Getting Closer to Fence

Thanks to a couple of chainsaws, our tractor, my wife, and a ton of help from my mother-in-law and father-in-law we made a LOT of progress on the farm this weekend. Before we would just spend a couple of hours out there doing little things and laying out our plans (needed to be done), but this weekend we got some serious work done on the fence lines and we couldn't have gotten so much done without their help. As you can see from the "before" picture above and the "after" picture below there is quite a difference. Also, you need to factor in that the "before" picture was taken in the winter/early spring before the growth kicked in.

Despite the rainy weather on Saturday morning we were able to make it out to a mushy farm in the afternoon and get in about five hours of work. My wife and her dad started clearing the trees and the brush in the fence line that either didn't have old fence in it, or in the places we had already pulled the fence. There was a lot of work to do in those old fence rows that haven't been used for YEARS! My father-in-law would cut everything down and then my wife would stack it all in the ditch. Sometime after the brush dries out and compacts down we will come back through and clean up the ditches, but that is for another time ... after we get a lot more done.

While they were doing that I went to finish pulling out the old fence. The section that was left was pretty short, but it was the most difficult to get out because it was wrapped around and in lots of trees and the wires were really buried underground. After lots of cutting (about ruined a pair of wire cutters) and pulling with the tractor I finally got it all out so we could go home and have supper!

Sunday was super hot and humid, but we didn't get any work done on the farm because I spent the day going to graduation and the subsequent open houses ... lots of good food ...

Monday morning we were out at the farm in the morning and we got in about five good hours of work to finish a little more than a 1/4 mile of the fence line. The pictures don't really do it justice because there was all kinds of brush, bushes, and trees that had to come down ... maybe I should have taken some more pictures of the full ditches! It was great having the in-laws there because we were able to get so much done with the help of my father-in-law and with my mother-in-law watching the kids.

Now we are going to hopefully get some more family help soon, from my dad, and mow along the fence lines after we get the rest of the posts pulled. The mower will take care of some of the scrub and the tall grasses and then we should be good to go! Things are really starting to take shape and we are having a lot of fun...