Every Addition to our Farm Requires Ecosystem Assessment First

Meet Garlic, a new kitten here named by my kids. ☺️ Every addition is a balance on the homestead between what the farm needs and what nature already provides. As a permaculture practitioner, I assess every single element before bringing in something new… this is how an ecosystem is maintained.

In this case, we were down to one barn cat. I knew we’d likely need another before the temperatures plummet… a barn full of hay and animal feed (no matter how well protected) is a welcoming spot for country mice and rats. I waited to see what our resident rodent and owl populations were like, how many predatory inhabitants we have that could access the barn realistically with guard dogs around, and what stray cats (if any) might come by. Too many cats could reduce a food source other wildlife needs to survive so I wanted to be sure we had enough prey to support another cat. If I take a food source away from owls, kestrels, fox, etc., they’ll be more likely to prey on my birds or leave the farm all together; neither of which is the intention. And because this is social media, yes, I feed my cats multiple times per day. 😉

And so it was meant to be. We welcomed Garlic a few weeks ago. A skittish but most welcome new farm friend.