Friday, January 16, 2009
The Intersection of Smart, Green & Cute
Back in November, we spent a week with Karen's brother and sister-in-law in Lincoln, CA., where they live in a sprawling Sun City development. When they first moved there, we gave them enormous shit about it, but every time we've visited, we've been more and more impressed. While the place is huge -- we frequently get lost in the endless maze of dead-end end streets lined with look-alike homes -- the developers have preserved huge swaths of green space and created miles of attractive walking/running trails for the use of residents and guests. The coolest thing they're doing, we discovered on one early morning stroll, is maintaining the green spaces with a roving flock of sheep and goats. The Sun City folks have apparently contracted with a local rancher who brings the livestock, along with hundreds of yards of lightweight, portable electric fencing, to a different section of the Sun City property each day. The sheep and goats then graze happily for several hours -- effectively operating as low-wage, baahing and shitting lawnmowers -- and then move on to the next tract. Over the course of several months, they can take care of all the green spaces in an efficient, eco-friendly way.
The morning we encountered them, the flock included a bunch of cute-as-hell, less-than-week-old lambs, which quickly attracted an oohing and ahhing gaggle of old folks like us. We shot this video of one little guy searching for his mama and then enthusiastically enjoying breakfast on the hoof. Enjoy!
The morning we encountered them, the flock included a bunch of cute-as-hell, less-than-week-old lambs, which quickly attracted an oohing and ahhing gaggle of old folks like us. We shot this video of one little guy searching for his mama and then enthusiastically enjoying breakfast on the hoof. Enjoy!
# posted by goots @ 9:27 AM 
