I'm sore. Poison ivy, the compost hell pit and my husband is traveling.

This is the first time he's ever done that. It's weird for me. He got up at 3a today to leave (had to be in Duluth by 5 to get on the company bus...they bussed them to some god-forsaken place in SC for a team-building/training at some state park.) I was still up from last night so that was interesting.

It's going to rain today. Sometime late I suppose...it's been sprinkling on and off all morning but it's cool, so I took the opportunity of the cooler air to dress head to toe and go work on the yard. I can manage ok with crocs if i go slow, but after what I did I'm sure in hindsight I'll regret some of it later (my foot) I cut back the wormwood. ruthlessly. That's out front.

I also did round-up on the wood sorrel that is determined to bolt and take over my front bed. Only half the bed has the problem...the other half has enough root structure to fight that off. I don't do a LOT of chemicals but the wood sorrel needs it...that stuff spreads by shooting out pods under the dirt that POP when you pull it out, so pulling it causes it to spread. Lovely evolutionary thing, that.

I then pulled up a ton of weed maples and some weed blackberries that wanted to take over. Cut back 4 shrubs in the deck area out back. Got the strong rake and headed to the compost.

Gloved up and went for it. Over the last 2 1/2 years Charles has dumped a ton of cut trees and limbs on top of what i intended to be our compost. We've then added some grass clippings and kitchen compost to that...and it had started to spread out into the sodded part of my yard (as opposed to back by the fence where it was mostly unseen and therefore ok IMO.)

I literally threw every piece of tree back against the fence. Pieces as big around as my leg or bigger. Pieces as long as almost 2 stories tall (literally) although thankfully pretty slim so I could pick them up and heave them. The pile of wood is now almost as tall as me.

I found 4 potato plants in the grass clippings, so I raked more clippings around the leaves and left those. Pointed them out to the kids so they'll not dump stuff on them. Raked all the rose bush clippings (I had to clip back an English rose on Monday...clippings 7 feet long or more...it was bad) back into the wood so it wouldn't hurt us when we were working the pile. I have about 7 pallets I'll be using to craft into compost squares eventually (can't move them myself with my foot...what I did today was more than enough.)

Showed the kids where to put kitchen refuse. Where to put NEW grass clippings. Where to NOT go (wood and poison ivy) and where to put bigger cuttings of *stuff*. It's mostly organized now (as much as a HUGE composting area could be) and actually already has a fair bit of yummy dirt stuff I can use in the garden.

I found several old trellis stakes under all that wood that the boys drug over to the garden for me to use to fashion a trellis for my beans and peas.Then I went around the yard and sprayed the various patches of poison ivy with round up. Again...I reserve that stuff for the big bad boys. I consider wood sorrel and poison ivy to be just that. (Bboth are invasive in my yard...one causes my kids a ton of issues and the other kills my plants.)

I'm tired! Thinking it'll be naptime later today.