Land’s End … or is that Beginning

So I arrive on Gabriola on 19 July.  I finally get to the property a number of days later having been informed by my friends that it is a bit overgrown.  Yup …

Property left to its own devices

Hard to see in the picture – but blackberries everywhere

Hard to see in these pictures but the very dried out property has grass past ones knees, thick thick abundant Himalayan blackberries taking a foothold, and scotch broom invading.  Add to that the fence had come down so the ‘rat’ deers as I like to call them, had helped themselves to my poor fruit trees which have taken a beating from them.

Compare this to how nice it looked when I bought it in March below.  So I have been faced with the tremendous task of trying to bring it back under control.  

And this is not a job for the faint of heart.  As you can see by my poor legs below.

Blackberries leave their mark

Infact, the picture does not do the damage justice – it is much worse.  However, luckily I am surrounded by cool ocean seawater which is a great healer.

But part of the battle is that since we are in total shutdown because of the extreme fire hazard, I can only try to deal with the property with an electric weed whacker – which I have borrowed from my neighbour and already melted the string cartridge.  Blackberries and scotch broom have to be done by hand.  It is such an overwhelming job at times I just want to give up.  And then there is the shed to contend with, but that will be another day just yet.

Also given the heat, you can only work for about 3 – 4 hours before you are absolutely overheated and melted – but at least it is off to the ocean to cool down.

And all in all – this is paradise – so you can just take it a day at a time.  Rome wasn’t built in a day afterall.