces this year. The bare patches that Paddy (the calf) left on them are just starting to grow back in, leaving them looking rather like french poodles.

Anyway, I just have to point out that this pen was 100% free (). The wood was dug out of the scrap piles left over from our house building project. The fencing was found in the dump pile and restored. Then the string that we used to attach the fencing to the frame was pulled out of the garbage can (it initially came off round bales). Even the nails were pulled out of dad's left over bucket of screws and nails!

Fuel efficient lawn mowers! Every yard should have one.