Separating grass/weeds from Dirt pile

[MrBill]

So I'm having an above ground pool put in, and the excavator had to level the ground in the backyard.
I now have a pile of dirt/grass/weeds in a corner of my yard.
I haven't looked at the pile yet but it looks to be about 5 feet high and about the same around.
I'd love to fill in some of the depressions that the yard has with this dirt.
I'd prefer NOT to have to deal with the grass and weeds that were picked up.
It kind of reminds me of someone taking a bunch of sod and just dumping it into a pile.
Note that the deepest part that was taken out was probable 8 inches thick.
Any ideas how to separate it?

Thanks

Bill

[MorpheusPA]

First-order separation is simply to take any grass and weeds and toss it to the side after a cursory shake or a whack with a hand trowel to get the dirt off. What's left is dirt. It should be decent dirt, if not the exact best (which will be intertwined with the grass and weeds). But it'll be lower in organic matter, which is what you want for filling irregularities as OM will burn off and leave you with a hollow.

If that's enough, great. Toss the sod on a pile somewhere, or use it to patch. Don't let it sit too long, sod that goes dry dies pretty fast.

Second order is to repeatedly whack it with a hand trowel to remove the dirt, leaving the dry grass and separated roots behind. Toss that away. It doesn't take a lot of that to have a fair amount of dirt, with a decent amount of organic matter mixed in with it. The OM will burn off, but don't overstack too much when you put it down. It's hard to estimate how much burnoff you get.

Third order is to comb through and remove the last of the dirt. Talk about tedious...

[Masbustelo]

I have hardware cloth 1/4 mounted on two 2 x 4 's. They hang down on each side of my wheelbarrow. I put the dirt on top and work it through with gloved hands. What doesn't go through goes back in the original pile.

[bpgreen]

A neighbor bought a homer bucket and drilled holes in it. He'd fill it, take it where he wanted the dirt, and shake it until the good stuff came out. Here may have had a second bucket without hooks that he'd put the holey bucket in while taking it where he wanted it.