Wooly Weed Whackers of West Petaluma

Snapped this pic this morning on foot on the way down the hill to walk the youngest boy to Wildlife Day Camp. We were several minutes on the tardy side as there was such a wide variety of the intriguing natural world to take in en route!

Here are a few members of the flock of wonderful West Petaluman wooly weed whackers, presently employed by the city of Petaluma to chow down the perilous dry grassland which divides the hilly Victoria neighborhood from the older neighborhoods of this riverside community.

So much smaller is the carbon footprint of this industrious flock, that it's an immense improvement for the environmental impact of razing excessive acreage of such high fire-risk grasslands.

And it's all the rage here in Northern California, with open space at Infineon Raceway acting as HQ for the herders and their flocks. Vineyards throughout wine country are utilizing the services of wooly workers, though the little bleaters do need to be diverted at the opportune time to avoid munching down the precious new growth vines.

It may not be rocket science, but it certainly is grand to get a glimpse of practical nature in numbers, gradually traversing the golden hillsides behind an unobtrusive, temporary fencing.

 

Comments

[Jan]

Sheep are a rare sight here, and it's nice to see them being put to good use. Where I'm from in Lancashire sheep abound.

[Frances]

Yes, it is surprisingly entertaining to watch them in action - we've become accustomed to the sight of landscape laborers dousing the edges of the countryside with round-up and the like for so long, now, that the concept of sustainable maintenance is well overdue. Where in Lancashire are you from, Jan? My most dedicated reader, and frequent commenter Lesley is from Staley Bridge, Lancashire, though living for a good long time here in Sonoma County!

[Lesley]

Nope, Mrs R. Stalybridge is actually in Cheshire. But I am Ashton under Lyne born and bred which is in Lancashire, making me a lovely lassie from Lancashire.

[Suzanne]

Enough with the alliteration, Lovely! In Jersey, it's all about what exit you're from. (turnpike exit, that is.) I'm 7A.

[Frances]

I stand (again) corrected. Those county borders had me all confused! Yet, she's a Lancashire lass through and through, despite my miscalculations on a geographical note! And as for you, 7A, sounds like a perfectly delightful turnpike in which to have formed your inimitable New Jersey character!