There is an ugly, moldy tarp attached to the garden house. I’d been pretending not to see it for weeks. But now, trash pickup was on the horizon. The sun was shining, and the winds had slowed. A perfect chilly fall day to head to the garden.

The only thing I had to finish before leaving was my current batch of kombucha. I added the bottled kombucha to the fridge.

I’d already cooked the tea that morning and stirred in the sugar. Now, the tea is cold and ready to go into the jars. I’ve gotten really good at not spending a lot of time on my kombucha. I’ll show you more soon. Let’s get to the garden.

I had high hopes to stay a few hours, so I fueled up on jam bread rolls before leaving.

It can be hard to decide what’s trash and what’s material. Should I keep a few meters of old fence? It’s often a gut decision. Metal is easy to get rid off if I need to, so I chose to keep it.

I bought 25 of these giant trash bags when I first started. It’s weird, because we don’t use trash bags at home. I hope I’m done needing them very, very soon.

For weeks, I’ve been dropping nails and roof supplies around the house. But most of the trash I find isn’t mine. Years of use and then neglect have built up a layer of debris everywhere. For years, the hazelnuts and blackberries have had free reign here.

The back strip of my land is still pretty hard to access. My husband chopped down half of the hazelnut that was leaning onto the hut. Finally, I could fit a ladder to get rid of that ugly tarp. I’d been wanting to take this down since day one. The moldy half-torn white tarp had to go.

I’d though there might be enough for the little hut but it was too far gone to salvage any of it. The tarp had been here for so long that it was filled with water, soil, and debris. It was very heavy and very stuck. I pushed. I pulled. Back and forth.

One of my main concerns was not damaging the new roof. Every time it got near my roof, I stopped and checked. The tarp put up a good fight.

I checked again if any of the tarp could be cut out and used. But even the intact parts were fragile. I decided to use my Plan B and discard the foil.

Seeing how much of what I now throw away would still be good with good storage is sad. Like with the roof, a little maintenance would have gone a long way.

I am the kind of person to drop my camera. I am the kind of person to make mistakes. I hope I can do better. I hope a clumsy person with a lot of motivation and care can do this land some good. Cleaning this land is good for me and the land. We both heal. We both get better. Hopefully, we both grow. For now, I was content to have won against the tarp.

Now, I could reach the area under the roof. I found more cinder blocks to use for the rain barrels. More material, not trash. The area around the garden house was cleared. I could barely believe it.

I’d come early that day, so I still had a few hours before I had to head home. I moved the trash bins to the second hut I’ve been ignoring because it was filled with trash. With an audio book on my ears, I set out to clear the second hut. I’ll tell you all about that. Next time.

The garden is a mess. I can’t wait for them to take away all that trash. For now, I’m going to call it a day and go home. So long, and thanks for being here.