Rural Gardening: Adventures on Dirt Rich Farm (City goes Country), 1 by Hineni

Hineni wrote:
Luckily for me, I am an optimist. I'm also a skeerdy-cat. So I brought all the dogs along to you know, scare any slithering wildlife away that might be lurking in the for...errr garden. They were very helpful...not. They love my feet, especially in boots. They think that feet are the GREATEST things, and that they must lay on them, to keep them cool. Have you ever tried to move in a huge garden that you can't see anything with two 40lb foot warmers? It ain't happenin'. Luckily for me, my Jack Russell came to the rescue by dashing about the weeds and getting the puppies attention. They proceeded to go lie in the grass bed under the weeds and keep an eye on the inside of their eyelids for a while. Good deal.

The task began. Apparently the birds eat the blackberries and fly over to the garden for a little R&R, because there are blackberry plants EVERYWHERE. At first I was like "Oh, it's so cute, I'll dig it up and replant it somewhere." That novelty wore off as I met their parents and teen friends via thorns in my butt, on my arms and tearing at my pants. By the end of the day, sacred berry bushes had become part of the weed mulch layer I left in my path. I think we have plenty (over 200 scattered on the property). This is what it looked like close up as I began. I was a little overwhelmed, but cheerily talked myself into the adventure.