If you have a lot of it then your first mow do it a little bit shorter than normal and bag it. After that first mow to get some of it up just mow high and mulch mow. As the good grass comes up any leftover stuff will slowly fade away.

"You may be spending way too much time working on your compost if you are wearing the grass away." hahahaha, truer words never spoken. I just started it last summer, I think in about July. Understand that I grew up on Sevin (in a farm family where we used it for everything but cereal topping) and garbage disposals. Once I made the decision (after a year of pondering) to compost, I threw myself into it 100 percent. You could even say I became a bit obsessed with it. I went to it every day and looked at it, found things to add, sniffed it (smells so good), and just liked to admire it. My compost pile was what I thought of as I went to sleep every night...what was I going to add tomorrow? You could say that's pretty tragic, but I like to think it's just because I'm making up for lost time of a lifetime of waste. For what it's worth, my uncle says we always had a "pile" going out by the barn that was a crude compost pile. But I don't remember anyone shoveling manure onto it, or putting crop waste there (maybe there was no waste), or even putting potato peels there. The only thing I remember on that pile by the barn was a dead fox, and I always felt so sad for that fox. Anyway, I've calmed down to a more reasonable amount of time spent at my pile now, but I'm SO looking forward to spring when I can shovel some out and work it into my ground. I still like to pry it open now and then, work it a bit and look at my lovely worms and talk to them. And I still can't stop sniffing, but I've always sniffed dirt and roots...it's my version of snuff. I'm a bit nuts I guess.

Hemnancy, that moss path looks fabulous! We're getting a lot of moss growing on umpteen retaining walls and some rocks on the ground. It will be a challenge with the amount of leaf fall to have the ground all moss which I expect will happen eventually anyway. Moss likes to stay free of debris. We do have a lawn vacuum. LOVE moss! The willows make constant litter. Have not tried wintergreen yet. Says it needs good drainage and when it rains in winter, or like it is today. the yard becomes a standing lake. Literally. All the creeks overflow and the water table rises higher higher until the clear water from above mingles with the intense clay underground water and hidden springs and the whole thing is a vast lake. With all the creeklets and dams and grades it does totally drain (except the pond and rivulets running in the creeklets) within 24 hours BUT while it continues raining it remains a lake. Therefore, finding something that can withstand that much water is difficult. We have tried so many groundcovers! And almost all have disappeared. Creeping buttercup (considered a weed but lovely) is doing really well, and creeping jenny has held in the margins. Vinca thrives in the raised beds but not where it's extremely shady. Ajuga is good at the tips of our rhody beds. We've been gradually adding more ferns that are thriving. 1st 3 years it was so sunny that many things died of too much sun and heat and dryness in summertime. Lately we planted many camellias. They will be very happy here. Raised them up and they like shade. Course they're not groundcovers but will give the yard bursts of color in the winter. Miniature ivies are going gangbusters even in creeklets and areas that never ever dry out. We have lots of variegated variety and it's truly beautiful. I think it may be the ONLY thing that survives here long-term. Will have to walk Audubon trails, that sounds awesome. We're still trying to unpack, just so much to do, but this summer we're planning on getting back to hiking and kayaking and taking ziplocs to harvest bits of moss that look happy in shady wet conditions. With over 300 swamp trees must say they are SO happy when it rains a LOT like it is today. But our crawlspace is about to flood again (reason we planted so many trees, trying to suck up water to save the house), gotta get out the utility pumps. We have 29 bird stations so whatever groundcover makes it is going to have to like a prodigious amount of bird droppings. Course when it rains that's good fertilizer ... Anybody know of a nice groundcover that can handle intense shade and LOTS of water? Something that stays green in winter would be wonderful.

Boy, do I feel for you! At my home, a small farm, when it is really bad mud season, I keep a bucket by the back door and dip each paw into the bucket and swish it around, before drying it off with a towel. Not ideal either ... but it works for me. I don't have any idea what might grow in your area, we'll shortly have a good covering of snow which is much easier to deal with on paws than mud. The only thing I can think of is landscape fabric ... but that's a mighty big yard and that could cost a lot.