Gathering kudzu when it is still over 80 degrees outside and the stinkbugs are rampant in the vines is not fun. But…I scheduled my first kudzu basketry class for the beginning of October and I needed vines so there was not much to be done but to get out in the kudzu patch and start pulling.
It actually wasn’t too bad. I encountered no snakes–yay!–and although the stinkbugs were very present and stinky they didn’t bother me too much.
I forget from season to season how much I absolutely love getting out in the woods to gather kudzu. The sounds of twittering birds, the overall quiet as if all the animals and other critters are silently watching me as I join them within their world. And then–when I’m home with my gathered kudzu–I also forget the green smell of the crisp vines as I split them to be used in my next basket. Lovely.