A few years ago I started volunteering to help with the local Broombusting group.  This is a group of volunteers that try and cut the horrible invasive Scottish Broom that is spreading rampant on the west coast particularly on the Island.  It is a hopeless cause because each plant after it blooms sends out thousands of new seeds.  Parks and roadsides are covered with them.

The only chance to kill them is to cut them off at the ground level when the are blooming in May.  Any other time if you cut them at the base they just sprout out with even more shoots.  For some reason when they are blooming they can be killed.

Problem is that there are millions of bushes, some growing 10 feet high and only about 100 volunteers in the Valley with at most 20 showing up on any one day.  So we focus on trying to clear public parks and trails.  Big issue is that it is one thing to cut these bushes down and pile them but then what? So a lot of the broom busting finances (which come from public donations) go to hiring companies with chippers.

Anyway I volunteer maybe 3 days a week.  Absolutely no need for me to go to a fitness club in May as the effort is far beyond a workout program.  Cutting, dragging and piling can be exhausting.  Normally only work from 9:00 am until noon with a break at 10:30.  I come home each day whipped, but eager to go out a couple of days later.

The picture is not indicative of the effort I put in although shows the size of the bushes.  It was taken at the break when I was opening a bottle of water and fell back into a pile of cuttings.   Imagine 13 acres of this stuff.  Bev, our leader, thought this was amusing so included it on the website for the team.

Broombusting