Kathryn Hartwood

The problem isn't that it's unattractive—that doesn't bother me at all, and as a lazy person I would prefer to just let it go! But I think if I totally let it go it will try to revert back to the same kind of general thicket that the woods here are, lots of quick growing trees and brambles. I have tons of that kind of habitat already. I'd really like to maintain it more as a meadow, and also have it producing scythe-able tall grass that I can turn into mulch and use for compost. I'm leaning toward going in and raking out as much of the dead grass as I can, and then scything the top foot or so of new growth but leaving the grass several inches long. When is the best time if I'm going to rake out that undergrowth that won't disturb any insects? The earlier the better because I can see what I'm doing, but I don't want to disturb any late sleepers (especially fireflies, who I usually don't see until May at the earliest. But are they really in that type of grass?)

Three years ago I moved into a new house and, determined to food forest it up, I have been planting trees and bushes wherever I can, letting everything else (which was formerly all lawn) grow as it wants, and just mowing a few paths here and there amid the chaos. This has seemed to work okay, but this year I am noticing the matted dead grass/weed situation is really getting quite significant and imposing. I would like to start scything (mostly for mulch) but I'm a scything newbie and it's a pretty intimidating prospect to tackle all that matted material, but it's not going to get better anytime soon. What would you all recommend? I'd reeeeally rather not get a big mower out there to raze it all down to the ground, for many reasons (and I don't even own one, just a very underpowered small electric one for the paths, and even with those it struggles.)

Would love to hear strategies. It's important to me to maintain as much habitat as possible for overwintering critters and I don't want to unnecessarily disturb that, but I think maybe scything the meadow once or twice a year would make sense....it just needs to be scythe-able to maintain that plan, not the tangled mat of craziness that it currently is. Thanks in advance for any tips or experiences!

Yeah, if I could find a local source of non-weeping willow to harvest I totally would....I just haven't been able to find any. I'm always checking roadsides!

Hi! Brand new to the forum although an intermittent lurker forever. Figured this is the best place to ask my current question (I'm relatively new to all things permaculture as well so I have lots of questions!)

I moved to a new house last year and have been desperate to screen off my direct line of sight to the very nosy neighbors across the road who are very very confused that I've let things get so "overgrown." I think my best option is a woven willow fence, in terms of fast-growing and aesthetically pleasing, and something I could even potentially trellis other things on. It's far enough from the house and septic that I'm not worried about roots. However, looking around online for suitable willow rods to get it started this spring looks pretty pricey...with minimum orders, $400 or so. The house does have a giant *weeping* willow, which I could take cuttings from freely. Would that even work? I'm willing to cut it back every year in exchange for being...well...free. I can also presumably stick smaller cuttings which are of course much cheaper and weave them as they grow...I love the head start of starting with longer woven rods but finances are always an issue. Thanks so much in advance for any experiences/ideas!