Now's a good time to go out and look at experimental crops to see if they're worth growing next year. I started out my exploration by tethering Abigail between our little patch of Tithonia diversifolia and a big patch of weeds. Since Tithonia was meant to be a cover-crop/goat-fodder-crop, I didn't give the cuttings the TLC I usually offer this spring (although I did plant them in a very damp spot as instructed). Given my neglect, it's no big surprise that only about a third of the cuttings took off. The other two plants are much smaller, but you can see our largest Tithonia on the far right side of the photo above.

Did you also notice how Abigail has wandered off in the totally opposite direction? She preferred ragweed, red clover, and plantain within her tether-circle to the Tithonia, completely ignoring the latter's leaves after one taste. So while this cover crop clearly has potential in the tropics, I'm going to have to say it isn't worth babying as cuttings over the winter in a temperate climate. (At least not if you have spoiled goats like we do.)

Soybeans, in contrast, have proven themselves to be not only a great cover crop but also a goat favorite. At first, Abigail picked off all of the high-protein leaves in the patch she was tethered near. But soon our smart goat learned that if she delved a little deeper, she could daintily pluck the half-filled pods off the stems instead.

While you're supposed to cook dried soybeans in some way before feeding them to animals (or people) due to phytates, our doe seems to love the raw-soybean treat at the endamame stage. I'd be curious to hear from someone more knowledgable than me. Do you think phytates in young soybeans are problematic, or are these more like green beans and snap peas --- pretty harmless and delicious when young?