This week Mia and I went up into the forested park nearby and cleared English ivy from the trail side. English ivy is an invasive species—it spreads from home landscapes to wild areas where it quickly overtakes native plant life. Left untended, the ivy will cover entire forest floors and climb up into the tree canopy.
We pulled the long vines until we found their roots, loading our bags with the coiled vines. Once home, we cleared the vines of their leaves (adding them to our city’s yard debris collection, not our family’s compost). We decided to weave our vines right away while they were still green and pliable.
We had a helper.
Our baskets required no special tools (only clippers) and no additional materials. We created simple webs and began to weave our vines, shaping the baskets as we went along. They weren’t without flaws, but they were surprisingly sturdy. One was perfect for Mia’s bike. From forest invader to water bottle carryall—all in an afternoon’s work.
