Burdocks

I hate burdocks. Not only do they get huge and shade out other vegetation, but they also create terrible knotty messes in my horses' manes and tails. I have a ton of burdocks coming up in my main pasture area and we haven't had time to get out and do anything about it.


Finally, a few days ago, I decided it needed to be a priority before any more got stuck in their forelocks. So I went out with my long handled pruning sheers and started cutting each stalk off...one by one...

And of course, I have Wren along with me. She sat in the stroller for a while, but then got bored so I had to let her out. She looks like she might be as intimidated by the burdocks as I am!


But she jumped right in and started helping her mom.


She was hilarious...she just crawled up and down the horse trails, never straying from them because the weeds and grass were too tall and tickly. Luckily there wasn't any fresh horse poo on the trails. There was only a few dried up apples, but she ignored them and kept on crawling.


Then I saw two of my nephews on their way to play in the woods and I offered them money to help me pile up the burdocks as I cut them. They were a great help. Then my dad called and said he'd be down with his trailer and weedeater with saw attachment.


Meanwhile, Wren kept crawling up and down the trails while my mom watched her as I continued working.


It turned into a rather fun little party and the end result was the removal of every burdock plant from my pasture! Well, only the ones that had the seed stalks on them. It doesn't do any good to cut the leafy ones because they don't seed out until the following year.

This trailer full of burdocks was only half of what we removed from the pasture...this is a lot of biomass! We also climbed on top and used our weight to pack them down so we could fit more onto it!