Rachel Barclay

Yes about the silver leaves, no about the berries.

We have a bunch of these all around our property, they're just about taking over (as you can see it's encompassing our mailbox). What is it? Beneficial or not?

We would like to get ducks and chickens at some point. We have a stream running through our back yard which we thought would be great for the ducks. We were originally thinking of keeping the chickens and ducks in the same coop (at least until we ever decided to get a rooster or a drake). However, I don't really want to entirely free-range my chickens and let them go wherever they want. We would more than likely use movable fencing for them. If we kept the ducks and the chickens together the ducks wouldn't have access to the stream. My question is, are ducks good free rangers, or would they be like chickens (who I've heard eat up gardens and poo pretty much all over the place)? If they're messy like chickens we might consider making them a coop closer to the stream and having part of the stream in their run. (Hope that all made sense).

Thoughts?

Also, picture of the stream:

My husband and I just recently moved into a new home. We have 2.6 acres, some of it lawn, some of it woods, including a stream. These are the features we'd like:

- Free range chickens/ducks
- Large garden
- Possibly milk goats in the future
- Bee hives
- A fire pit
- A place for "play"

What do you think is the best use of our land? The septic and leach field are up to and behind the pine trees in the front yard. We were thinking of using the back yard as garden area (which we're also thinking of expanding the retaining wall for more usable space back there eventually. The retaining wall expands the entire back yard area) and a fire pit while using the front lawn as free-range area/open space/play area with perhaps some fruit/nut trees (something to note is that it slopes downward). The chicken coop/run would be next to the garage and into the wooded area surrounding it...we figure we would pen the goats in with the chickens in one big "wooded pasture". If we decided to get roosters and drakes we were thinking of putting the duck coop separate and by the stream. Does this seem like an efficient way to manage things?

Thanks guys. We were thinking of eventually putting some fruit and nut trees at some point. We will be using this area a lot for chicken free-ranging as well eventually. It's in such rough shape atm since the previous owner barely maintained the outside at all.

We recently moved into a new home. The lawn needs much work. Could anyone tell me what kind of grass(es) we might have and how to proceed with rehabbing? We're in NH.