Post by scowha7 on Apr 11, 2018 14:12:49 GMT -6
No knock on my wife or daughter there. Long before they came along, this was one of my passions!
I grew up not having much and still don't have a lot today. (We support a family of 5 on around $50k a year so there's not a lot of extra money to go around sometimes.) However, I learned early in life that money isn't everything and you don't need to have a lot of money to have nice things. Sometimes it just takes a little more blood, sweat and tears. We currently live in a mobile home (5 years ago I'd have been embarrassed to tell you that, but the Lord provides for us) on a 1.5 acre plot of land that we're buying from my brother-in-law. Before we decided to stay here, we just rented, so the land was all his to do with what he wanted. That means that he dumped a lot of garbage and other nasty stuff on the property. He even drained the pond that used to be there.
So, I'm now left with the unenviable task of cleaning it all up. Last summer, I had 4 wonderful migraine free months (I used to have 300+ a year) and got a lot done. I figure it will take me 5-10 more years to really get it all cleaned up, but once the weather warms up, this is where you can find me.
Description of what I need to do: slantedshed.com/landscaping/
Here are my pics from before I started last year: slantedshed.com/2017-yard-makeover/
I don't have any after pictures on my website yet but will get to that soon enough.
The project started in April of last year and by July I had blown out my right knee (surgery in October 2017) and left ankle (reconstructive surgery on 2/14/2018) but got the following done:
I still have 100 or more of those trees to remove and then I can do this (with appropriate help from my family this year):
Before my knee and ankle issues, I put in about 340 hours last year. My ankle is going to limit me greatly this year, but I have access to several tractors and a backhoe so that i don't have to do it all by hand. I'll post pics of this year's progress as time and health allows.
I grew up not having much and still don't have a lot today. (We support a family of 5 on around $50k a year so there's not a lot of extra money to go around sometimes.) However, I learned early in life that money isn't everything and you don't need to have a lot of money to have nice things. Sometimes it just takes a little more blood, sweat and tears. We currently live in a mobile home (5 years ago I'd have been embarrassed to tell you that, but the Lord provides for us) on a 1.5 acre plot of land that we're buying from my brother-in-law. Before we decided to stay here, we just rented, so the land was all his to do with what he wanted. That means that he dumped a lot of garbage and other nasty stuff on the property. He even drained the pond that used to be there.
So, I'm now left with the unenviable task of cleaning it all up. Last summer, I had 4 wonderful migraine free months (I used to have 300+ a year) and got a lot done. I figure it will take me 5-10 more years to really get it all cleaned up, but once the weather warms up, this is where you can find me.
Description of what I need to do: slantedshed.com/landscaping/
Here are my pics from before I started last year: slantedshed.com/2017-yard-makeover/
I don't have any after pictures on my website yet but will get to that soon enough.
The project started in April of last year and by July I had blown out my right knee (surgery in October 2017) and left ankle (reconstructive surgery on 2/14/2018) but got the following done:
- Trash removed from OUR side of the property (Total land is 3.0 acres and plan to try to buy him out sometime in the near future)
- Graded the land so that I could mow most of our 1.5 acres
- Removed 100+ junk willow and other trees 2" and smaller in diameter.
I still have 100 or more of those trees to remove and then I can do this (with appropriate help from my family this year):
- Pull dirt from the old pond bank to contour the land to my specs
- Build an amphitheater (For summer movies outside, outdoor video game nights, etc)
- Plant a small fruit orchard (peaches, pears, apples, cherries, blackberries, etc)
- Put in a small footpath around the wooded area out back (with a few benches here and there for sitting under the stars)
- A permanent campfire area
