The foraging birds

First, I love birds. They are a favorite of mine. I mentioned in a previous post that I did not like clipping my dead stuff until spring and I have a very good reason for it: birds.

But it’s not just for birds. The leaves and dead plant droppings cane be home to salamanders, butterflies, chipmunks, box turtles, toads and many other creatures. They provide a lovely ground cover for earthworms to turn all of that matter into compost. There are so many benefits to just leaving it alone and letting the animals forage through it.

Leaving it alone can also increase the survival of important and beneficial insects and other arthropods. They will be your helpers in keeping pest problems low and help in decomposition of earthly matter. All of this stuff combined will increase soil health and that benefits you in the long run.

So not only are you reducing your time and effort but you’re also the proud parent to an entire ecosystem. It warms my heart just to write that out. This will also save waste because a lot of people throw their trimmings out- which could be recycled and composted or just left to allow a little home for the bird food. It’s only temporary.

For more information on why you should leave your lawn alone you can go here Scientists Say or here National Wildlife Federation to find out more information. It isn’t hard to find out why I am such a big fan. Bring on the birds.

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Day 2: continued firebreak phase one

Optimism is out the door. This is day two of the beginning of this battle. The vines are too much.

I am debating setting them on fire myself and just starting over. There are so many and they go all the way up to the top of the trees.

That was after one day of work already.

Even with my new fancy gloves that are amazing and have protected my blistered hands (so far). So many vines. We had no burn pile…

Now we have one… tada

Working on getting it all taken care of has been ridiculous, but we have been working at it.

We were out there working and there was this fine that had been buried beneath the brush. I didn’t notice it but when I went to pull another vine it touched me and I jumped high into the air.

A little bit that has been worked. A lot of vines gone.

If you had been there you would have been impressed with how high I jumped. Regardless, no snake just a vine, but now I am on high alert.

So we have realized that not only do we have a vine problem but we also have a baby tree problem. There are so many baby trees, they litter the floor and it is already hard enough to get to the bottom.

On a positive note we found an abandoned nest

I am debating on murdering these remaining baby trees or if I am just going to cut everything around them and let them grow.

I do not see any benefits to these jungle vines. They are huge and very thick. I have to get rid of them, but it’ll be so hard. Not looking forward to the rest of the work, but I know it will be rewarding and look better too.

Woot woot, almost got one section cleared away but as you can see in the corner of the picture there are still so many vines.