Sarah Stine and her husband, Todd Stine, built a house in the 2400 block of 30th Avenue West around five years ago, but as with all big projects, some things were left undone.
"Having young kids, we just never took the time to concentrate on the yard," she said, mentioning sons, Kurt and Tate. "This is our year to clean it up."
The yard certainly needed some TLC because it was overgrown with brush that included blackberry bushes, nettles and English ivy, according to Stine.
But rather than use chemicals, do the backbreaking work herself or hire someone to tackle the job, Stine opted for another approach. She rented a couple of goats, which were more than happy to munch away the mess last week.
The Magnolia housewife remembers reading an article in one of the daily Seattle papers about goats being used to clear hillsides of brush, and a friend in Arizona also told her the critters were being used for the same purpose in that state, she said.
"So I hopped online and Googled goats in Seattle," Stine added. One of the first results that came up with the Internet search was a Craigslist ad for The Goat Lady, a middle-school math teacher in Kirkland who lives in Duvall and has goats for hire, Stine said. So she e-mailed Jill Johnson at jill@thegoatlady.org.
"I thought it might be fun. I thought it would be fun for the kids and for me," she said. "You gotta admi0t it's a novelty; they're kind of cute," she said of the two goats she ended up renting for a few days.
"They're very low maintenance," Stine said of her rental critters, one of which was skittish and both of which declined to comment for this story.
"They eat in spurts, and nap pretty much off and on all day long," Stine said, adding that it's important to make sure the goats have enough water to drink and don't get their tethers tangled.
Stine found out why keeping the tethers clear of each other is important. "If they get tangled, the goats just stop working," she said.
Stine also said Johnson insisted that she had to rent at least two goats. That's because goats are herd animals, Johnson said on her cell phone as she drove to Magnolia to drop off some goats for some other people who'd heard about the service though Stine. "They're not happy when they're by themselves," Johnson said of her hairy charges.
Stine agrees. Otherwise the goats cry, she said, making a low "hmmm" sound to demonstrate. "You can hear it a block away."[[In-content Ad]]Johnson said she and her husband got goats originally to clear their own land in Duvall.
These days, Johnson has 120 of the animals, some of which were bought and some of which were rescued from families who could no longer care for them, she said.
Johnson has heard of larger outfits that rent goats to such clients as the University of Washington. But she specializes in a smaller niche market. "I'm the backyard goat lady," Johnson said. "It's a growing business."
Johnson delivers and picks up the goats for customers in Seattle and the King and Snohomish county areas, according to her Web site, www.thegoatlady.org.
"It definitely keeps me busier than I want to be," she said. On another note, renting the goats allows Johnson to keep them in the first place. "It more than pays their way."
It costs her a $25 pickup and drop-off fee, along with $30 apiece for the two goats she rented, Stine said. She plans to turn under the goat droppings, which make good fertilizer, Stine added.
There was also another - if temporary - benefit to hiring goats. The animals are also good at lawn care, she said. "Lawn grass is like gourmet food for them," Stine grinned.
Staff reporter Russ Zabel can be reached at rzabel@nwlink.com or 461-1309.
