Buckthorn Infestation

It turns out that we have a buckthorn infestation and didn't know it. It all started 10 years ago when we bought this place. As it happens, our lot includes a triangular strip of land on the other side of the alley. We really didn't know about this when we bought the house. It was a "bonus." The last time we had the house appraised, the appraiser asked me if there was any conceivable way this additional piece of land added value to our property. That's a pretty good indicator that it isn't worth anything. I usually call it "the back 40."

The back 40 is some of the last untamed wilderness in St. Paul. Lots of trees, lots of ground cover. I think a big raccoon lives back there and lord knows what else. We've always ignored this area as it is too overgrown to be of much use. I figure the kids can build forts back there when they are a little older. The one nice thing about it is that is big and green and completely blocks out view of all the other stuff beyond the alley.

The other night some lady comes by and gives us an invitation to a National Night Out block party that will be held on the street on the opposite side of the block from us. My initial reaction is that it might be fun to go and meet some of those people. (We've been here ten years, it would be good to expand our horizons from our immediate neighbors.)

My positive vibe doesn't last long. The lady comes back in a half hour or so and asks Allison if we are the ones who own the property across the alley. Allison says yes and the lady launches into a speech about how it is all full of buckthorn and we should call the DNR and do something about it. (I'm paraphrasing all this because I wasn't actually there.)

So we have buckthorn, which apparently is an invasive species of plant that will destroy all life on earth. Okay, actually it is native to Europe (damn Europeans are always causing problems for us!). It will just choke out and destroy native Minnesota plants.

So what can we do? According to the DNR website, there are a few ways to get rid of buckthorn:

1) Pull it out from the roots using some crazy buckthorn pulling device.
2) Spray the area down with one of a variety of dangerous herbicides like round up, triclopyr amine, or maybe agent orange.
3) Take a flamethrower to the infected area.

Okay, I made up number 3 because it sounds like more fun than an insane amount of physical labor or loading up our pristine woodland with toxic herbicides that will kill pretty much everything back there.

I figure the nosy lady is probably going to report us to someone. Maybe the DNR. However, I'm not certain if they actually have the power to force us to do something about our buckthorn. Worse, she might report us to our crazy neighborhood anti-buckthorn coalition. (Yes, we really have one of those.) We'll become outcasts. Pariahs. That's fine for me, but what about the children???

I have no idea what we are going to do about the buckthorn, but there is no way in hell I'm going to that National Night Out block party.