In 2012 we bought this little old house in an estate sale (so, it was a good deal) and though the house wasn't our dream come true (it's right next to a main road), we were pretty thrilled that it had almost a full acre! What we didn't realize is that the acre not only looked like a jungle, but that it was committed to staying that way. Tennessee has a "happy weed" climate, which is a really nice way of saying that the vines and weeds are incorrigible and utterly determined to remain THE PERMANENT RESIDENT(sssssssssssssssss). Here is our winter jungle, after clearing a good portion of it just 6 months before (yes, it all grew back).
Here is our spring jungle.
More spring jungle after Kris started trail blazing with a brush hog.
The infamous brush hogger.
Awesome tool + awesome man = brush destruction!
Post-brush hogging. Note the formidable piles of debris.
This hill was covered in poison ivy. Yummy.
In comes the recruit: Gumpai!
Team playset here we go!
The supervising staff. Gumpai couldn't have done it without them. For sure.
The Scientist checks our progress.
A thing of beauty!
"Gumpai, you're my hero."
The happy recipients.
Mommy's bench, made out of stumps from the brush piles.
Then... I nearly annihilated my beloved friend, Susan (who proved that she is made of sterner stuff than any other human I've encountered) who accompanied me on Mission Weed Conquer in the remainder of the yard. It would be impossible to describe how arduous this labor was, and the heat/humidity definitely did it's best to finish us off. After weeks of pulling weeds by hand, digging out 96 stumps with a mattock and shovel, laying out 1200 feet of weed material, shoveling and dispersing 4 loads of (free!) wood chips by wheelbarrow, we started to finally see some progress. We added some additional touches with the fire pit, patio area, hanging plants, and hammock posts. Whew... finished?
Nope! We were just so disoriented by being nearly finished that we decided to go ahead and fence in the yard, too. :-) So, aside from a gate for the yard, and chairs for the patio, this jungle is very nearly tamed. Valiant and Sabina are elated to have a REAL yard, and to not have anyone rushing them back indoors every time they step outside.
Now, if we can just eradicate the mosquito swarm that also resides in our backyard, the boys will have a chance to enjoy the yard as much as the dogs. :-)
1 comment:
Having seen the yard "before" and when we got the playset up...I am dumfounded by the work you put into this to get it to such beautiful perfection! And I'm all the more impressed by a daughter who knows a mattock from a shovel!
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