Last Saturday most of our family pitched in for the entire day in an effort to squelch the rapidly sprouting weeds, which rear their ugly heads each spring far too soon for comfort.
Prevention is by far the best method of defeating this somewhat incorrigible enemy of the berry bushes. In years past, partially-composted fine sawdust has been the preventive mulch of choice. Late last year, however, the lumber company deposited something new by accident, and after working with it, we think it could be an improvement on the old stuff. The pros? The new product is much less finely chopped, therefore we hope it will last longer. Also, it will be more resistant to forming a crispy outer crust, which the finer sawdust eventually does and which prevents both precipitation and helpful elements (such as lime or sulfur used in amending soil) from penetrating down to the roots of the blueberry plants.
The only negative aspect to the new product that we have noticed so far is that it is a bit more difficult to handle. Instead of a shovel, we need to use a pitchfork to load and unload. It doesn’t go on quite as smoothly as the sawdust did, therefore it is more tricky to get a thick, even layer on the rows. In my experience, it is necessary to put down a layer at least 6-8 inches thick for good weed prevention.
We were thankful to the Lord for nice weather on Saturday to accomplish quite a lot of work. During the first part of the morning, Karise and I worked at it together…until I got the idea to start taking pictures and then I suppose it was mainly just Karise for awhile. 
Then she snapped a few pics of me, as well. 
Later on, Grant and Daddy shoveled while I drove. When Karise wasn’t checking on the sheep (latest lamb count: 81), she was inside making what turned out to be a very delicious supper of won-ton soup and stir-fried beef-and-broccoli. (Chefs are just as important on work days as are the ones out in the hot sun! There’s nothing like enjoying an exquisite and delectable sit-down meal after a hard day’s work.)
Here’s an unrelated but very cute picture of our nearly 7-year-old Lab, Mercedes.
Purple pruners. Pretty awesome.
Using alcohol to sanitize the pruners between pruning each bush. It helps prevent the spread of disease.
