Dec. 15, 2020 10:08 am ET
Candace Thompson, manager of the Stuyvesant Cove Park in lower Manhattan, was pulling on a giant bindweed one day when a woman eating lunch nearby offered some advice.
“She went, ‘You need goats,’ ” Ms. Thompson remembers.
The park manager was intrigued. She placed an order for 20 of the animals, which arrived in early September in a trailer from Rhinebeck, N.Y. Two and a half days later, most of the weeds were gone.
Goatscaping, as this trick is called, has grown in popularity in recent years as an environmentally friendly way to clear overgrown lots. Covid-19 has boosted the demand. Goats can be on the job during lockdowns. Ms. Thompson turned to goats after New York City’s spring restrictions forced the park’s usual group of volunteers to stay home and left it full of weeds.