Heath and Kelly and I started early, with me snapping a quick shot of an abandoned hoe head at Mama and Daddy's house. Because I'm all artistic and stuff.
Hmmm...what about Mossy Hoe Farm? Eh, I guess in this day and age, that brings up some fairly gnarly images...
Moving on, Heath and I stopped at Uncle Mike and Aunt Susan's house when we spotted him putting in a fence for his goats. We chitty-chatted a while and walked around the yard, where I took pictures of pokeberries and chickens. Because I'm all artistic and stuff.
Heath mentioned that we were going to go hack privet down with chainsaws and loppers and Uncle Mike got a gleam in his eye which meant "Time to get the skid steer out, boys!" Heck, yeah!
While Uncle Mike got the skid steer in order, Heath and I went down to the land to look around and get to work. I'm pretty sure Heath is telling me to put the camera down and pick up some loppers in this picture. You don't know him yet, but he's on the verge of grinning at me here. Or hitting me. Honestly, it's pretty much the same face. Over his shoulder, you can see the privet behind him. The prrrrriiiiivvvvveeeetttt....
Soon enough, Uncle Mike appeared with the skid steer and made short work of most of the privet. I said a little prayer for whatever critters might have made their homes in the tangled mess and then we started hauling away uprooted bushes and vines and small trees and dragons.
I call this one "Kelly and The Men Standing Around Looking at Demolished Privet." It's one of my favorites.
Hayden had shown up by this point in time and took the chainsaw after the few patches Uncle Mike couldn't get. He's very serious about his chainsawing.
Just kidding.
My hubs, looking all cute. (He was mortified I took a picture of him with a beer. I was mortified he chose to wear those shorts again.)
Cardinal flower, looking all beautiful before the dogs flattened it.
The privet, looking all gone.. (And therefore, GORGEOUS.)
A sycamore tree, whose beauty is now on display for everybody to see. Huzzah!
At this point in time, I put down the camera, and so you miss what happened next, which was a cookout, a dog fight, a lot of guitar playing and singing, a bonfire, a lightning bug hunt, the discovery of wild bergamot, and a chilly and absolutely beautiful meteor shower viewed on blankets in the pasture. It was an almost perfect day.
In the next few days, I realized a few things:
- Chiggers are no less awful when you are a grownup. In fact, they might be worse because, WHY DIDN'T YOU PUT ON BUG SPRAY?
- Poison ivy is awful. I've never had a reaction, but I suppose you can't basically wallow in it and not get any, which means that we MUST get rid of that junk. Anyway, that stuff? Itches for far longer than seems necessary and actually does this whole, "Okay, I'm better now...PSYCH! Itch some more, honey! BWahahahahahahhaahaa!" thing which is really annoying.
- There's a whooooole lot of work to do, but when I'm with my family getting it done, it seems so much easier. And fun. But it still causes muscle soreness.
We're moving out of the hoping and dreaming stages now and looking reality smack dab in the eyeballs. The first obvious obstacle is that none of the younger generation live on the land right now. Hard to farm when your dirt is, you know, two or so hours away. The second is the big ball of legal stuff: insurance, property easements, financial solvency, ownership, corporate status. None of that is as fun as walking the land and dreaming big dreams around a bottle of wine.
It's more like privet and poison ivy. But, like the poison ivy and privet, we'll get all of it cleared away and move on to the fun parts.
It's more like privet and poison ivy. But, like the poison ivy and privet, we'll get all of it cleared away and move on to the fun parts.
3 comments:
Your photos are awesome, especially the Sycamore. The bark is amazing. I have to admit, I got a giggle with the shorts comment. My husband still has a t-shirt from when he was 17. It's so threadbare you can see his nipples but he STILL wears it around the house and yard. Back off, he's all mine.
Also, The Husband and The Boy came home from a fishing/hiking expedition a few weeks ago covered in chiggers. Seriously, I cried and even though I didn't have them I scratched for days at the thought of it.
:::shivers:::
I had to email you a pic of the jeans my husband has on ALL THE TIME and RIGHT NOW because they look an awful lot like those shorts. Must be a man thing. I love sycamores! We have one in the side yard and the leaves are HUGE and gorgeous- but that bark is a pain in the tuckus when the tree drops it all over the yard. I always say I'm going to start bagging it all up and selling it to craftaholics and such- but in reality- we usually just crunch it up by running it over with the lawnmower. LOL
I love the sycamore too. It's gorgeous. It's a huge project for all of you, but a truly wonderful one. To have all that land - there is something so moving and inspiring about it. I'll really look forward to heariong more about it!
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