This very fertile 4 acre hillside pasture is too rocky for hay production, I mow it once a year in late summer. When fall rains come it’s often too wet for my heavy tractor.



by Vermontbuilder

41 Comments

  1. throwawaybsme

    Wow, lush. But it seems like you are mowing a lot of great flowers for native pollinators.

  2. Emergency_Agent_3015

    “The land of Mow.” You should consider retiring the area from production and allowing woody species to return. Rocky, thin soils on slopes are better suited for tree production and woody shrubs. Think about it the next time you have a mower repair.

  3. hinnsvartingi

    That was so satisfying to watch. I wish I was there to smell

  4. DrMantisToboggan670

    That brought back some good memories of walking the fields of my relatives properties in East Montpelier.

  5. spizzle_

    What a waste of your time and pasture for a negative yield.

  6. davidolson1990

    I actually kindof hate this. Every year. Not even giving nature a chance, especially if you do nothing with it. Imagine all the chopped up caterpillars. I hate it.

  7. BlackKloudDhali

    Don’t listen to detractors, they will mow over your choices as the property owner.

  8. monterey26

    Genuine question… if you only mow once per year, why not wait a few more weeks for the flowers to finish blooming?

  9. Legitimate_South9157

    Sad to see all that goldenrod mowed down. It’s better for your homestead, the native plants, and the environment if you wait until late fall. Mow/disk a firebreak around your boundary and then burn off your pastures

  10. RefrigeratorFluid886

    So satisfying! Are you leaving the clippings on the ground? Good if you are. It will decompose and build up the rocky soil into something nice. Give it a few more years and this will be usable land. Could speed up the process a bit with a good layer of wood chips.

    You could think about renting this space out to livestock farmers. It gets mowed down by the animals, and you get money for it.

  11. Abundanceofyolk

    5 cows would decimate that pasture.

  12. GrolarBear69

    I see the golden rod everyone is talking about but I wouldn’t hay that with all those ferns.

  13. What are the cons of leaving it? Genuinely curious.

  14. Why mow it if you dont use it? Let the wildlife use the tall grasses and flowers.

  15. you-look-adopted

    This is exactly what my dreams look like. Red tractor, VT, poor soil that will make me rethink my wife and I’s life long dreams and a view to redirect those negative thoughts. Nice spot OP, keep it going!

  16. emonymous3991

    A lot of native bugs in there that you’re mowing as well. I’ll never understand mowing for the sake of mowing. If you don’t use the area then why mow at all? Rent it out to some livestock farmers I’m sure they’d be happy to use it. Thing will eventually die and come back like nature intended.

  17. Couchonthecouch

    Thats a beautiful country side. Is that early morning or late afternoon?

  18. zabulon_

    Poor pollinators. Goldenrod is one the best plants you can have blooming.

  19. Dim-Mak-88

    Those telling you to wait a little longer clearly didn’t read your comment about the fall rains.

  20. Agvisor2360

    I need to mow down my Spring/Summer pollinator garden but the heat index this week will be 110-115 degrees. I’ll just leave it be for a while.

  21. Agvisor2360

    Haters gonna hate. Let the man do what he wants to do. Every situation has positives and negatives to it.

  22. Femveratu

    Haha this is soooo satisfying, need to do some way overdue lot maintenance landscape work at my seasonal

  23. kadrin88

    Why mow it at all? Especially while everything is in bloom. 

  24. DifficultIsopod4472

    Just think, a few more months and you’ll be doing SNOW REMOVAL!!

  25. Nikeflies

    Hey there! I’m a fellow New Englander and just finished a year long Master Woodland Manager program from CT DEEP. See all the flowering goldenrod you’re mowing over? That is an immensely important plant for pollinators late in the season, which helps improve the quality of any fruit or veggies you’re growing!. It is highly recommended to wait until October to mow a field like this, as you get the max benefits to pollinators/ food chain and allow these flowers to go to seed and spread for future.

  26. rayeranhi

    Any way to restore this to native grasslands/remove the invasives permanently?

  27. nixonbeach

    You should stream this as sleep content on YouTube. For real this is peaceful.

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