Sunday, July 22, 2012

LIFE AFTER PEOPLE HOW IT BEGINS

Life After People, courtesy of the History Channel
Did any of you ever watch the show "Life After People"?  It aired on the History Channel and was a fascinating look at how nature takes over and what would happen to iconic cities and sites and structures around the world if mankind just suddenly disappeared.  They found out that it would not take long for nature to quickly find a way...

Our porch with encroaching ivy
At the farm this weekend, I found out that it indeed doesn't take long.  A week ago, this ivy/vine was nowhere to be found, not even a blip on my radar.  Yesterday, it was crawling up the stairs, and coming up in between the porch floor boards and beginning to climb up the railing.

I have no doubt that this is how it begins, slowly and subtly at first, and then it goes aggressive and before you know it, it ends up just like this one...
NOT our house
So I immediately got out my clippers and took care of things.
No "Life After People" episodes will be filmed at our farm!

22 comments:

  1. I had a morning glory climb up and grab hold of my tiller after a few days, I think the weeds are trying to destroy it.

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    1. Ha, that's funny!!! That could be a bad sci fi channel movie, LOL!

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  2. It would definitely save you money on drapes and blinds.

    I planted a Silver Lace vine next to our patio one spring, and by summer it had grown over 30 feet. One plant covered the entire 12' width along the side of the patio, and up over the roof by several feet. And under the shingles, and between the deck boards....when it began growing underneath the house siding, I got out the shears. Too bad it was so invasive, because it was absolutely spectacular to look at. Especially when the sun was shining from behind the blossoms, then it took on such a beautiful glow.

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    1. Yes, pretty is one thing, invasive is another, ha. It is a shame some of the climbing vines and flower are SO pretty. I guess better to let them do their thing far away from something we don't care about being "taken over".

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  3. When I bought my small 1920's-era house it had gotten a little ramshackle, but was basically sound. When we raised the living room ceiling back up to its original height, we opened up a high section of the interior wall. There was a vine growing in there thicker than my thumb -- but you couldn't see it from inside or outside. How it photosynthesized, I cannot imagine.

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    1. Wow, that's crazy. Sounds like some sort of mutant species, ha. Not requiring photosynthesis to survive. Nature finds a way I suppose. Or resistance is futile. ;-)

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  4. Yep, we despise IVY. Dug a bit out of the back yard along the fence then mulched the hell over it. It still tries to climb through the fence but at least now there is a demarcation point. YEsterday I had to pull out out from the carrot bed as it was climbing up the trellis made for the noodle beans.

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    1. It's like you wonder where it comes from. It just appears and starts going everywhere. I but it would love to have a trellis of its own, ha. You'll win the battle just fight hard!

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  5. That show scared the crap out of me. I made the mistake of watching it before bed one night--no sleep for me, haha

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  6. I, too, enjoyed that series. And was humbled by the fact that what we, as humans do, is not as "permanent" as we think :) Which made me all the more determined to tread as lightly as I can on this planet...

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    1. I loved that aspect of the show. It's amazing how, given time, nature just returns things to as they were and we are erased from the timeline. Truly awe inspiring.

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  7. Our property around the garden is just such an example. It was an open horse pasture when we moved here and the largest plants on it were some low-lying juniper bushes. Now, some thirty years later it is covered with very tall trees that drive me crazy because they are shading my garden so much! Nature is very powerful and very fast!

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    1. What a great example! Love it. Well, sorry that you have shade but love the story of nature's speed. Thanks for sharing!

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  8. These are amazing pictures...I never saw this show but it certainly looks interesting.

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    1. The show was very good. I'm sure episodes are available online somewhere. Each week they took a different city or landmark and showed what it would look like as time went on and it wasn't cared for (no one to mow, no electricity, etc). Thanks for stopping by!!

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  9. This is hilarious! Man, living where nothing grows like this, that little ivy vine looks absolutely beautiful to me!!! I wouldn't want it to take over my whole house, but it is gorgeous!

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    1. Ha, it does have beauty, I agree. Maybe I should step back and appreciate the wonder of nature, ha. It's just growing in the wrong place, lol.

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