Ozark Lady

I have 2 suggestions for your consideration.
Paw paws are understory trees, until they get quite large, then they will reach for the sun.  But, they die if not in shade.  I think your shady back yard might work for them, and they are gorgeous with tropical looking huge leaves.

With your raspberries, I would consider elderberries.  In my wild woods, every black berry patch has raspberries, elderberries, and often sassafras.

Acres?  Oh man, and I blew my top over a few feet down the driveway.  Acres? OMG  I am so sorry for you.

The electric company was back today, to look and see if I wanted anything else removed, so I had them go ahead and take out some trees, that were not sprayed, but were leaning towards the power line, and were within the 10 feet range that I am not to cut in.  These trees would have come down on the power line with the very next ice storm anyhow.

So, they are working hard to set things right.  I find that encouraging.  They can't undo the damage done, but, I will accept the work as an acceptible apology.  And I will choose to believe that they will re-educate the spraying crews and remind them what is good and what is not good!

Quite a cocktail they used:
Tordon: active ingredient: Picloram
Dupont Escort XP I don't see the active ingredient on that one.
Dupont Krenite S brush control still don't see the active ingredient.
Arsenal: active ingredient is imazapyr  : it gives superior long term control!
There is more booklets of junk.

I have requested the spray logs of the day they sprayed it, to know the exact items used.

The electric company arborist himself, told me not to attempt to grow anything there for 1 full year! 

I know nothing about herbicides nor pesticides, I don't want to use them, nor have them on my property.

I have already mentioned that I should have kept the black locust cut, it just got away from me while I was working, and didn't notice.  I will definitely make sure that never happens again. 

This was my wake up call... I thought out in the country, I was "safe" from my neighbor spraying his yard... well, my neighbor is too far away to see, but I still had toxins on my land.  And my vegetable garden is downhill from it!

Folks if you don't want toxins on your land, even if you are rural, you really must make sure that the vegetation can not be considered to threaten the power lines.  There is no county opt out, there is nothing I can do, but keep calling them, and be sure to get added to the no spray annual list.  It is a new list each year!

If I have to, I will haul gravel, pour concrete, whatever it takes to prevent this from ever happening again!  I am determined.. organic all the way, no herbicides, no pesticides!

Guess who has been here the last 2 days?



It isn't perfect, but it is alot better than before.  They took out two complete truck loads of chipped up mess!  That is a big truck, imagine what it would have cost me to pay to have it put into a landfill.

So, the electric company stood by their word and got the mess mostly cleaned up.  There is some odd and ends, but with the truck full, it doesn't make sense to make another trip for the little bit that wouldn't fit in the truck.  I can live with it, maybe 2 bags of stuff.

I feel mean, but I bet they have notes not to spray my property again!  And I will call them to make sure that I don't get sprayed again!  They prefer to spray, just before natural leaf drop, so that the sap drops down on cool nights and kills the roots too.  JFYI

Okay, walk through is accomplished.

I am getting a full crew to cut and remove all the mess.  It will be chipped up and removed.  And I will be on a permanent no spray list!

They were wrong to kill elderberries, black berries, and raspberries.  And the trees they sprayed were too large to just spray and go.  They should have called in a cutting crew in the first place!

I told them, this is not my mess.  If it were green, I could cut it and feed it to my goats, but not like this.  And the thorns are worse on dead brush than on green plants.
I don't feel that it is fair to expect me to spend hours cleaning, bagging, hauling and paying for disposal.  They agreed.

They also said that right of way and easement is two different things.  I pointed out, I could be nasty and make them move their lines to the edge of my property, not down the driveway.  It is still my land, and I can still give access to the houses behind me, without having power lines in my front yard!  I am right!  With a right of way, they own the land and can dictate how things go.  I did not give that, I gave them an easement.  Which is a limited use of the land.  The bottom 8 feet are still mine, as long as I am not blocking their access to their equipment.  They can service the lines from the driveway, so what I plant under the lines is not relevant as long as it does not touch them.

The gentleman was a really nice, and knowledgeable person, and he understood that I was unhappy and with reason to be unhappy.

He even told me to plant my elderberries back there!  They are legal!  So, when I do, I will put up a sign under them:  Elderberries, do not cut! ha ha

That is cool.  You got your sorghum stalk, and then later replacement seeds, that works great.

How large was your test plot?  When did you plant it?  Was it difficult to grow?
I have been guessing that it will grow alot like corn.

Did you juice the stalk?  How did you go about doing this?

In other words.... details please!

I got mine from Heirloom Acres.
They have some really interesting items.  Unfortunately, they aren't good about back orders, or replacements.  I am still waiting for 9 items that were ordered in October 2009.  I have called them twice, it will be in next week, is always the answer!
On the positive side, they are sweet folks, and the seeds germinate well.  Just put in what substitutions you would take, and expect to have to call them to get your order.

Thanks folks,
Excellent points Paul.  I like it, instead of just being an issue, be a problem solver!  Cool!

I have spent more of the last 30 years living without electricity than with it.
We were totally off the grid, our home paid for etc. for 10 years, but jobs grew scarce, and even with few bills, and place paid for, with a growing family you need income.  So, we moved, and honestly proximity to power was never an issue.  If we got power fine, if not, oh well.  I informed the head of spraying that to me electricity is a convenience, not a necessity!  And told him, check your records, I have lived here for going on 16 years, I have had electricity for less than 8 of those 16 years.  Anyhow, I said "since I am  someone who views electricity as a convenience not a necessity, you don't want to push me." (This whole section of the road had no power lines run down it, it wasn't a war, it just wasn't available)

The guy at the electric company should really be glad that I am the one he is talking to and not my husband.  My husband is less diplomatic, but just as determined that they will not spray on our property.  So, I do have support there.  I also have a neighbor who is into the pure water, pure land side of the issue, and I know she will be able to get me the facts and paperwork on the spraying in such close proximity to the lake.  But, she is less diplomatic also, so I need the input, but I am the more reasonable one.  I don't yell when I get annoyed, I will get quiet, or I will simply state the facts with a no nonsense approach.

Hey the speed limit on this road was 30mph which is ridiculous out in the country.  I obeyed it, but I got a petition up and with so many signatures, it is now 45 mph which is alot more reasonable.  It is over 10 miles long, and has sharp curves, that needed marking, and needed to be 30mph, but not the entire length of it.  My vendetta there, worked out.  But, I even had to get the police to drive it and decide if 45 was reasonable or not.  It was.

I hate confrontations, but wrong is wrong, and the noisy wheel gets the oil!
squeak, squeak

The electric company guy aplogized for what was sprayed, today on the phone.  But, he is transferring me to an arborist who works for them. 

And we had a long discussion about permanent no spray lists.  They don't honor no spray signs!  He said for now they will honor no spray requests, but might not in the future.  I got a bit heated, and told him, I would stop the spraying on my property if I must put cement under the power lines.  That I was not trying to be difficult, I am trying to get the electric company educated on what to spray and what not to spray, and to find a way to educate the public on what is good thing to do under the power lines.  But, make no mistake, I won't allow spraying on my property!
I told him, this is still my property, I still pay the taxes!, and we would see if I must live in a sprayed world.  Well, he backed down when he realized that I mean it.  And for now, we are in agreement that we need to work together, not fight this in court, but that is where it will go, if they dictate to me, that they will spray, no matter what I do!

This is not the government, this is the electric co-operative.  And I want to be cooperative, but I don't want to be sprayed.
I want my power lines safe, and my electric to flow well, I am reasonable, but I won't put up with spraying!

So, I may definitely be playing the bad guy here, before this is done.  I want to find out what they can do, and what I can do.  But, I will not be bullied!  I can be reasonable and logical, but don't push, that just gets my hackles up and reason and logic go by the wayside.

So, the soap opera of me versus the electric company sprayers continues.
But, if we don't stand up to corporations, we will be walked all over.
And yet, I am a member of the corporation, so I don't want costs higher.
I feel like David facing Goliath, and I hate confrontations, but I am not backing down.