Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The property we are looking at right now is covered in this nasty vine with stems covered in sharp scales. Would goats take care of that for us? I don't know the name of it. The Jimson weed (datura family) could be a problem for them.

I'll have to look in to Co-ops. Hadn't heard of that.

goats are terrible at taking care of weeds. they will eat any remaining "nice" growth and leave the horrible stuff to spread.
fussy eaters really.

Sheep are better and then trailor chooks over the area!IMHO.

i think sheep would be easier to look after as well, but then i dont know that much about goats

Co-ops are great, but are rarely used outside of rent-controlled urban areas like NYC and SF. You may have a tough time getting a zoning board to understand what you are talking about :/.

pigs are really good at digging up roots. We put ten piglets on a half-acre of willows and weeds. By the end of summer, the plot looked like it had been rototilled.

One note of caution- If you have community property for common use, etc. You may learn the same lesson as the Mayflower compact. They had common property and common storehouses, and people didn't do much work, and starvation was a problem the first winter. I like the idea of clustered homes, so that people can be neighborly, etc. But have the plots owned and starred out from the clusters. Alternatively, you can have the village, surrounded by farmland. Put common areas in the center (markets, churches, schools, etc.) Farmers can walk to their land from their homes, people that are not wanting to get their hands dirty, will still have integral connection to the land, since they will be surrounded by farms.
-Doug

Timmy said "goats are terrible at taking care of weeds. they will eat any remaining "nice" growth and leave the horrible stuff to spread.
fussy eaters really."

I think you must be talking about certain breeds, dairy goats can be like that but some breeds will eat anything that stands still long enough!

Boar goats (meat breed) that are very efficient at cleaning up weeds and brambles etc, but you will need decent fences as, like most things, they would rather your veggies, orchard or crops.

The absolute best weed eaters though are feral goats that have been rounded up and fence trained. These guys eat just about anything! In bad times they will strip bark off trees to the point of killing the trees, dig for roots and have been seen jumping for leaves and branches that are otherwise out of reach.

If you can get them and are looking at keeping goats long term, feral does are usually covered with a Boar buck to improve the quality if the kids.

After several generations (5 or 6 I think) of breeding back to registered bucks the kids are considered pure bred. This is good, as your land improves, so do your goats. I know people who have done this.

Don't quote me on this but it looks like the US rules are similar to ours.

My parents next door neighbour owns a hobby farm and one paddock has a goat and a cow in it.
the whole yard is ruined from them eating the gass and leaving the weeds, them spend the whole time at my parents fence eating the grass of their side. maybe their just fussy eaters?

we have 1000's of feral goats at work and they live about 10m from my office door eating our garden's. turf is number 1 on their menu

So many ideas!

In our little "village", we will only have homes, a clubhouse, and maybe some peripheral buildings like a greenhouse or storage sheds. If some of the community would like to home school, for example, rooms in the clubhouse could be made available. Schools, churches, stores, and public amenities would be within walking distance if we can get this particular land that I like.

We will just have to see what the zoning will allow us for the size of lots and ownership of the common areas. The neighborhood I currently live in has a clubhouse, common property, and privately-owned lots and homes, so that model is well-understood here. So is the condo model.

As far as folks not doing their share of the work and starving in the winter, I think there has to be accountability. One of the models I have seen that I like is to have community work days with a list of jobs that need doing. Folks that get there early get the best jobs to do. Everyone owes a certain number of hours of work each month. If they can't/won't do the work, they can pay to hire someone else to do the work. Again, it's not that unlike the community I live in now. I pay a quarterly fee that is used to insure the common property and to pay someone to maintain those buildings and grounds. I do not, however, have the choice to work instead of paying.

I think livestock decisions are a ways off, although the goat information is great. I have heard of folks that will rent you a herd of goats to clear out weeds. This one property may be best handled with a bulldozer, though. It would be brownfield work; it's a bit rough right now, but has such great potential. A larger group of us will be walking it tomorrow and then discussing next steps.

keep the info coming!

hope it all goes ahead for you janet

Actually Co-ops exist in many forms in the US, but often are not thought of as being one. I belong to a Credit Union for my banking, which is a form of a Co-op. I get my electricity and water from corporations that are member/user owned (again, another Co-op). Many people in this area buy thier propane from a farmer owned Co-op. I have had insurance in the past from a member owned insurance company, again, another Co-op. Cooperative food markets are not uncommon. In general, when it comes to a cooperative form of ownership of real estate, it would be the most logical, to me, for holding the property and overseeing it's management. (Specifically; each person/family buys a membership, then either "purchases" property rights from the cooperative and gets a residence [townhouse] or lot for building/buying a home. Each member will then have voting rights for selecting a board and deciding issues. The "common property" will be under the management of the board and, depending upon the bylaws, members will have the right to cultivate plots for themselves, communally, or rent back for others to use. Those who do not choose to work on common property projects will be levied a fee for the contracting of employees to perform the work. As far as "private ownership" none of the members will actually hold any owner interests in the property, it will all be owned by the cooperative. What they will hold is a "Life Estate", the right to use the property for the length of thier natural life, with no inheritance rights by thier hiers.)
Kevin

Found a t-shirt for your group:

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You are a bad man, Dave.