Once upon a time, a sticker seed arrived in Himmel Park. Nobody quite knows how it got there. Maybe on the shoe of a drumming circle drummer, maybe on a paw of a dog, or maybe a bird planted it. That seed grew into a sprawling goat head weed that neighbors stepped on and spread throughout the park. Soon the rolling hills of the park were covered with goat head vines. The seeds hid in the grass and replanted themselves year after year. A industrious group of neighbors gathered to pick the goat heads led by a local artist and musician. Legend has it that you can still see this goat head warrior out there picking them over a decade later.
This true story has inspired my own efforts to keep the goat heads (also known as puncture vine or devil weed) out of our little neighborhood park. My story starts with the quest to eradicate the burclover from Pinecrest Park so they wouldn't stick to the dogs' fur. Thirty-eight neighbors came out for our "Bagels and Burrs" event and removed 3 large trashcans full. But the job wasn't done. With the help of a weary husband and an occasional kind neighbor, we did get them out of one stretch where dog walkers enter the park and near the children's playground. Then burclover season ended. Accustomed to getting up in the morning, I turned my attention to painful goat head stickers. My goal is to remove them before they go to seed, so they don't spread like they did at Himmel Park.
Honestly, it is like finding a needle in a haystack. They have little yellow flowers, but so do several other weeds in the park - including my favorite edible weed, purslane. But I have managed to keep on top of them, having pulled 88 (so far) in 3 months. Sometimes picking one to four a day.
When some guy asked me how they got into the park, I noticed that the dog walkers stroll around the neighborhood before ending up in the park. Just west of the park, I spotted a median completely full of goat heads. So I got three five gallon buckets of goat heads out of that island.
But I still find a few goat heads along the entrances of the park.
A few days ago, I joined two neighbors on their daily stroll around the neighborhood and happened onto a yard with "Clean up after your dog" signs. All along that right of way were goat heads - even near the pole where dogs like to pee. So I went ahead and picked them. While I was there, two people that hang out in our park walked by with their dogs. So my theory is that the goat heads are being tracked in from all over the neighborhood (and even the next neighborhood). That day I ended up picking goat heads from the right of way in six yards.
You might think this is a futile effort. Maybe it is. But those are thousands of goat head seeds that won't spread through our neighborhood and end up in our little park. This story can still have a happy ending if neighbors keep goat heads out of their right of ways.
Nobody expects you to be a goat head warrior. But if you spot a devil vine in the park, please pick it. Or simply check the bottom of your shoes before entering the park. If you hear a crunch, crunch, crunch when you walk across the street, you might be tracking in goat heads on your shoes.
And we all live happily ever after.
More information:
Observations from the Park
Travels with Willie: Goathead Warriors
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