I have been fiddling with my way backyard for decades. It started as a weedy field, an attempt a huge garden by my parents, back to weedy field, then to ornamental delight and do you know how hard it is to keep those stones clean and white. Great for monks in a zen garden but I am no monk and this is not a zen garden so away with the stones!
and now back to garden and fruit farm. The deer herd is burgeoning far beyond tolerable. Several trees were plowed over by bucks sharpening Fall antlers. When I walked around the way back the beginning of March I knew it was time to dig in and start again.
It began with taking out three large pines and one large serviceberry........ with my trusty Japanese pruning saw. Amazing the damage one little saw and a crazy person can do in couple days!
from this........
to this in three short days...... carnage!
I now need to rent a big ass wood chipper from our local rental place. So for 4 hours on a Spring day I will slap down $198 and turn brush piles into wood chip piles. That is pure gold in my book and should get me through the next few months of mulching paths and beds.
Last year we had the property surveyed and had pins with bright yellow caps sunk all along the property line. Mostly for a crazy neighbor with aggressive lawn mower habits, constantly taking out my blackberry brushes as if the deer weren't bad enough. Well I am happy to say he is gone but he didn't take the deer with him when he packed up.
As I walked around the back 40 surveying the deer damage and winter damage. I thought why not put in a fence, the markers are there and it's Spring. NOT: let me pay someone to put in a fence. Off to Giant Eagle and buy a gift card to Home Depot for several hundred dollars because then I get gas points and right now I am up to a dollar off a gallon! My van could handle 10 fence posts and three bags of concrete in one trip. It has taken three and half trips to Home Depot. I started digging post holes on the south side and sunk ten fence posts..... these are days 50 looks way better than 70 in this body but then I have those damn eastern european genes.
So far three sides down and one more to go. I saved the best to last. The east side of the fence is all tree roots from old maple trees and yes, that last row might kill me but I have a sawzall and very long extension cord! I can get 10-11 posts sunk in a day. And the teenage kid behind us had pulled the marker in the northeast corner 😡. Had to rent a metal detector to find the original 1865 iron pin!
Planning on putting 16 foot cattle panels for fencing and thankful Tractor Supply moved in not too far from here!
Lessons learned this week..... If you do not want to be considered elderly go to Home Depot. There is no one there to help anyone, you are left to your own devices and I love that. However if you go to your local bank and take out the funds to the buy gift cards for this project you get a lecture. OMG are you being scammed, you are elderly and you are the perfect target. No I'm putting in a fence and paying cash but I'm buying gift cards so I get free gas as I am on a limited income these days. She dolefully counted out the bills and tucked it into a neat little envelope. "now were are you putting this?" (I don't carry a purse like most elderly women). I slid it into the interior pocket of my coat and said; thanks. "Oh ma'am please be careful." As I walked out the door I said; "Not to worry; I'm locked and loaded!" I patted my other pocket. Nothing but my phone but she really didn't need to know that.
Off to Home Depot. Grab a lumber cart, load 10 timber fence posts and grab three 80 pound bags of cement; not a soul in sight. Cashed out, dug my heels in and wrangled all this out to my van. The cart boy was retrieving carts in the parking lot and while I was heaving 80 pound bags of concrete I thought he was coming over to help the elderly. Nope. He put his hands on the back of my lumber cart and said; Almost done? I'll take your cart back....... I still had two more bags to load and 5 more timbers. He stood there and watched. WTF cart boy...... I closed the doors on my van and drove away fueled by even more WTF cart boy thoughts. Unload and start digging post holes...... encounters like this make the day go so much faster.
After gardening here for over 40 years you see the difference in soil too. This made me so happy!
and if anyone is wondering where Butch is....... Florida!
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