Action Adventure Weeding.

I've had several emails asking for updates on our weed-eating ducks. Before I tell you about our weeding adventures, let me remind you that John has built up our rows so high, it is hard to weed the sides without causing them to crumble and erode. I brought the ducks into the garden thinking that when they found themselves surrounded by walls of chick weed they would think they had quacked and gone to duck heaven.

At first they thought it was yummy, but after 30 seconds of eating weeds they decided that it was more fun to be on the tops of the rows where our veggies are. I had a disrupter tool that I was using on the top of a row, and in my frantic effort to scare the ducks off the spinach, I put it down somewhere and couldn't find it again...rusty claw and wooden handle blend into dirt well. Now I'm weeding without my tool and the ducks are scrambling from the arugula to the brussel sprouts avoiding the chick weed.

So in walks John with his newest weeding idea. He reads the magazine "Mother Earth News." It looks innocent enough:



It is all about organic gardening and living green. In this magazine he read that a flame thrower is a good way to control weeds. Now THIS is manly gardening!



It doesn't sound very Mother-Earthy. He flamed through the garden and the chick weed melted like the Wicked Witch of the East. (Sorry, Mom, we've eaten a little, but we haven't yet worked it into salads and such. It is hard to embrace a weed after so many years of hatred.)

The ducks, who were already amped out, hunkered down. They now have been demoted from weed killers to cute pets. That's fine by them.