a horse crazy american in germany: A state of ever green

I made a little pun : ) The last few years my husband has called Washington the "everyellow state" because our state motto is the evergreen state but it is actually bright yellow, almost white with dead grass these last few years. The upside is no one has to mow their lawns in Summer.

It is the complete opposite in Nordrhein Westfalen, Germany. It's so green it almost hurts the eyes. I had to get some photos on arrival because I couldn't believe how lush it is here. Lucky farmers, harvesting without the need for irrigation! Us included *lol* (We got 250 bales of hay last month and didn't have to buck it ourselves, woo!)

Unfortunately the lady who said she'd mow our lawn only did it twice in 6 weeks and our yard is horribly overgrown and full of clumps from when she attempted to mow. I spent 1.5 hours yesterday mowing a portion that normally takes me 30 minutes, because our lawn mower could not handle that amount of grass. Of course the grass was also wet, because it never dries out under the walnut tree.

I have a sprained ankle and at one point I could not continue to mow because the ground was too hilly. My ankle will never heal if I keep twisting it. (Gory photo to come.)

I have to say, the condition of this place is very similar to when we first bought it, when it was overwhelming for the old man to do yard work (which is why he sold it). I cheer myself by pretending we've just bought this place and we're fixing it up to our standards. J helped me with the most hilly spots and also spent a couple hours weed whacking the edges that hadn't been done in so long.

These photos are the horse area which we don't need to mow, but it's shocking to me to see how much grass is just going uneaten. I'm tempted to bring in a herd of Haflingers and let them clean this place up!