I told Glen our hay baler last fall that I wanted to over-seed the hay pastures with legumes to eventually produce the necessary nitrogen, in lieu of using fertilizer and weed-killing herbicides. He has used weed killer on the pastures for about fifteen years, and has been very pleased with the pure Bermuda hay that he sells to his clientele of finicky horse breeders. But Bermuda is like a heroin addict. And I am adamant that we move away from poisons. So, without any poisons this year, the pastures were completely taken over this spring by Ragwort, which is poisonous to horses, cattle and people. To make it worse, we were not there when the Ragwort went to seed so the fluffy dandelion-like seeds could possibly cover the entire ranch next year. I have not talked to Glen this spring, except at church where it was not appropriate to talk business, but I am sure he is rolling his eyes at all my natural “solutions.”
Meanwhile, the tax appraiser called to say it was time for us to produce something more than hay, which means we can let the pastures be what they want to be. This year the Bluebonnets returned to one of them! The Battle of the Ragwort will no doubt last many years, maybe for the rest of our lives. I have marked my 2025 ranch management calendar to have the Ragwort mowed down in very early spring before it has a chance to go to seed. We will see.
The tax appraiser also said we have too many acres to raise only bees, so it looks like we will be applying for a wildlife management exemption, which is something we want to do with the land anyway. The wild hog eradication that we’ve been working on over the last year is encouraged. I am not sure yet what else they will require, but by all accounts Blanco County is very easy to work with. I am excited to get started! We still hope to eventually have bees, a garden, fruit and pecan trees, chickens and possibly sheep, but that will all be for our own consumption and enjoyment.
We had the perfect winter rains this year, so the Bluebonnets are an absolute hyacinth-colored riot, coating our rugged hills. The Indian Paintbrushes and Indian Blankets will come out next. The landscape looks like a plein air painter’s destination. This spring has also been The Year of the Caterpillar…They are everywhere! 
So hopefully it will be The Year of the Butterfly as well. Dewberries, Mustang Grape, Pears and Pecans will be abundant this year too. I am fully aware that this spring may be unique in the coming decades, so I am trying to treasure every waking moment, enveloped in the most iconic of Texas scenery, trying not to step on a caterpillar or eat all the picked dewberries before I can even get them back to the house. 🙂