Fun on the farm

Things have been quiet here on the blog because there has been so much going on on the farm! I did manage to document a few projects so for your viewing pleasure:

We were really lucky a few weeks ago that our neighbor showed up with his industrial tiller and tilled the entire wooded side yard for us. This is the same space that Nick ran the skidder through last year and has been slowly chipping away at some trees but it was still quite a mess. Now it is GORGEOUS! Here is a shot of the tilled pathway that we have now seeded with grass seed:


The hardest part was that apparently under all that brush was approximately one million rocks! After all was tilled up we raked, tossed rock and seeded with the rocks going into the creek bed and pond we dug last year. Just to give you an idea of how many rocks we are talking about:

Our backs are still sore!

Nick made a super cook rock stack in the pond:


This past weekend was the last weekend for backyard burning so we FINALLY got the remains of the males and fir we fell last year cleaned up. Our brush piles went from three to just one of firewood to finish splitting and stacking. I don't have a shot of it's current state but here you can get the idea:


Needless to say the neighbors are thrilled with our spring cleaning! Did I mention our sore backs?

Not to worry, it is not all work and no play. Truck did an excellent job of supervising whole working on his tan:


Gunnar tested out his birthday swing:


And helped with the kitchen organization:


Still on the list: chicken slaughter, new compost bin, berm planting.....PLENTY!

TIMBER!!!!

Yesterday Nick and I really put the skidder to work! One corner of our backyard (right outside our kitchen window) has a huge stump (20 feet tall) that has been there so long it is completely covered in ivy.


The bats do enjoy nesting in it but it really is an eye sore. In case you didn't know, English ivy is an invasive plant in Oregon and the bane of my existence. I actually hate ivy more than blackberry vines. If I had 10cents for each hour I have spent yanking out ivy from its roots, I would be a thousandaire by mow. The stump is a breeding ground for ivy and it takes up a ton of valuable sunny space in the yard so it had to go. Nick has already tried unsuccessfully several times to cut it down, but pulling it down was really the only option. Thank goodness for the skidder!

I have video of the stump coming down but it won't upload properly so you will just have to use your imagination. Above is the stump before. Here is the stump on its side:


And here is the finished product:


We had to take down the fence to have enough room to down the stump. Once it was down and dragged away then I had to clear all the remaining ivy.

Now we have a nice clear patch that gets some nice sun. We plan on making it the fruit grove with our blueberry bushes and strawberry plants.

The land renovation is already getting rave reviews from the wildlife - I saw a Lynx near the clearing this morning!

Surprise Part Two

Friday night traffic was such a pain this week. I had talked to Nick before I left and about 40 mins into the commute he called to see where I was. I told him traffic had been terrible but that I was almost home. He replied good because he was outside waiting for me. Outside waiting for me? Something had to be up.

Boy was I right! When I got home the skidder was up and running and Nick had used it to clear the completely overgrown upper section of our property! It is so wonderful to be able to actually walk almost the entire length of the upper portion of our property. We had done some tree clearing earlier this year but it was so overgrown that it was impossible to actually walk through.

Now there is a huge pathway leading from the house:



Here is a shot from the middle:


Here is the end of the path looking back towards the house:


So wonderful! Now I love letting the dogs run around back there each day. It is great to be able to take advantage of our acreage. We still have the lower section to conquer, but this is amazing progress.