Growing a Field of Dreams

We have taken the leap and planted a field of various grasses for the llamas.  It was a pricier endevor than I thought it would be but now the grass is coming and and I am so excited!  It was a long process of deciding what type of field to plant and I learned a lot about grasses.  Thanks to the great help from Albuquerque Alpacas and Miller's Feed in Albuqueruque, I hope I have created the magic blend that will grow the healthiest and happiest llamas.  We planted a whole acre that we lease from a friendly neighbor in hopes we will have many years to enjoy it. I bought a total of 160 pounds of seed to plant: 50 lbs of Rocky Mountain Native Mix, 40 lbs of Brome, 40 lbs of edophyte-free Fescue, and 30 lbs of Orchard grass seed.  After the tractor covered the field two or threetimes, there was still 50 lbs left over.  The left over came in handy when another neighbor decided to plant her quarter acre field this spring too.  This is my first large-scale (can I call it that?) farming and I am like an anxious mother checking on the baby grass blades.  Luckily the lisght freeze we had last night did not seem to harm any of it. 

I have to say that I am feeling pretty smug now that I have participated in greening up the Alameda neighborhood.  Having a field seems not to be as cost effective as developers like to buy them up and build homes to sell.  We are losing open space yet farming is so important. If you are someone who supports keeping our open spaces, growing food or crops, let others know and lets keep it up!