Inspiration from Maine
Category: September 2011
A Pre-Owned Kioti Tractor
A friend whose property was “overplanted” sold us his Kioti tractor. Trying to get up to speed, I studied its users’ manual and read online discussion groups of people who use tractors. At first, it was a bit intimidating, however, soon I learned that with very careful use, it was an indispensable tool. Plus, now we could brush hog our own back acre.
I learned about all the cool attachments you can get for these things. As a middle-aged female with arthritic joints, I soon developed a mean case of “tractor envy,” every time I drove by a certain house in town. This person had every imaginable tractor attachment, and I wanted them all! Soon I realized, you don’t really need that many. We have a 16-inch bucket, 24-inch bucket and a brush hog attachment. A year later, we acquired a “thumb,” which comes in handy in picking up large boulders.
2011 – Progress, Slow and Steady
Progress has been steady.
We hacked through the central part of the “jungle” on the slope.
We went after significant patches of Phragmites.
The Knotweed was soon to suffer a similar fate.
Planting anything was still inconceivable, yet, something had to take the place of all those invasives!
Steve has cut and piled many stalks of knotweed. Then, into the small portion of its stem remaining in the ground, he carefully injected a very small amount of herbicide. Knotweed is hollow, like bamboo, so this is the best time of year to do this, when the plant is drawing energy down into its roots.
We had made progress. Two years earlier (it would have been less, without our huge renovation and septic replacement), this is what it had looked like:
