July 13

We started a new challenge today. There were 7 of us working and we accomplished quite a bit. I said we would work until we had the 2 trucks filled with debris. We started at 9 am and had them filled by 12:30. There is a nice rock garden area around a tree, but it was filled with gout weed. We cleared that as best we could, there was no way to get the roots, so I said to take it to ground level,
There was supposed to be a path around the house, but it was overgrown with gout weed and Japanese knotweed. There is also some rosa multiflora there. That makes 3 invasive plants that we are dealing with.
I hired an extra worker this week, a friend of another worker, and I am impressed. For an 18 year old, she works hard and I don't have to babysit her. I can give her an area to work on, and I don't have to stay there. I can go back and check, and she has the area cleaned up. Today the daughter of one of my other workers came with us. She has been working on a few jobs with her mother this summer, today was her first day with the whole crew. As it turned out L and So know a lot of the same people. The 2 of them worked and chattered all morning. L wants to come and work with us more often, instead of just working with her mother.
Last week I was getting stressed, wondering how I was going to get things done this week because 3 workers were off on vacation. But everything has worked out so well. I've got 2 new teenagers that can work, and I don't have to babysit either of them. I'm not sure what I will do in September, but I will deal with that when it gets here.