Thanks guys for the information. oldtimer I'm not quitting with the composting, it just won't be a pretty compost pile like some of the photos I see in this site. If I decide to house a small goat, I have a larger dog kennel that I intend to keep it when it is not outside "working" eradicating the poison oak, poison ivy and, yes, we have poison sumac too, the goat will have to stay in the dog kennel. I will be outside to make sure the goat is safe for we have seen coyatoes walk through the yard. The goat will be borrowed just for the purpose of a safe way to get rid of the poison mess. Kimmsr, I went to fire ant control site and realized that we need to fight the ants in the fall, probably all year in North Ga area. The fire ants were here when we brought the property, which surprised me for it was a vacant hill top property, but the previous owners had a tomato garden up here. I suppose the ants could have been brought in to the area in tomato plants? Anyway, thanks guys, and I will be careful when fighting the poisons out there. I have to suit up to work in the yard, complete with long sleeves, long pants with my socks over the top of the pant legs. Plus, of course gloves. Reason: Ants love me, they seem to track me down, plus I'm sensitive to poison sumac and hubby is very sensitive to the other two. The socks pulled over the top of the pant legs is to ensure no ants crawl into my clothing. We have mean fire ants in GA.

Those are all poison ivy. And big healthy established vines by the look of those blooms! What a job! If it were me, i'd don heavy duty protective gear in 2-3 layers(preferably an outer layer you can toss afterwards), and start cutting away as much as i could while it's dormant and fairly easy to work around. That won't kill it- but when it reprouts at the ground where you cut it off you can hit that with roundup and not damage other stuff. If someone in your family is more resistant to the oils, let them tackle the job. When you're cutting big vines especially, do it slowly so it doesn't splash/squirt sap around. Probably a good idea to wipe down your pruners as they get wet, too. Not sure how 'juicy' it'll be this time of year- i know at other times, the big vines are pretty sappy. It's going to be awfully hard to spray it thoroughly and not get anything else if you don't trim some of it down. You're taking some of the plant's system and weakening it some by trimming. Plus, it takes more spray if you leave it as it is than if you trim. Best of luck! As others have said- be very careful, and wash with technu really well afterwards. If you do end up with a rash, zanafel works pretty well at reducing the time you have it (it's expensive, though). There are a couple of prescription creams that will help tremendously in drying it up as well, and they aren't commonly known. The steroids and shots do work, but i don't like dealing with either one. The dormant vines can still give you a whopper of a rash, and the sap is the worst. If it were me, and this rental had it before you moved in, i'd ask the landlord if they'd knock off a little rent or pay for the weed killers for you. It's a nasty job, and you should get some compensation.

Just a little bit of information as a consumer. I am very familiar with the naturopathy schools, & there are some good schools affiliated with some of the large universities. Without mentioning names, there are many ND schools that have curriculum with very, very, very sparse content. A person without any medical or scientific background can easily get a ND degree. They wonÂt say it is easy, but if you compare the two curricula, there is no comparison. Both provide the ND degree, but one has a foundation based on science &/or medicine. The MA Health Practitioner is probably a degree out of a naturopathic program  not a form of medical license. I believe CA was the last state to license ND practitioners, and that program has stopped; although there are some grandfathered in. Herbs are drugs, and although any knowledge is helpful, in depth studies need to be done for safety. Without looking at studies as to how an herb is absorbed, metabolized, eliminated in the body - & its medical and/or disease interactions, the depth is limited and the safety is questionable. There are some good studies coming out of Germany & some of the larger universities, and it is an area coming of age. I am very much for the use of herbs  in the proper hands and with the proper studies. The last time I looked, it cost a drug companies 80 million dollars to get a single drug through. This is after the scientific studies, & they still have problems. Herbs should not be exempt.

I just want to give an update on my poison ivy. After due deliberation and much consideration I decided I could carefully target just the poison ivy leaves with an Ortho poison ivy killer without it getting into the ground. I began with a small area first and waited to see what would happen. At first I thought perhaps it had no effect at all, but then a few weeks later I noticed that tiny patch I'd sprayed was brown and dead. So I sprayed the rest. It took a lot of patience and a couple of rounds to get it all and is a slow process just as daninthedirt said, but it looks as though it has finally succeeded! So my next step will be removing that patch of dirt and hopefully removing any roots with it and then bring in some fresh dirt. I figure that's the best way to assure I'm removing as much poison residue in the soil as possible. I'll wait awhile before doing this step to give the poison a chance to complete its job on that root system. I, of course did these courses of poison during long stretches of dry weather so it didn't wash off the leaves. Next time this problem arises I'm going to try the vinegar recipe method for comparison. Thanks for all the help and good advice!