As thousands of local residents perused the hundreds of classic cars and other vehicles in downtown Chatham Saturday, I was off in my own little world.
Admittedly, it felt weird not heading downtown to look at all the cool vintage rides.
Since Mary Beth took charge of RetroFest (check out her many great photos), I was free to tackle tasks around the yard.
That included a trip to the yard and leaf depot – that place is always busy – and the purging of a pickup truck full of leaves that I’d placed on garden beds and had accumulated at the side of the house over the winter.
Oh, and there was essentially a full large garbage bag of maple keys – picked up over the past couple of weeks from our patios and paths in the backyard. Yeah, a garbage bag. And it was pretty heavy.
Once you get the leaves out of the way – and I’m honestly not quite done yet – you can go to war on the weeds. This wet spring has been terrible in terms of weeds around our place. I broke out the flamethrower. I even had a do rag on to complete the action hero look.
That’s what I pictured my look as anyway – a tough guy with a bandanna tied on his head sporting some heavy-duty firepower.
And then there’s the actual imagery – a fat middle-aged guy with a weed torch wandering around the yard. Yep, that’s me.
With a weed torch, the job takes time, but you can certainly see your progress.
And with Ontario pesticide and herbicide laws being what they are, over-the-counter weed control options are limited if you aren’t a farmer, so that’s why I resort to the weed torch. A quick pass over the leaves of an offending weed scorches away the oils of the plant and boils the water in the plants’ cells causing them to burst.
You don’t have to burn the weeds to a crisp, just heat the leaves until they lose their shine. At times, exposure can be as little as a 10th of a second. Dandelions and established weeds can take a little more heat to kill, or could require multiple singings.
I was already on round two of my weed torching on Saturday, having done the first round a couple of weeks earlier. I still have more yard to do as well.
Another great use for the weed torch is the lighting of the Big Green Egg in our backyard. I hit about four spots in the charcoal with heat for about 10 seconds at a time, and give them a couple of extra shots of heat and the barbecue is lit.
I did that Saturday after a few hours of yard work. Naturally, I had to remain hydrated, and had the music playing in the backyard. I think the fish like classic rock as much as I do. Well, at least they don’t complain listening to Tom Petty et al.
And the cat came back
Remember how we’ve served as cat babysitters for my sister-in-law a few times since Christmas? We’ll, it looks like we have a permanent feline resident in our house now.
Our daughter, Brenna, brought back a rather cute kitten from a weekend visit to a friend’s house near Merlin. Its mother was unfortunately hit by a car and killed. I warned her the kitten is all her responsibility, as I’m rather allergic (her mom is in love with the little fur ball too, I must add). Brenna’s been excellent when looking after other pets, so I expect she’ll excel.
But the first night, she got a reminder of what a kitten will do – meow and wander early in the morning.
Her cat, her problem. That may sound cold, but it’s a responsibility issue, and she’s a teenager.
She really wanted a cat, and now she has one.
But that means playing with the cat mornings before school and in the evenings to tucker the little thing out so it sleeps.
Bruce:
For many years I have tried to garden organically to lessen my impact on the earth. And as I learn more about the physical state of this world as a result of the actions of humans, I am more determined to decrease my footprint on our common home.
While I respect your use of a weed torch to get rid of the weeds in your yard, I would like to suggest a more environmentally friendly way to get rid of the weeds. I use vinegar as a weed killer. I found 10% acidic vinegar (pickling vinegar) at Bob’ Food Basics in Chatham, and it works similar to the weed torch, but with less of an impact on our environment. Like the weed torch, you need multiple applications, but even after a couple of hours after one application, you can see the results, especially on dandelions. (Note: with regular vinegar, which is 3% acid, the results are not the same).
Thanks, Lenore. I believe former neighbours of ours used this and let me try it a number of years back. It did have success, especially on the driveway. Worth revisiting. I think you’ll find more than a few of the weed killers offered in Ontario stores now have vinegar as a main ingredient, as you can certainly smell it when you apply the weed killer.