Weeds
Weeding on a farm is like nothing I’ve ever encountered before! When we purchased the property, the seller had let the weeds go on both the North and South sides of the property. By the time we moved in, they were so high on the North portion of the farm you could no longer see the Pole Barn! On the South side, a weed jungle surrounded the fruit shed making it nearly impossible to open the door.
After we moved in, the first line of business was to tackle the weeds. Our realtor who also happens to own Mesa Park Fruit, kindly loaned us three - four of their guys who tend their orchards and vineyards for about a week. After the first day they came back with some hard-core equipment and tackled the North side. With industrial weed whackers and in some cases machetes and or axes, they took it all down. Andy then followed up with heavy duty weed killer to stop these invasive plants from growing back. By the time they were finished there were mountains of weed piles all over the property.
For the south side, which was not nearly as wide, we purchased our own heavy duty weed whacker. While I gathered up the piles of weeds on the north end, Andy set to work taking down the weeds on the south side. He started around the fruit shed and then worked his way out. It was back breaking, and Andy was cut up from the burs that many of these pesky weeds put out. To help with that he purchased a shoulder strap for the whacker and gardener’s sleeves that protect your arms and hands from being scratched by thorns and other prickly plants.
The south side is still a work in progress and as with many things on the farm, it will take time to take them all down. I’m hoping the frost will help a bit. Between it killing them and Andy’s efforts of cutting them down, by spring maybe we will have it under control or at least in a more manageable state. As weeds are a part of farm life, I don’t think we will ever be completely rid of them.
With the weed piles organized, the next thing on our ‘to do’ list was to dispose of them. Luckily in rural Mesa County you can apply for a burn permit. Again, things never happen fast on the farm and after weeks of waiting, our application was approved. To meet the criteria of the burn permit, you can only burn within an eight foot circle. I identified two locations that were away from power lines and other flammable things and set to work building two stone circles. There are a lot of rocks on the property, so it was easy to gather enough to make the circles. With those made it was just a matter of pulling a bundle of weeds into the circle and setting them aflame. Before Andy could do that, he had to wet down the area around the stones as well as the stones themselves, thus preventing sparks from jumping out and catching the whole farm on fire. Luckily, the seller had left an extra-long hose on the property. We have three water spigots; I think the official name is “Frostless yard hydrants” near the Pole barn. Andy hooked the hose up to one of them and easily ran it out to the stone circle. For extra safety, he also had two buckets of water on standby.
The first windless weekend, he set to work burning the weeds. It was a long process and after a day of burning, he barely made a dent! So, we have more burning days ahead of us. We also learned, somewhat the hard way, that we both need to be home when one goes out to burn. On the day Andy worked on the fire, I had gone to the grocery store which is in Grand Junction. When I got back, the poor man was parched and in need of both water and a bathroom! Lesson learned and it will be a tag team effort from here on out.
Next up …. Building Compost Bins!
