Digging up roots

So now I have two big piles of "stuff" on the plot, I gradually have to start clearing it. Not as easy as you might think.
Last week we made a good start by sieving the soil. This week there is just myself, and it's been raining. The soil is like glue. Big claggy lumps of it. So sieving is well and truly out of the question. So instead I opt for simply digging through and pulling out the long couch grass roots by hand. Due to the digging by the mini digger the soil is pretty loose so I can easily grab hold of the roots and pull without fear of breaking them.

But even so, it's still back breakingly hard work. And I've barely touched the pile. Guess I'm going to be doing this until spring.