Stickseed, Stuck On Me …

Yesterday afternoon I headed out to do some simple maintenance on my adopted section of the Buckeye Trail. Simple. HA!!

In the past month the weeds took over a section of the trail. I spent the better part of two hours just knocking down ragweed, poke, blackberry and stickseed plants just to make the path visible. I am going to need to get back up there with a brush cutter and clear it completely out. One particular patch of stickseed was nasty. I have never before felt ensnared by a plant before. Or, plants to be more accurate. I was hot and sweaty and wasn’t paying much attention when I discovered myself in the center of a stickseed patch. I was coated. The damn stuff even clung to my bare arms. For those that don’t know, stickseed is a plant whose seeds are covered with burrs that will cling to just about anything.

Here is a photo of what my work jeans looked like:

My shirt was covered nearly as much as the pants. Once when I bent over to grab my water bottle my shirt and pants stuck together and when I pulled them apart is sounded just like separating Velcro. I think that story about Velcro being invented after someone observed burrs is true.

I have to figure out a way to get all these burrs off my clothes. Washing won’t work. I figure I’ll try some packing tape first.

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