Goats-as-Buckthorn-Busters. If you haven't heard, the Sunrise Rotary Club has come up with a solution to deal with Buckthorn in Pukaite Woods. What fantastic idea is that? You may be asking... Well, presence at the Zoom meeting, a thorough reading of the News Graphic, and/or context will tell you that it is goats!
Are you interested in helping with the Goats-as-Buckthorn-Busters? The Sunrise Club still needs volunteers especially for both morning (around 7 am) and afternoon (around 4 or 5 pm) shifts on Saturdays & Sundays, and afternoon shifts most days. They really only need two volunteers for each shift. Please note, there is no riding of the goats.
The tasks are not difficult, and do not include riding the goats ... (1) check the fence line to be sure nothing has fallen against it that would interrupt the low-voltage electrical impulse, (2) eyeball the goats to be sure all are inside the fence, moving around, happily chewing, and not being ridden by small children, and (3) refill the water tank ... they'll have a small 4-wheel vehicle available capable of moving 20 gallons of water at a time from Reuter Pavilion where they have a water source to wherever the goat paddock is.
They do need all volunteers to attend the short orientation/training session next Sunday afternoon, which will immediately follow installation of the mesh fencing. So far they have a crew of 5 Rotarians to install the fence, starting about noon. They think they should be done by about 2:30, so would like volunteers to arrive then for the training session, which they'll start start as soon as everyone is there or at 3 pm the latest.
If you're interested reach out to Sandy Custer at cust1234@aol.com ... but a final reminder, no riding the goats!
You might want to watch a couple of short videos to see why they're doing this and what it will look like when the goats arrive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhrittts1yE 2 mins woods in Minn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8fU5Shh06E 3.5 mins Goats in St. Paul Park
Email information originally came from Connie Pukaite, through Sandy Custer, with comical stylings added courtesy of Sam Azinger.