thanks! i have a feeling she’ll get at least a passing score (85), and she’s likely to get above 90. if anything, there’s probably some tight leash instances (handler error) which might dock us a few points.

gopro and a chest strap.

she’s too tiny for the dog harness they make!

ah, then maybe uncovering is so that i can pull them all out, hahaha.

i have photos somewhere on my phone, but we began clearing the back section of our yard for the eventual meadow installation in a year or so! we raked up all the leaves/sticks/junk and got about 1/3 of it covered in cardboard to kill everything off. i need to read back over my materials, but i think the idea is to uncover for a month every few months to let the weed seeds germinate, then cover it back up to kill them off.

actual seeding will happen in early october of next year, likely with a mix from prairie moon.

ooblets is one of my favorite in this genre. it’s got a great soundtrack, the humor is spot-on, and it’s got an anti-capitalist message.

firewatch is a personal favorite.

oh yeah, no dogs in the front yard thank goodness!

I think posting about your plan would be a good starting point for some conversations and might encourage some other folks to emulate you

once i actually start doing the work, i definitely will!

Did they talk to you about solarizing next spring using tarps?

they did, but this area of the yard is pretty shady, so the guy leading the workshop specifically recommended using cardboard and mulch for maximum annihilation.

the plan itself isn’t that difficult, just takes a lot of time to kill all the invasive plants off so the native plants have a chance to grow. you completely clear the ground first, let the invasive seeds germinate, kill them again, then seed it with native grasses and plants (prairie moon has a lot of US mixes, so i’ll probably use them). you won’t get blooms for at least two years, i think. and you need to cut everything down to about 1.5 feet the first fall to get the invasive plants before they go to seed. unfortunately, that means you’re also cutting down the plants you want to grow, so they take another year of seeding before things really get going, but they should help keep out the invasives at that point.

i have a Meadow Plan for the last ~20 feet of our back yard now. first step is laying down cardboard and mulch and leaving it there until next may.

i’m picking up a white oak tree sapling on saturday to plant in the same spot where we had to cut down a big ol’ maple in our front yard (it was dying a slow death and a danger to our house).

“what remains of edith finch” and “gone home.” waiting for the right rainy day to play them.

wingspan

i love both the physical and digital versions of this game. 🕊️

i’m attending a meadow-making workshop tomorrow, and i’m hoping to learn a lot about what to do with the little plot of land we take care of. i would love to do some fall planting!

haha, no worries! i have three dogs total, so even i call them by the wrong names. ;)

echo unfortunately has a bum wrist, so she can’t do any sustained running without hurting herself. jean is the speed gremlin (but she rides in a backpack when i take her cycling).

she’s clearly the most popular of the bunch (and she knows it).

it’s the dogs! i love dogs, but having them jump through the window destroyed me.

if you want to know how to get back, pick a side (i chose left) and always put torches on that side going down. to come back up, keep the torches on your right. 🔥