"On paper, the parcel is three-quarters wooded, one-quarter pasture. In practice, the place is about 95 percent brush... an entire civilization of invasive vines and weeds.... Asiatic bittersweet and porcelain berry, kudzu and Japanese honeysuckle, invasive wineberry and aggressive Canada goldenrod had devoured the place, turning forest and field alike into tangled masses of vines and thorns, and murdering defenseless native trees by strangulation and theft of sunlight... [A]ny attempt to remove the invaders by mechanical means alone (or by planting more native species — which will be the topic of a future column) is doomed; the interlopers would grow back faster than I could cut them out or replace them. The only chance of victory... is with a laborious, multiyear course of herbicides applied to each invasive plant.... Clearly, I won’t be defeating these invaders. At best, I’ll battle them... holding them at bay until I lose the will to fight them...."
From "I’m losing the battle against the brush. I’m not alone."
He tells us the place is 95% brush but not how big it is. Why did he buy land that had problems he didn't understand at all and that make the place entirely unsuitable for its intended purpose (finding peace)? And more importantly, why does a person with this level of practical sense and good judgment have a column in The Washington Post expounding on politics? Can we take his inane real estate venture as a metaphor?
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Can we take his inane real estate venture as a metaphor?
yes
It must be down in that wild Republican part of Virginia. Who knows what lurks there?
Certainly not DC drones.
The Best and the Brightest
@hugh42 said...
I had to delete that because it contained extra paragraph breaks — empty space.
You can try again
Name the WaPo writers who have common sense and good judgment.
God forbid someone try something out of their wheelhouse and admit struggles.
Isn't Instagram the place where people only show the shiny perfect parts of their life and hide the rest? Should the newspaper follow Insta's lead and never admit to normal human struggles or mistakes?
Cannibalism, abortion, diversity, a burden, and progressive liberalism. Albeit Her Choice, in his woke state. A metaphor. An epiphany of the modern anthropogenic model.
Clearly, I won’t be defeating these invaders. At best, I’ll battle them... holding them at bay until I lose the will to fight them....
Take a knee, beg, good boy.
After he gets his discharge papers from the sanitarium he can turn his place into Holiday Inn.
"And more importantly, why does a person with this level of practical sense and good judgment have a column in The Washington Post expounding on politics?"
Because that person is an idiot who only tows the leftie line.
People that write about politics, and journalists in particular, have no sense of the real world.
Milbank graduated from Yale, which pretty much guarantees he doesn't so much as know how to mow a lawn.
If you want to survive the aftermath of a nuclear war, find a plumber or a carpenter to hang out with, not an Ivy League journalist.
Althouse said...
Can we take his inane real estate venture as a metaphor?
Immigration?
Few know that Milbank is fueled creatively by his massive hatred of immigrants.
The metaphor is apt: the comfortable establishment, the global managerial class and their enablers, have lost an understanding of how much grunt work is necessary to keep civilization functioning and keep the wilderness at bay.
Didn’t do basic due diligence?
He writes his columns by the seat of his pants?
Now Dana could buy and operate--or hire an "undocumented immigrant" to operate a Brush Hog for the smaller stuff. And down in Texas where ranchers have had to deal with post oak invasions of grasslands, they use a Caterpillar and some drag chains to knock the stuff down.
All of those effete limp wristed efforts learned while attending the best cocktail parties on the DC circuit won't help Dana when he faces up to real plants and brush.
A real estate folly close to home:
Near my house a guy has renovated a two-family home and is asking nearly a million for each unit. That's not wildly over-priced in my tony Boston suburb, but....there's no garage, and no space to build one ---just a narrow driveway to park no more than two or three cars in single file.
Also, the Town doesn't allow overnight on-street parking, and the nearest bus stop is about a half-mile away.
So...who's gonna put down a cool million knowing cars will have to continually be shifted around?
The units have been "for sale" about six months.
Yes, you can judge Milbank by this misadventure- his columns are equally stupid.
Kudzu is everywhere here in east Tennessee. It is the energizer bunny of plant-life.
Bubble person leaves bubble.
Hilarity ensues.
Yes!
Most people who have property (not ‘land-owning gentry’) know that the effort and time involved increases exponentially with area. It’s hard work, and even if it’s a losing battle sometimes, it’s very satisfying and therapeutic.
Maybe he should go and work at McDonald’s and get back to us. I suspect he’d struggle there, too.
The trees take over and the brush dies, is the final state. It's in transition from abandoned field to forest. No help is needed.
Can we take his inane real estate venture as a metaphor?
Everything is something else, depending on how you look at it. Right now I'm looking at an untouched slice of pumpkin pie. A few days back I looked at that very same portion while it was still of a piece with its fellows and thought, how nice for guests who enjoy that wretched gourd. Now it's garbage, much like the Washington Post.
"Why did he buy land that had problems he didn't understand at all and that make the place entirely unsuitable for its intended purpose (finding peace)?" Because he's Dana Milbank of the WaPo and, therefore, is totally unacquainted with the "reaL world"!
The problem is not the struggle, everyone strives; but, rather publishing for effect, and denial of policy that mimics ideology.
He needs to fence in the property and get a herd of pigs. Even if they don't eat the vines, they'll root and wallow them up.
herbicides? the guy is an idiot. just rent an excavator or a skid with a grapple attachement (it's not hard) and rip everything out. they grow back? do it again. i'd guess about a day's work (depending on precence of ravines).
how do i know? i've done multiple times over far more space than a single acre.
Milbank is good at going down a deep rabbit hole trying to explain his utter incompetence and ignorance about how to improve a situation. Did he not look at the property before he bought it? Why not buy a smaller place that someone has kept up?
No, the answer is to stumble into a disaster, then explain why you can’t do anything about it. The Beiden management program.
All he has to do is put some cows and pigs on the property. He is fighting it the stupid way.
"Clearly, I won’t be defeating these invaders. At best, I’ll battle them... holding them at bay until I lose the will to fight them...."
This expresses my feelings about politics in the United States. Except I don't see many signs that they are being held at bay. I think this is a clear description of where we are at: https://amgreatness.com/2022/11/23/hard-truths-and-radical-possibilities/
"why does a person with this level of practical sense and good judgment have a column in The Washington Post expounding on politics? Can we take his inane real estate venture as a metaphor?"
Yes we can, to coin a phrase. The rhetorical question is funny. Now generalize to progs generally: do any of our overlords who presume to tell us how to live, spend our tax dollars, or regulate the economy have any practical sense and good judgment?
But for Dems, we are the brush.
Putting reporters in a rural setting could make a good reality show.
I hope he has permits to poison —or chop or even to touch— each of those species. Just because they’re invasive doesn’t mean they don’t have rights. They’re just undocumented migrants.
A metaphor for the left not understanding how the real world works?
Milbank asserts that there is nothing he could do to defeat the unwanted plants on his property.
Farmers grown "wanted" plants all the time, to the exclusion of unwanted plants. The key is selecting something that is suited to the ground on which it is planted, and applying the right cultivation techniques to it.
Has he thought about finding some neighbors who seem to know what they're doing, and applying some of his "journalism" skills to extracting the necessary information from them?
Or, lease part of his land to nearby farmers?
Or is he just a wuss who gives up at the initial setbacks?
To quote the great Nelson Muntz, "Ha-Ha!"
It does seem like an important omission, the total size of the spread. You can lose your scrappy tribune of the people image pretty fast with too much acreage, I should think.
does this strike Meade as prospect for consulting gig and muchos dineros ?
To paraphrase a legal phrase, stupid in one, stupid in all.
Yes, Mark, some people take willful pleasure in the struggles of a Leftist in the real world outside the Beltway.
You people - to use Howard's purposefully annoying phrase - have it coming. In spades. There are many, many accounts yet to be settled.
It is interesting how so many people want to get rid of plants that "aren't from here". They're INVADERS. But people not from here? They just don't have documents.
Well, Dana Milbank. 'nough said.
Well, Dana Milbank. 'nough said.
A man's got to know his limitations. People leave the country and move to the city because living in the country is hard. Maybe renting first would have been the prudent move?
"they use a Caterpillar and some drag chains to knock the stuff down."
An all-electric Caterpillar, one would hope.
The response to his column is “what is your point”. How do you like doing work like our for fathers WITHOUT power tools. Get off you ass and take care of it are well it to someone who has the fortitude to deal with it, you’re soy-latte is getting cold.
Well if he's a Progressive Democrat, he'll end up fertilizing.
If he can't bring himself to embrace the power of Round-Up, then he should seriously consider the power of controlled burns. A few of these will work wonders, and if handled correctly, will spare the trees. Perfect season for it, right now.
Once the brush is under control, he can keep it that way with selective mowing, that is, mowing before the seeds mature on the invasive species. It'll take a few years, but these two techniques really work.
Get some goats, they will eat everything.
What Mark doesn’t understand is that Milbank has confirmed that he is a big pussy who will be torn limb from limb sometime in the next few years. He’s probably the same. They’ll both look up relatively soon and realize they’re not capable of feeding themselves. It’ll be awesome.
Ah, it's a confession piece. As people have said, the land can be managed with different techniques: animal husbandry, heavy equipment rental. Milbank has decided on herbicides, but he can't just use them without asking first for forgiveness.
My first house had a front lawn. Wanting to make it green and lovely, got some cow manure from local dairy as fertilizer. Turns out the fertilizer pretty much encourages extraordinary growth of every type of weed the cow eats.
Hired Mexican guys to fix it for me. They made a lot of comments in Spanish while looking my way and laughing. Not sure what they were talking about.
Blogger Robert Marshall said...
Milbank asserts that there is nothing he could do to defeat the unwanted plants on his property.
Farmers grown "wanted" plants all the time, to the exclusion of unwanted plants. The key is selecting something that is suited to the ground on which it is planted, and applying the right cultivation techniques to it.
Milbank should simply decide that he likes the invasive plant. It's not a bug, it's a feature.
Ol' Dana needs to get out more.
Last time I visited my Forest Service brother in law in Colorado, I spent a morning spraying his property's Spurge with herbicide. One might think that an expert in land conservation would not have such a thing growing on his land, but hey, it happens, sorta like bedbugs in swanky NY hotels. The property is wonderful despite the poisonous, invasive, fast-spreading Euphorbia. And it is slow and gentle compared to kudzu, which grows so rapdily one can watch it happen.
So don't deride the newly arrived country dweller who is faced with weeds. He just needs to embrace the wonders of modern chemistry and treat his land like Nixon treated the Ho Chi Minh Trail, until a balance is achieved with nature through napalm and herbicides.
At least he doesn't have Oregon's blackberries or Texas Buffalo Burrs.
Mike said...
Now Dana could buy and operate--or hire an "undocumented immigrant" to operate a Brush Hog for the smaller stuff.
Bite your tongue, man! Are you suggesting Milbank actually communicate with the locals?!
[Laughing]. Wait until he discovers that the vine with the bright-colored fall leaves is called poison ivy.
Asiatic bittersweet and porcelain berry, kudzu and Japanese honeysuckle, invasive wineberry and aggressive Canada goldenrod had devoured the place, turning forest and field alike into tangled masses of vines and thorns, and murdering defenseless native trees by strangulation and theft of sunlight...
Sort of analogous to the California transplants destroying the native ecosystems of Colorado and Arizona.
Virginia seems to be big on conservation easements. Maybe he bought a property and didn’t understand he needed to leave most of it In a natural state based on deisires of a previous owner. No mowing. No clearing. Nothing. Need to understand what you are buying… not sure if this is the case. But wouldn’t be surprised.
It still doesn't top Joe Biden selling his driveway and losing access to his house. Not just once but twice.
Next year, Biden starting selling off bits of the land for development to pay for improvements such as storm windows. Small problem here: One of the lots he sold off was his own driveway, and the new owner blocked it off so he couldn’t pass through it.
So Joe built a second driveway, which turned into a swamp in winter. He sold off another piece of property that, it turned out, included the front of that second driveway, so he couldn’t use that one anymore either.
So I built a third. He hated that one for being a dumpy little thing. Eight years went by, and he made a deal to buy back the original driveway,
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/09/joe-bidens-money-misadventures/?fbclid=IwAR0a18BJmlEgShCE7z34bISz8sy_hb0kuuUG_4RP4ukc64zP1ExtL13k5kY
John Henry
People from the big city have never heard of goats?
rhhardin said:
The trees take over and the brush dies, is the final state. It's in transition from abandoned field to forest. No help is needed.
Yes. Takes decades. That doesn't work for Quick Hit culture.
If I were a mischievous man I'd suggest that this winter he brush hog the whole parcel down to bare dirt and buy a flock of goats to keep it clean in perpetuity. (I find the thought of Dana Milbank trying to deal with a bunch of Nubian goats to be immensely entertaining.)
If nothing else, he’s doing adult stuff. Imagine a grown man making a bike path in his (ownership by marriage, not of his own earnings) postage stamp sized backyard. That’s what young children do!
If wearing shorts makes a man seem unserious, what about playing make believe in the backyard?
Milbank is like Musk…
He makes it up as he goes.
This is why God invented goats. Seriously, properly managed, a herd of goats would do a remarkable job in clearing out the weeds and unwanted brush from the property. Milbank could rent a herd for not too much money. The goat herder would install temporary fencing to keep the herd in a relatively small area until it has been cleared, and then move the herd to the next area. There are goat herders who keep their goats for precisely this purpose — renting them out to cities and landowners as a method of natural weed control.
All I see is a missed opportunity to highlight and talk about environmental remediation. Fighting invasive species and replacing them with either native or noninvasive plants is being done all over the country, on a daily basis, by public entities and private citizens.
But that wouldn't be as dramatic, I suppose.
Don't goats eat everything? From time to time I hear of goat herds/flocks rented out to clear some scrub.
Pretty much the same assortment of invasives that takes hold here at the edge of the woods. Most is not a problem although the bitter sweet does kill small trees (turning them into corkscrews first). Kudzu isn't a general problem, but somebody planted it years ago on the cliffs in an attempt to stabilize them. It didn't work, but the whistle pigs are grateful. I've seen places up the road where it has engulfed whole trees. The wineberry, while not as tasty as the native blackberry or raspberry, is very productive. I think the worst invasive is English Ivy. That stuff is tough.
Sure, Dana thinks he's a master of the universe and relished the idea of being lord and master over a Virginia estate.
A familiar trope or genre is the city writer or journalist trying to make a go of farming, or at least country living, and making a mess of it. Now it's moved over to reality TV. I don't think it works that well as a literary or journalistic premise now. Journalists are too political and too elitist, creative writers are too affected and too pretentious and both are too full of themselves. I for one am rooting against them. Go nature red in tooth and claw. Go kudzu.
Animals. Depending on the size. Small, like an acre or two, goats. Larger, like 10 acres, cows. The difference is he just wants the animals to to do grazing, he doesn't want to own them. A farmer isnt going to bring over a couple of cows for and acre. Pigs? Nope. Need really good fences. He hasn't even addressed how to water the animals. goats are the answer, simple electric fence works. Farmers will rent out their goats, set up the fencing and provide the water.
Chemical control is a great option. That lets Dana by a four wheeler, to mount a sprayer. The good thing about a farm, he can by toys and expense them.
Show up at the local farm store with a dozen donuts, or maybe a fresh sheet cake out of the oven, and the local coffee drinkers will give free advice, and even lend a hand...to a friend, that can return the favor using a skill set the farmer doesn't have.
Sounds similar to the property we bought in Snoqualmie. We had/have Canadian Maples, Douglas Firs, hemlocks and alders plus acres of Western Swordferns, blackberries, spear ferns and other unidentified brush. The trees are far apart enough that a skidsteer with a brush cutting attachment can make short work of it. I also used
- a 26-in wide brush cutter (heavy duty lawn mower), which was heavy work due to all the accumulated dead leaves and resulting pockets.
- a Ryobi two-piece brush cutter (two-cycle engine). I fatigued the joint were the two pieces joined.
- a Honda solid-aluminum shaft brush cutter (four cycle engine). This brush cutter is not going to break due to fatigue.
There were blackberry tangles that were 6-ft high, and only the skidsteer could really get rid of them. Some of the brush has grown back, including the blackberries, but not nearly what it was when we started clearing it in April 2021. It will require repeated cuttings to finally get rid of it.
Millbank can get rid of his brush problems. Either do it himself, or hirer someone to to it for him. It will take a sustained and determined effort, but it's doable.
City folks who move to the country to commune with nature often find that Mother Nature can be a nasty old b__ch. A couple of commenters have mentioned goats. Goats are often used to control invasive plants. He should check with his County Extension Agent to see if there is someone in that area that rents goats for vegetation control. Probably cheaper than herbicides.
Star of Bethlehem has defeated me. It spreads underground, under lawns, and happily endures weekly mowings with no reduction in force.
And more importantly, why does a person with this level of practical sense and good judgment have a column in The Washington Post expounding on politics?
Above question assumes facts not in evidence.
Why did he buy land that had problems he didn't understand at all and that make the place entirely unsuitable for its intended purpose (finding peace)?
Because he thinks like the people that believe windmills and solar panels are the solution to energy production.
In my most generous mood, I'd call it wishful thinking.
I despise that man.
I despise that man.
I'm just glad some mad scientist hasn't hybridized kudzu and poison ivy. Yet.
As for bringing in goats, won't that just attract chupacabras?
A lesson to all those who object to farmers' use of herbicides and other "non-natural" chemicals to grow the food we find in abundance at the local grocery.
Farming is a hard capital-intensive high-technology business.
It seems that an essential part of being a prog male means you blurt out to the world how useless and weak you are.
If it's that far gone, you burn it, till it, and plant what you want, then defend against reimvadion.
Imposing your will on a piece of property is a lot like raising children: Work diligently, relentlessly with your partner for eighteen years and you’ll be proud of what you’ve accomplished.
I confess I don’t have high hopes for a man named Dana but sometimes people surprise you.
Herbicides are bad for children. Hard work with powered brush cutters, weed whackers, chain saws and mowers for a year or so will get most of the brush under control but your lawns and meadows won't ever be as smooth and perfect as your neighbors who use chemicals. Is you is or is you isn't, a true Greenie?
Well if he's a Progressive Democrat, he'll end up fertilizing.
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over ground or under ground?
I'm just glad some mad scientist hasn't hybridized kudzu and poison ivy. Yet.
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don't be gibing Faucistus botanical gain of function ideas for his retirement enjoyment
He talked to the goat guy. Goats not available for awhile as they were rented out elsewhere.
Right there in the story.
He'll default on the mortgage and then write a column complaining about ruthless capitalism.
A one word solution "Goats"
Goats not available for awhile as they were rented out elsewhere.
Right there in the story.
If you have 2 or 3 solutions, and the best one cant start 'for a while', then you're just whining. He has no time line, other than selfish instant gratification. But a guy has to turn in 750 words somehow.
Was it all Trumps fault?
Oh, and goats are always available on Craigslist or at the sale barn. They are usually named something like Taco or Burrito.
Dave Begley said...Name the WaPo writers who have common sense and good judgment.
Jennifer Rubin. She could have been just another three-card Monte dealer in Times Square, but she invented a genre and built a lucrative career out of little more than a willingness to pretend to be conservative while relentlessly attacking conservatives.
"Has he thought about finding some neighbors who seem to know what they're doing, and applying some of his "journalism" skills to extracting the necessary information from them?"
Talk? To THEM yokels?
Reminiscent of George McGovern's purchase of the Stratford Inn in Connecticut. A fatal conceit on both parts.
I did this on 10 acres 17 years ago, on purpose, knowing full well what I was doing. As a birder, I knew clearing the land of invasive plants was the best thing I could do for it. And yes herbicides are key. You can chop, excavate and otherwise bludgeon the invasive to submission but they will come back. Cut them down, then spray with glyphosate, 2,4 D or something stronger depending on the plant when it begins to grow back and is still small. I go around once a year and do this. Very satisfying. Oh and 120 bird species in the yard and still counting.
A bush hog or skid and someone with wits not pickled by DC can have it done in a day. Maybe two if it's large. Throw down fescue and straw. What a moron. Yes, this is a metaphor for several things.
For example, all the former family earth moving and tree cutting businesses have been destroyed by over-regulation and mass influxes of illegals who don't have insurance and don't pay taxes. So Milbank has destroyed reliable, safe, insured, taxed labor and replaced it with under-skilled, exploited, transient serfs. And if they get hurt, we pay their bills.
I always make sure the workers get paid in front of me. Of course, the slave drivers created by Milbank's policies don't guarantee they can keep the cash. I try to use American citizens, but they often show up with guys they just picked off the streets. Thanks, Democrats. And Republicans.
He bought land without personally looking at it first? Seriously? Not too bright, is he?
Kudzu is easily controlled federalize with used motor oil mulch with concrete blocks.
I've been in Placitas, NM, seven years; high desert at the edge of a pinion-juniper ecosystem. No pinion though, still a little too low in elevation. We average 9-10 inches of precipitation. I have 1.1 acres. This last spring we had good rain at the perfect time of year to wake up the goathead seeds (tribulus terrestris) that have been sitting in the soil, waiting to spawn and turn the property into a sea of thorns. I was out every other day weeding and spraying them before they could flower. It was tough work, and on gravel and sandy slopes, the job was not completed as well as I would have liked, but I did get a decent buffer around the house and the side of the road. The first two years I was here, I probably pulled a couple of thousand tumbleweeds before they could get too big. Now I'm down to maybe a hundred or two a year. It will never be free of them - there is a reason they are called tumble weed and they travel far and wide with the wind. Over the past seven years I have planted 20 each pinion and juniper seedlings. None have lived. I planted 40 - 50 New Mexico privet and 40 to 50 desert willow. I have 14 privets and 15 desert willows remaining. I put in a low pressure irrigation system for the trees last year and they did well. Let's see how many get chewed down to the ground by packrats and rabbits. It is a tough environment, but it gets me out of the house and working around the property. It is good for the soul.
Welcome to my backyard. Poison Ivy Roundup will take care of the Japanese honey suckle. May take two applications. Muscadine, just cut back. Briars? Good luck buddy. Get a back hoe.
A song is playing in my head.... Something like" Greeeeen Acres is the place to be....
Another Wild Turkey joins those already inhabiting the Piedmont. He should have no trouble fitting in. Kudzu? If he plants the latest cash crop on his land there won't be any worries about kudzu and he will have found peace.
I don't have a WAPO account. Did the clown even bother visiting the property before he bought it? Sure sounds like not.
Growing up in Pittsburgh PA we’d call them all collectively “jagger bushes.” This is not to be confused with the Pittsburgher curse “jag off.”
He should eat the berries and honey, drink the wine, and smoke the goldenrod. Peace through bliss?
the interlopers would grow back faster than I could cut them out or replace them.
Oh the suffering urbanite, wants the joys of the hillbilly without doing the work.
No sympathy.
This is why people who work in the world know that we are not going to destroy the planet.
It takes all you can do just to fight nature to a standstill and it never gives you a truce.
Everyday you have to fight for your chunk of ground or it will be taken over by nature and destroyed.
Isn't this why Milbank & Co. support massive illegal immigration?
Someone needs to do these jobs opinion writers won't do!
Japanese Privet is a bitch; kudzu grows quickly but isn't that tough to beat back from a small area.
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