Ever since early spring, I’ve been doing a good job of keeping up with yard work. Well, mostly a good job. With all the travel we did in February through May, I fell behind a little.

But I kept at it. Before the weather turned hot, I went out almost every weekday, weather permitting, and worked 30 to 60 minutes. Once the weather turned hot, I shifted my schedule to going out first thing upon rising in the morning and putting in the same amount of time. I had planned for blowing last year’s leaves out of the yard during the first week or two of September. But I found an efficient way to do it, and got it done in four days.

So I looked around at what I needed to do next. I looked at the blackberry vines at the front of our woodlot. Aha! The very thing that needs doing. After blackberry season, I allowed the vines to grow where they wanted to. I had two separate rows, plus a mass of vines behind the second row that had newly spring up. By early September, the first row (a shorty) was still separate, but all the rest was one big mass.

I had walked the area several times around the edges of the bushes/vines/whatever you call them. trying to figure out whether it would be better to cut rows either north-south or east-west. I finally decided to keep them north-south, as they were before. Around September 10 I got to work on them. I found it a little easier to do than I expected.

Until I got to the back. To make a long story short, I was able to trim the vines into five distinct rows. They aren’t as straight as I would have liked, and I’m not sure I’m done cutting them back. But I have five rows running north-south. The total length of the five rows combined in probably 80 feet or so. Further to the south is another mass of vines that I need to decide what to do with. I would have tackled them by now except for several days of rain preventing me from doing things where it’s wet, which these vines are.

So does 80 feet of vines cut into five rows make me a blackberry farmer, rather than a hobbyist who likes some free fruit? Perhaps. The proof will be in the harvest next year.

Harvest. Using that word, maybe I’ve answered my own question.