Wednesday, November 18, 2009

A Day Later, It's Almost an Orchard

Here's what the south yard looks like now.  The grader started at 9:30 this morning, and two hours later it looks like this.  (The picture below is what it looked like in August.)  Now the monster rock is moved back and is on end.  All the areas where the yard was too rough to mow are gone.  Smoothed.  I won't be getting the lawnmore stuck anymore.  Those were the days!  No more firepit.  no more stumps and big rocks.  I'll rebuild the firepit, better than before, but the stumps can stay gone for all I care.
I'll do a little hand-picking up rocks, sow some grass, and next spring - plant trees!  The below picture shows the same scene in August (a mere 3 months ago).  There are huge pine trees browning and quite a few areas of crap, rocks and stumps.

Here's the same area from this morning, but now looking toward the house.


And below is a picture showing how it all began (actually after a little clearing).  I took this one in April of this year and it shows all the trees, all the roughness, all the yuck that is gone, gone, gone.  In my short year here, there has only been one other day that so much changed in one day.  I've gotten much done.  I think I can give myself permission to stop working on things until next spring.  AFTER I finish the raised beds!

6 comments:

  1. Isn't it amazing what heavy equipment can do? So often we've grubbed, and grunted, and groveled away at something . . . and then decided to call in "the big guns" which get it done soooo fast! It's pricey, no doubt about it, but sure is easier that way. Looks nice!

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  2. I don't think I EVER would have gotten it done as well as it is now with hand tools. The cool thing is that the logger is paying this guy, part of the money he owes me, so it's no cash out of my pocket. I didn't really expect to see cash from the logger anyway, so at least I have something to show for it. The logger cleaned my chimney last week, and is going to rebuild the woodshed that's falling down. All in all, I'm pleased.

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  3. Isn't barter wonderful! My Dad used to do that with his legal services - trade them for things like plumbing and auto repair.

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  4. OK..now I don't know which weekend we should schedule in...the wall building weekend, or the orchard planting weekend!! I wanted to plant some apple trees this year, but it didn't happen. We did get a scrubby area mostly cleaned out, still could use a bit of brush hogging...so hoping to put in a couple of trees in the spring. I've been eating Cortlands this fall from my old guys that I just LOVE!! I LOVE the apples, the guys and I aren't THAT close!!! Thinking I should plant a few of those...I'd like a pear or two, too. Lots of deer around, could be a problem...
    I'd like to barter, too. Have to start working on some 'mad skills' that are barter-able!!

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  5. I'm going to do some massive pruning of the apple trees next spring. I've heard that apples can take serious cutting back and in fact, are better for it! I want pears, apricots, and peaches on top of the apples and cherries I have already.

    It would definitely be cool to be a lawyer or an accountant - both barter-able skills!

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