Eco-friendly weed suppression (The Wool Road)

Working on this project was so surreal it’s hard to know where to start…

The glyphosate (Roundup) ban in France has resulted in a dilemma about how to keep walking tracks clear of tall grass and weeds. Overgrown footpaths in the sculpture garden had become problematically narrow, so Christine had found a cost-effective and eco-friendly alternative.

Her starting point is a 1.2km footpath in the shape of an enormous anchor (which can be seen from space, naturally).

Maps Data ©2021 Google / Maxar Technologies

©2021 Notting Hill Nomads

The low market value of sheep wool in the area had sparked the idea and the team decided to embark on an innovative weed suppression pilot project. Local sheep farmers have so far donated over 3 tonnes of wool fresh from the sheep, complete with dags (non-Aussies might have to look that one up).

As official ‘wool layers’ our job was to take the wool out of the bags and lay it on the original path once overgrown sections had been mowed short. It was critical to layer it properly to avoid gaps and maintain a consistent thickness as any hint of sun in a gap would have weeds popping up and defeat the purpose. Over time the wool road firmed up as the wool tended to shrink after rain and sun. Christophe also went over it with a roller on the back of the tractor to help with compaction.

Christine has a website with more information about the project if you’d like to see how it’s going.

I made this little video shortly after my first attempt at flying a drone and boy was I glad I was surrounded by 320 acres of paddock for crash landings. It turns out light, cheap portable drones are super sensitive to even the slightest breeze and once they get too far from the (equally cheap) controller they are no longer in your control.

I spent more time chasing and looking for it than I did flying it so finally enlisted the help of Fee to be the chaser. The crash landing featured in the video was the worst as I thought it had ended up in the lake, but alas, it survived to terrorise me another day.