Pastures in Perspective

The promised post on our pastures is finally ready after I managed to finish a color-coded map (simplified from our survey) to show where they are.  The newest pasture, Kara's Pasture, is the bright yellow one in the center of the map.  To the right of it is the pale pink Home Pasture; to the left is the green Back Pasture; and below is the lavender Lower Pasture.  The blank area sticking down from the bottom of the map is the unfenced woods up on the hill.  (Click on any picture to enlarge it.)

Let me take you on a tour of Kara's Pasture.  Here we are at the back of the property where the road curves uphill between the Lower Pasture (left) and the Back Pasture (right).  Ken Ray and his crew tied the two pastures together and put a gate across the road, barely visible in this photo.

If we turn around 180° and walk along the Back Pasture, we end up at the second gate, hidden in the shade of the trees beyond the tire tracks.

This gate is in a new section of fence that ties into the Back Pasture fence, then starts uphill.

At that point, Herb and I (mostly Herb!) ran about 200' of fence built with cattle panels up the hill through the woods, then joined it to the fence below Kara's house.

Here we are standing at the same spot as the second photo, looking up towards Kara's house.  You can see the fence coming out of the woods to the right . . .

. . . and running along below her house as we look farther right . . .

. . . and even farther to the right.  If you look on the map, Herb is on the green road in the center of the yellow Kara's Pasture, heading east.  The creek is to his right in this photo, and the Lower Pasture appears farther right as a narrow strip beside the line of trees.

If you keep walking with Herb, you come to the garbage shed (not on the map, but located at the V-shaped fork in the road in the lower right corner of Kara's Pasture).The animals already love lounging in the shade of this giant oak.  On beyond is the third gate, which blocks this pasture off from the front of the property.

Turning around 180° again, you can see a good portion of Kara's Pasture.  The Lower Pasture is off to the left beyond the white fence posts; the Back Pasture is visible in the far distance.

If you turn a bit more to the right, you can now see the Home Pasture to the right.  Ken Ray and his crew are driving down the hill from the last gate, where Kara's pasture ties into the Home Pasture.  They have finished their work and are heading out.

 Finally, a few pictures since the Labor Day downpour show the pastures greening up.  In this picture the Home Pasture is in front with the Lower Pasture beyond, the creek running across it.

This picture shows the Home Pasture, Kara's Pasture, and the Back Pasture, one after the other, rolling towards Lookout Mountain in the distance.

And one final shot shows the Home Pasture in the foreground, Kara's pasture beyond the road across the middle ground, the Lower Pasture in the left distance, and the Back Pasture in the far distance.  All the other pastures open into Kara's Pasture, giving us a safely connected system for moving our stock around.  And if we want them in the barnyard, it connects to the Home Pasture with gates that reach across the road.  Hero may not be able to bound clear across the property like he used to, but we're really happy with our pastures!