Backyard Project, Part I

I worked some in the disaster that is our yard today. We are on a mission to reclaim this space for ourselves, and also for native Palouse prairie.  Today I accomplished several noteworthy tasks.   I finally finished reclaiming the stairs.  Here they were just after I sprayed them:

Once they were sprayed, I raked them and pinned down landscaping cloth.  The cloth was then covered with pine bark mulch.

Here are the stairs finished!
 

Next came the really crazy part.  A few weeks ago, my husband and I cleared all the sticks and debris our willow trees have spit out (kind of like the Whomping Willow) over the past several years into huge berms.  You can see one of the berms in the left of the picture below.  I and a hired gun today removed FIVE truck loads of willow branches and creek detritus from the backyard.
    

Here is a picture of the area, cleared and raked.  The hill in the foreground has been sprayed and is ready for planting with kinickkinick.  

While the hired gun was dropping the truck loads of willow at the recycling center, I planted kinickkinick and weeded.  I felt as if I needed to be a mountain goat and/or have one leg shorter than the other to properly access the hill.  I can also tell you I am feeling it now!
 

And the best part of the afternoon...taking off my boots and putting on flip-flops for the first time this season!