around about

Part of our healing was to find this house. We were without a walled home of our own for several months and lived with friends, and in the homes of other friends while they were on holiday. The children and I moved a total of seven times before finding this fixer-upper.
This is my view of my back yard as I sit at the table on the stone patio. That patio was one of the big things that drew me to this house. That, and the fact that we could afford the house. And we couldn't find another one. So we bought this one.
That's about three acres you can see there. Behind that row of trees along the line with the stable is another acre or so, with a pond. With the side yard and the front, I have a total of five acres. It's a dream come true for me. Though sometimes if feels more like a nightmare.

The grass was knee deep in some places and higher in others a couple of weeks ago. Our riding lawnmower, which to be honest is not hefty enough for this terrain when it is working, has been at my friend's shop for months. Before it broke, there was heavy rain and we weren't able to mow, so between the two issues, the fields became very overgrown.
 My oldest son was able to cut the highest grass with a scythe. To create some walking paths, he scythed and then went back over the areas with a string trimmer. This was also a necessary chore to be done around the aerobic water sprayers which had become clogged in mud.

Several weeks ago, I stopped at a neighbor's house and asked if he would be willing to mow with his tractor. I offered to pay him, and after surveying the yard, he told me he'd come back with a price. He never did. I left notes at his gate, but he never responded. 
After sitting empty for months, the mobile home next door was finally bought, and as luck- or divine providence- would have it, the new owner owns a lawn care business. He accepted my offer of payment to mow the back area, and although it took a few days, he got it done. As you can see in the photo below, it's cut quite high in some places, but when you're starting from a foot deep, you can't cut it 'suburb lawn short', especially when the ground is uneven from crawfish mounds.

The edge of the property is quite thick with brambles and shrubs and I'd like to trim it back to the fence line.  I looked into renting a brush hog, but apparently out here in the boonies one does not rent a brush hog. If you need one, you own one. I'm not in the position to buy a $1200 machine so it looks like a few weekends of manual labor with a machete and the scythe.
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Walking back to the pond, I turned back and faced the house.  If you look closely, you can see a radio tower in the fog. A very dear friend of mine used to gaze at this tower and imagine base jumping from it. Seeing it today, (or not seeing it) I am terrified by that thought.

The back field behind the row of trees is easier to walk. The grass is not nearly as thick and the ground is more even and firmer.

There are remnants of a fence around most of the property, but it won't hold critters in. Horses, maybe, but it certainly does not keep our dog in. She bolts every chance she gets and she gets a chance every time someone leaves a door open.  The property would be great for horses, a mule, sheep...  anything that eats grass.

I made stacks of sticks and branches around the perimeter of the yard on my morning walk, and my sons came behind me the next day, gathered the wood and burned it.  

The pond is surrounded by bush and trees. I think it has a lot of potential. What it needs is ducks to eat the duck weed. What we need is duck eggs. Pond needs ducks, we need duck eggs...

We need a fence.

The fog is clearing and now you can see the radio tower.

I'm still not sure it's safe for base jumping, but if my friend says he's going to do it, I'll trust his judgement and I'll be there to watch, and sneak him in my back door to hide from getting arrested.

Some of the wood that was gathered was large enough to keep for firewood to heat the house. We have enough for next winter, but it has to be cut to fit the wood stove. I have not taken our chain saw out of the case yet. That's a little scary to me and I'm waiting until my son-in-law has a weekend to help with it.

On the opposite side of the property is a trash heap in a hole that fills with water. Our original plan was to get the trash cleaned out with a tractor of some sort, but that was when my son was smaller. His growth in two years is mind numbing. He was still on chemo when we moved here, and his growth was slow going. Now that he is in permanent remission, he seems to be growing

exponentially.
He was on steroids and chemo-therapy for forty months. I watched him play with boys a year younger who were a foot taller. I'll never know if his late growth spurt was a result of the chemo, the cancer, or genetics. It doesn't matter; he said he could clean out the hole, and he did.

The pile of greenery is what he scythed from the edge of the hole, and the wooden beams are what he pulled from the hole. 

The next step is to find a mini-bulldozer of some sort to push a load of dirt into the hole. The dirt is presently piled next to the hole; I had it delivered when it was available for cheap, so I'd have it

ready when the hole was emptied.

 

Using the scythe again, he cleaned up the area around the horse shed. Our next [huge] goal is to clean out the inside of the stable to make it habitable for animals. It is sturdier than it looks in this photo.

Both boys worked on the side fence line that separates our house from the new neighbors. The electric company already sneaked onto the property and sprayed the vegetation to stop it from growing up into the power lines. Although I was quite irritated that they did this without warning, I admit it is easier to clear away dead and dried brush than green growing brush.

 

So, the fence is not up, the yard is a never ending issue with mowing until we get the fence so that we can contain grass-eating critters. There is still the issue of the duck weed on the pond, and the brush around the perimeter. But we've moved ahead and started planting flowers, bulbs, a few vegetables and trees. Our citrus trees, though small, stand and grow as  symbol of our hope in this home. We're learning our limitations, and we're pushing them. After being pushed by so many things, it feels good to give life a little push back.