sixty-four!

I wasn't planning on doing a lot of mulching this weekend, but the unannounced delivery of the wood chips changed my plans.

Sixty-four wheelbarrow trips later, my driveway was clear. Although you can't share in the four hours of repetition spread over two days (although if you want to experience something like this in my garden I can surely find something for you to do), if you have 42 seconds you can still watch the entire process...

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I did 36 loads the first day when it was 60ºF (15ºC), but I wish I would have done it all. Sunday was a lot colder (36ºF / 2ºC at most) and made the task less fun.

I kept a tally, marking down each load. If you see me bending down in the video, that's what I'm doing:

I still think I may have missed one or two tally marks. I may have marked twice for one or two loads too when I was interrupted, so any mistakes probably cancel out.

Resting was essential. Why was I getting so tired? I estimated that the average one-way trip from the mulch pile to the back of the yard was 150 feet, making the round-trip 300 feet (91m). Sixty four trips totals 19,200 ft, or 3.6 miles (5.8 km)!

I wondered why I could only do 2 hours a day before I was completely drained.

Here's the video:

It's not the most exciting thing you'll see all day, but if you're eager for spring to arrive maybe it will help squelch that desire a bit. (To really join in the experience, find a gallon jug or a 2-liter bottle of something and hold it at arms length out from the side of your body. Hold it there the whole time you're watching this video.)

Since 6 or 7 wheelbarrow loads is what I usually get out of a cubic yard of mulch, this load is estimated to be 10 yards. Much more than I needed of this "rough" stuff, so I ended up creating a pile of some of it in the yard -- I'll spread that stuff in the next couple of months.

If this had been the dark, high-quality mulch that I buy (when I do buy), I would have used it everywhere including the front yard, so 10 yards would have been the right amount. With this stuff though, 5 yards probably would have been fine.

I need some less-strenuous activities for the next several days I think. Good thing it's time to start some seeds!

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