Great Day To Clean Up The Sunflower Seed Hulls

The Pussy willows at my daughter's house.

Today was the warmest day since I don't remember when.  I imagine it was some time last November.  Being a person who likes cooler weather, it wouldn't have to get much warmer for me to be content.  Because it was so nice and here in Wisconsin you never know what the next day will bring, we decided to continue with some more yard cleanup projects.  For anyone who reads this blog, you know we feed the birds an unbelievable amount of seed.  We feed all year long, but over the winter months the shells from the sunflower seeds accumulate.

The ground under the bird feeders are solid shells from the eaten sunflower seeds.

Today they were all thawed out and dry, so it was time to remove them.  Usually my husband just takes a rake and a shovel to get the job done.  This year he had a bright idea.  Why not take the shop vacuum and vacuum them up.  So he did.

He started out raking.

Then out came the shop vac.

Now lets make it even easier, why not sit down and vacuum.

Was it working?

Dad the supervisor had to come over to check if there was a problem.

A wheelbarrow full of hulls.

The vacuum had to be emptied quite often and was taking quite a while.  Finally my husband got up off his chair, put away the vacuum and finished the job the normal way.  He used a snow shovel and a rake. When the snow is gone, the snow shovel is still useful to use as a dust pan.  It works great.

A snow shovel and a rake makes the job go fast.

Now the only thing left is to dump the pile of sunflower hulls in the woods.  There is still some good eating in there for the birds and the squirrels.  Nothing goes to waste.  Then it will slowly compost into some nice soil.

Big pile of sunflower hulls sitting in the woods.

April 6, 2014, it is 63 degrees at 2:00pm.