Winter Prep and Spring Plans at Rolling Pastures

It's the middle of November here in Livingston, and the farm has that in-between feeling. The garden is winding down, the mornings have a bite, and I still drink my coffee on the porch and check the temperature on the fence post. The work just changes clothes.

The National Weather Service in Nashville, which covers Overton County, is calling for the first widespread hard freeze of the season this weekend. That's enough of a nudge for me.

Water comes first. A goat can handle a cold night a lot better than a frozen trough. Our San Clemente Island goats are a hardy bunch, reddish-brown, with black stripes on their faces and those sweeping horns. Rusty is the easy one to pick out of the bunch. I wrote more about the breed a few years ago if you want the longer story. This time of year I check the water every morning. A tank heater in the trough is a help when the nights drop hard. If you don't have one, breaking the ice a couple of times a day still works, it just means you're out there earlier. Drain the hoses and shut off any spigot that might split. A busted water line is a miserable way to start a day.

Hay and a dry bed matter just as much. They need a place out of the wind, enough bedding to stay off the wet ground, and loose minerals where they can get to them. Keep them dry and fed, and out of the weather.

The geese have their own opinions, as usual. Velzy and Dale, the two females, and Bing, the gander, are gray Toulouse geese, and they do all right in the cold if they have open water and a spot out of the wind. Velzy will still come looking for a little red tomato, even now. I have to tell her the garden's done for the year. She does not appear to believe me.

Cora, my black-and-white dog, makes the morning rounds with me. She thinks the whole operation is her idea.

Once the animals are settled, I turn to the garden. UT Extension's 2026 home garden calendar says November is a good time to finish picking, pull out the diseased plants, and start a compost pile with the healthy leftovers and the leaves. I'm also picking up soil test boxes from the UT Extension office here in Livingston on November 14. You can get the boxes at the county office on West Broad Street, or use a sturdy quart bag, and send them to the Soil, Plant and Pest Center in Nashville. Fall is a good time to test, because if the soil needs lime, it has all winter to work.

If you haven't planted garlic yet, this may be the last good week. UT Extension says September through early November is the usual window across Tennessee, and their calendar was still giving a mid-November planting a pass. Plant the cloves about two inches deep and six inches apart, in loose soil that drains, and cover them with straw. We can grow both hardneck and softneck here. There's a good walk-through in UT Gardens' garlic note.

Cover crops can still go in, too. They say a mid-November seeding of rye can still do some good. Anything that holds the soil through winter and feeds it a little before spring is worth the trouble.

While I'm at it, I'll clean and oil the tools, drain and coil the hoses, and keep a seed catalog by the coffee pot. Spring feels far off on a freeze night, but this is the time to think about what goes in the ground next year.

Around here the average last spring frost is about April 12, and the average first fall frost is about October 25. Those come from NOAA's 1991 to 2020 records at the Livingston radio station. They're even-odds dates, not a promise. The Farmers' Almanac, using the same kind of climate records, puts Nashville close to that: April 10 in the spring and October 26 in the fall. UT Extension likes a more careful mark, the date with only a 1-in-10 chance of a later frost. For Nashville they set that at April 21 in spring and October 10 in the fall. I'll put the tender plants, the tomatoes and peppers, in a little after that cautious date and keep one eye on the forecast.

If you need a quiet walk while the farm is in this slower season, the Mandala Walk is still here. Visitors are welcome, with reservations.

For now it's simple work. Keep the water open. Keep the animals dry. Get the soil tested. Tuck a little garlic in if you still can, and dream on the catalogs. Spring will get here the same way it always does, one cold morning at a time.

Darin R. McClure
Chief Goat Herder

Watch the movie

This post rolled into a little movie about winter prep and spring plans here at Rolling Pastures. Here it is, straight from my X feed.

Rolled the Rolling Pastures winter prep post into a little movie. 🎬

Keep the troughs open, bed the goats, get the garlic in, and start dreaming about spring. ☕️

— Darin (@DarinRMcClure) November 11, 2026

If the video doesn't load, watch it on X.

Livingston Tennessee Mandala Walk

        

The Mandala is an ancient and widespread spiritual symbol that has been used across various cultures and religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and ever Native Americans. 

Mandalas have a circular design that represents the universe and is often used as a tool for meditation, self-reflection, and achieving a state of balance and wholeness. 

In Hinduism, mandalas were used to reflect on the purpose of life and existence, while in Buddhism, they represent the transformation of suffering into joy. 

Labyrinths,  the Christian version of the mandala are found in ancient churches.  The Native Americans had their The Medicine Wheel and they were also used for their sacred spiritual practices. 

Today Mandalas are used for meditation and walking prayer, helping the seeker to free the mind and approach God by allowing the individual to use both parts of their brains simultaneously. 

The path in these mandalas lead to the center, signifying a person's soul moving toward the divine. 

So young friends, a walking prayer is a spiritual practice that combines the physical act of walking with the power of prayer. It has the potential to transform not only the life of the individual but also the communities they walk through. 

The purpose of a prayer walk is to invite the Holy Spirit to move in the hearts and lives of everyone connected to the community, bringing a sense of peace, unity, and divine guidance.

The walking prayer is a way to actively participate in God's redemptive work in the world, as the individual walks and prays, they are inviting the Holy Spirit to bring about change and renewal in the places they encounter. It is a way to experience a deeper connection with God and to intercede for others as the Spirit leads.

Visitors Welcome, Reservations Required, Love Offerings Gratefully Accepted.

https://rollingpastures.blogspot.com/

Heavenly Father, Great Spirit, Great Mystery, You call us to be in this walk of life. Thank you for sharing your nurturing and sustaining power with all of creation. Thank you for this worlds beauty and the feeling of Your presence in all of nature. 

May You Have A Blessed Day.

 

San Clemente Island Goats: A Critically Endangered Breed

San Clemente Island goats are a small, hardy breed of goat that originated on San Clemente Island, one of the Channel Islands off the coast of California. They are thought to have descended from goats that were brought to the island by Spanish settlers in the 1800s.

San Clemente Island goats are known for their unique appearance. They are typically small, with males averaging 28 inches in height and females averaging 24 inches in height. They have a tan to dark-red coat with black markings, and both sexes have horns.

San Clemente Island goats are also known for their hardiness and adaptability. They are able to thrive in a variety of climates and conditions, and they are resistant to many diseases.

However, San Clemente Island goats are also a critically endangered breed. In the early 1900s, there were an estimated 15,000 goats on San Clemente Island. However, their numbers declined due to hunting, trapping, and habitat loss. By the 1990s, there were only about 100 goats left on the island.

In recent years, there have been efforts to save the San Clemente Island goat. The Livestock Conservancy has placed the breed on its Conservation Priority List, and there are a number of breeding programs underway. However, the breed is still considered to be critically endangered, and more work needs to be done to save it.

If you are interested in helping to save the San Clemente Island goat, there are a number of things you can do. You can donate to organizations that are working to protect the breed, or you can adopt a goat. You can also educate others about the breed and its plight.