Clearing grassed area without chemicals - ideas?

I agree with this. Use poultry, ducks, chickens etc. Hogs will also, and work the ground for you.
Since you have sand burs, you must be sandy, as we are here. Sand burs will not grow if you can get the organic content of your soil up. Also, I would spray the soil with lots of molasses to kick start the little micro's in the soil. Soil needs sugars.
If you had it, 6 inches of chicken manure would work, but would be awhile before you could plant new plants.

Bob

Cold steel and A hot Flame. Try A heavy Hoe after you use A weed burner on it But keep plenty of weater near by, If you burn it thet helps kill the weed seeds too.

Covering it for a year works well. Ideally then till it and cover it for another year.

Even better is to fence it and put in pigs. I feed them hay to add organic matter to the soil. Let them dig it all up and then follow them with chickens. In a year you get rich soil for gardening.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/
http://HollyGraphicArt.com/
http://NoNAIS.org

__________________
SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

Two 50 lb feeder pigs will clear 150 square feet in about 2 weeks. During that time add as much straw, grass clippings and other organic matter as you can gather. Then move them to the other 150 sq feet and repeat, While the porkers are working on the second area, thoroughly till the first 150 sq.ft., mulch heavily with straw or OLD hay and plant your (already started) seedlings. Plant this area with the crops that have the longest season to harvest.

After they're done with their work, move the porkers to another area to finish them to slaughter 4-5 more months or take one to the auction barn and have a pig roast with the other...

Side note: you should avoid root vegetables in this area for this year and wash your harvest thoroughly before eating....

We used rabbits for our garden. They will clear out a spot as big as their rabbit tractor in about 24 hours, and also loosen the soil nicely by digging burrows. The fertilizer is a plus. And once you are done, you can harvest or sell the rabbits.

__________________
Visit me at http://www.countrylifewithcountrywife.blogspot.com/

www.NightwoodForge.etsy.com

One method that works well is to use old strips of carpet, with the good side down. You put it on for about 8 weeks, take it off for about a week---just enough to get a good rain and let germinate any seed that isn't dead yet--then leave it on for another 2 weeks and you are ready to plant!!
Weeds are killed and the soil is soft and ready to be seeded!!

Now, I might have cheated and just moved around the carpet after the 8 weeks---seemed like too much work to completely remove and put back on for only 2 more weeks! I went with a friend around 10 pm one night before garbage pick up the next morning. Just two or three houses filled my pickup with carpet scraps enough to cover part of my small yard.

The lady that I got this method from has transformed 14 acres into different garden-tree-shrubs areas over a matter of years. She piles up the carpet into meandering fairly wide walking paths. She heaps up the carpet strips and covers them with wood chips. Amazing! It takes care of the weeds coming back into the paths, and you don't even realize you are walking on carpet remnants. If the carpets start to show through she just piles on more wood chips!

Cathy S.

I used this method to plant no-mow grass 5 years ago and the grass is still there in the areas it hasn't flooded or I haven't expanded my garden into.

__________________
"in returning and rest shall you be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength"

http://gardening-by-cathy.net
http://mysolarenergyplus.net

I am reading back issues of Acres USA magazine and saw ads for organic weed control. I have not used them but plan to order one.

-Bio Lynceus, IIC
877-729--6984
says organic herbicide
www.BioLynceus.com

and

-Omri J H Biotech
says organic weed control
www.jhbiotech.com
1-800-428-3493

Fire fire fire... yeah!

__________________
Check us out out "The Modern Homestead", a small, helpful, friendly forum. Find us at "The Modern Homestead", on facebook too!

Thanks for all the input, folks. We're going to use a combination of the counsel you've given, with the time and "hands" we have available:

1) burn (as best as possible, as its all green)
2)fence the whole area (to keep our dogs out who think every time we dig for any reason, we're doing it just for them ),
3) till semi-shallow to tear up the vegetation - probably only 1/2 the area to begin with
4) rake out, add manure from our neighbor's place, then water
5) till again (deeper) in a couple of weeks
6) do it again, water
7) get some of my stuff tranplanted if its not murderously hot by then
8) mulch like crazy

The scraping isn't going to work (rats) as we can't get the old stumps out that we have been trying to burn out.

What'cha think? I'll be back to tell you if this works. Thanks again.

__________________
Romans 8:38,39

seems like you're making an awful lot of work for yourself

you could just mow real low
and cover with newspaper/cardboard then deep manure and be done

However you do it, good luck and have fun!

sheep....goats

I've read that if you drill the stumps and put corn down the holes, and then put pigs in the area, they'll clear the stumps for you. They could help clear out the other stuff too.