Day 46
To better understand the monumental landscaping and restoration tasks in front of us, it would be helpful to take a virtual walk through our property. Our property makes a big sideways “L” shape. The front three acres included the traditional yard which included the house and barn.
When we moved in, our front yard had a few massive box elder and pine trees. Other than these giants, much of the space was lawn. Where there wasn't grass, there was gravel dotted with weeds and random piles of dirt, often overgrown with thistles and other less desirable plants. One side of the house was grass with a few buried poles from the past. One held a huge satellite that was scrapped for aluminum. Others were markers of things underground, many of which we had not figured out yet. The other side of the house had a small strip of grass connected to an aged and somewhat deteriorating retaining wall made up of retired railroad ties. On the other side of the wall was a gravely path interspersed with patches of grass that basically surrounded the barn. Beyond that was more grass and more piles closer to the property line. Directly behind the house was a fenced in rectangle with an old wooden deck,a small concrete slab, and a lawn. Beyond that was the lawn. In reality, it was more of an uneven collection of rocks, grass, and weeds gradually sloping downward until you hit the area where the mowing stopped. Of course, there were also more piles of dirt.
In the unmowed areas, one side included areas filled with grasses and garbage AKA farm treasures like old fencing, scraps of metal, tattered tarps, and old tires. On the other side of the yard, interspersed among a few rock piles, there are a few mature broadleaf trees, shrubs, and prairie plants, including a ton of milkweed, goldenrod, and even a lone creamy gentian. Past the trees, these prairie plants sloped downwards towards an area where the reed canary grass dominated. When you reached that point in the yard, you kind of felt like you were leaving civilization and entering nearly seventeen acres of a wild world.
