Now that all of the blueberry bushes are trimmed, we could move on to the next milestone of owning Das Zem! Removing the invasives from the watershed. Woot! Woot! This task has been nearly two years in the making and I can't believe that it's finally time to start it.
We didn't have high hopes for the weather in the sense of temperatures. It was cold. And windy. So we bundled up, him in his coveralls and me in a very thick pair of fleece-lined leggings under a pair of jeans, a zip up hoodie, a cotton long sleeve shirt, and a fleece lined oversized work coat. Oh, and we had hats on. True to nature, once we got out on the watershed, it all changed. It's like a whole other world out there. The sun bakes on you, and winds go away. It wasn't long before I was drenched in sweat, but dreaming of picnics out there on a blanket with my love. It would have to be soon, before everything starts to wake up. And what a wonderful way to welcome in a new season, don't you think?
Woodchuck handled the chainsaw, while I handled the treatment chemical. My shoulder was hurting really, really badly and I could barely use my arm for anything. Although he had a shoulder issue he's going through physical therapy and getting a lot of relief from it, so he gets the more manual labor right now.
The first thing to do was open the entryway to the watershed. I figured making it wide enough for our tractor to fit through was a good width. We won't be taking the tractor out there, but it allows then for the possibility, and comfort of two people side by side and pulling a work cart, etc. We only had to use the loppers and pole saw in this area. Pictures above are the before and after.
I was SO excited to see that the pussy willows are getting their catkins!!! And I just found out last night about something called Pussy Willow Water. What?! I have to check into that more!!!
If you remember, we marked a lot of the stuff to come down on our last trip out there. It made it super easy and quick to see each spot to hit. Woodchuck would cut, I would pull the branches out a little bit from that stump to clear up the rest of the area he needed to cut, and then I would treat the cuts while he moved on the to next one and we continued that way for at least 10 massively overgrown invasive plants. We decided to leave them where we cut them down, to provide hiding for small wildlife, birds, nutrients for the soil as they decompose and to disturb the ground less since we wouldn't be taking the tractor out there. Since the plants don't have their berries right now, it was a good option to just leave the debris where it's at.
I noticed that the bulk of invasives are on one end of the watershed, so that at least made it easier to not be traversing over a 5 acre span! The thorns on the Autumn Olive were insane! Woodchuck also thinks that we may have some hawthorns out there too, but I don't know yet. I DO know that the thorns on the AO range in size, but are all intense when they get you. Of course we always wear eye protection out there. 👀😬
We spent a few hours out there cutting and treating and sweating...Woodchuck even fell once while holding the chainsaw (it wasn't running at the time) and we were getting tired. There seems to only be a few left now to take care of on our next trip out there tomorrow. If we can get those down quick enough, we'll also finish marking the boundaries. We have already agreed to take our walk in the woods BEFORE we start working! We always want to get right to work and say we'll walk afterwards, but then we are too tired and next thing you know it's been months since we've walked in the second CRP. 😧
We took a look at the second ditch, which we have to walk right past to get to the watershed. It is completely full of water again and the drain pipes were working well! I can already see though that there's debris we need to shovel away from them. All of those little branches that we couldn't get out of the ditch after we worked on clearing it of vegetation have now flowed down the pipes.
When we were done, we decided to take a rest on a spot right outside of the pole barn, in the sunshine, and looking at the spot where we may one day build a house. Snuggled up to him in the sunshine, dreaming of what the future might hold for us. A perfect way to end the trip out there. Only time will tell where this will all lead us! 💖
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