Pompom Weed (and Friends) Removed!

It took 3 men, 4 weeks, 6 days a week, to clear 21ha of 4 hectically invasive plant species!

Moses and Ntsako dug it all up. Dickie fetched it with the golf cart and tractor and delivered to a central spot. All 3 of them burned the stuff to the ground!

They cleared 24 tons of pompom weed, 4 full trailer loads of bankrupt bush; 3 lantana bushes and 2 patches of large flowered prickly pear.

It was one helluva task! We don’t know how Moses and Ntsako survived that, but they did. It was a horrible, blistering hot, thankless job that I’m sure they never want to see again.

Thank you all of you, it was an epic effort. It needed a team, there was no other way. It took a village.

We’ll see end of the year how much difference it made. We know there is some level of re-invasion coming, but we plan to budget for a dedicated team every Dec / Jan from now on until it is completely gone. We’re pretty excited to see how the natural bush responds to having all the water and nutrients to themselves again. Going to be interesting to watch it unfold.

Here’s more pics of the cleanup. Adding to the lessons learnt Operation Pompom Weed post – the guys made a new dedicated burn area at the workshop area. It was causing way too much mess and smoke right by the house.

But the best part? To be able to walk and look everywhere on our farm, and not see pink!