Four able-young-workers

Four is the number it's taking to clear the dead debris and leaves from our back yard and wildflower meadow, getting ready for some new ideas for landscaping the front and side of our property. (three of them are clustered in the distance in this photo - click on it to see a larger version if you can't make them all out.)


They are just back from lunch, but they've been at it with multiple weedwackers and rakes for maybe three hours and they have a lot yet to do.

Younger than us though these workers are, you still occasionally see them teeter on the brink of hitting the dirt, or sliding with arms flailing as they regain their footing -- just trying to explain why we're paying for this and not doing it ourselves. Last year we had them clear out the noxious Multiflora Rose in the distant area. Although we worked diligently early in the season to keep the thorny plants at bay, it was hard and dangerous for us, and they don't call them "invasives" for nothing. By June when the nastier insects started to be present, our efforts were overtaken. One aspect of the new landscaping will be more native trees and shrubs where this is not actually septic field, and the beginnings of some new paths that people carrying tools can use to gain safer access to the slope.