Day 86 - Just the Beginning

We knew that when we purchased a twenty-acre property of mostly designated wetland with just over three acres of developable land, we wanted to make every decision to best utilize the space we had. Prior to moving in, the developable part of the property (not including the house and barn) was akin to a farm equipment graveyard and metal scrap/random material collection area. Though this was somewhat cleared by the time we took over ownership, much of the land was not very aesthetically pleasing. Random dirt piles, piles of rocks, overgrown grasses, and mostly useless material (old tarps, degraded tires, broken windows, rotting lumber, and so much more) littered the property. 

A massive cleanup was in order.

While we did our best to clear as much as we could, dumpster by dumpster. We didn’t have the time and equipment to do everything we wanted to do.

We were happy to have local farmers we had been connected with to help us in this process. We had dirt piles along the property line and  randomly scattered throughout the backyard. When they leveled the dirt piles to smooth out some of the bumpier, anke-breaking portions of the backyard, some of the piles of dirt were actually old fencing, glass, and other treasures we would need to clean up before leveling and clearing for a different use. We also discovered some pretty impressive holes in the ground. These ended up being both ends of a lengthy culvert near the property line that began near the road our property was on and extended well into the backyard. Once these holes were discovered, we had them filled with riprap rock to help improve with drainage and slow down erosion. Additionally,  we could more easily see them and avoid falling in.

This project ended up teaching a valuable lesson. By adding the riprap rock and discovering new farm treasure, we quickly realized that every project, even the ones we thought would be simple, opened the door for new projects.

This couldn’t be any more evident than the unexpected project that not only changed our plans for the summer, but paved the way for an entirely new direction for our farm.