Although we've cleared land before, I'm a big fan of learning new things, or at least improving old habits. So before starting to clear the Momplex Property I googled "how to clear land."






Precious! I hear ya! I'm super blessed to have a tampon buying, purse lugging MAN's man! I'm excited to see this project through with you and everyone else on here! Thank you so much for sharing! You guys are an inspiration!!
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Okay...but I will start with a jigsaw. My father-in-law feels your pain. My mother-in-law wouldn't let him rent something to clear the land. This is his second land clearing done completely machinery-less. But, another beautiful -place -to -rest -their -feet later...it is all just a memory! :) The fun has begun.
Ana, please tell me you took a spin on that thingamajigger yourself? Its a great feeling to have all that extra muscle!
I begged, I pleaded! But the Ram said, you can't take away all of my jobs! Sometimes it's nice to just watch too :)
Aaaaah in a couple of months youd be glad to be clearing land over what you'll be doing then.
I thought pulling up floorboards was bad until we had to lay flooring and build a kitchen.... Ill take those blisters back any day
Also: begging my husband for goats now instead of mowing the backyard, because hes too fat and lazy to do it and I am building a kitchen!
Two goats for $75.... DONE!
Such a fun post to read from you. LOL I love seeing this whole process! Thanks for blogging it!!!! :) :) :)
Ana.. Do N O T buy any goats.. We have 3 goats on a 10 acre farm. I love them dearly. I call them God's 4 footed weedeaters. They consume copious amounts of greenery, and in an amazingly short period of time. Your lot will run out of forage for them long before you run out of goats. The other thing about goats is that they are escape artists. Its hard to keep them IN the fence.. The thing to do is to see if there are any "Rent-a-Goat" type of businesses in your area.. That def is the way to go. You get all the benefits of voracious eaters without all the work. They will not clear out the trees, but they will make short order of the underbrush. The goat owner comes to your place, sets up temp fences, brings in the goats.. they and the owner stay for a few days (yes, only a few days to a week at the most) for a herd of goats, and were talking about 30 or 40 or so depending on the acrages of land to be cleared. When the land is clear,he trailers up his goats, rolls up his temporary fence, and hes gone. And you end up with amazingly cleared land complete with fertilizer and without using any chemical herbicides. They are amazing creatures, but not for the fainthearted.. lol.. Thanks for posting your progress!!
I love this idea! However, we ended up deciding we wanted to keep the parts of the lot treed in birch (longer lifecycle) as natural as possible, so just ended up clearing the pad for the building, and a little in front for sunshine and a garden, and then of course the road. I feel so much smarter after your reading your comment, great to know that the goat clearing actually works!
If you want to get underbrush or scrub trees under control, just borrow a few goats. Someone gets free pasture, you get less doghair and ladder fuel.
It's like being an aunt instead of a mom.
Ana: I live in Las Vegas and while I have obviously never cleared land, I had one of those amazing dad's that believed in teaching his children how to work. So we worked on our yard. Which was a glorified pile of dirt that needed to be raked and sorted and scooped and shoveled until just dirt remained. Even in the summer (upwards of 95 degrees by 7 in the morning) we woke every Saturday at 4 or 5 to go rake rocks as a family. At least your project has a sense of accomplishment and purpose. I am pretty sure my dad dumped 12 loads of dirt in our yard just to help us all build character! :)
It is a Snort! Not a baby bird's mother.
LOL! That IS what they called it! I was actually thinking of thing 1 and thing 2 making such a mess . . . but now, we are going to have to visit the bookstore, Grace certainly can't grow up without reading about the Snort!
Thank you for your comment! Totally inspired my next post and gave us a chance to relive one of my most favorite childhood books with my daughter!
We have a couple of acres and a regular lawn mower can't handle the terrain. I am worried about snakes since I have two little ones. My husband grew up with goats on his land to maintain the grass and I think it is an awesome idea!!! I feel much more encouraged to get a goat! Not sure what the husband will say though! Thanks for posting! I hope to one day have a "Momplex." What an amazing way to honor your mom!
We have a beef farm and just bought a few goats to eat the shrubs in our pasture. We have a big problem with multiflora rose (super invasive) in one of the pastures and the goats love eating them. We only have 6 but once we breed them our herd will grow. Ours are meat goats so we won't be milking them- maybe someday we will get some dairy goats but we don't have time between both working full time, running the farm with around 30 cow plus calves and being hay season, 3 big gardens and household chores. It's exciting watching you build this! Can't wait to see the next step.
Yes, Excavators are alot of fun to drive. The grapnel buck makes it even more useful.
While you have it trench the drainage ditches, footings for buildings, the leaching field for septic, and for the garden space.
Since it is clay soil I would plot out with the areas for the garden and the berry bushes then trench that out. Then you are down 12" or more and you can lay in some topsoil, sand, and mulch to get a head start on the garden beds.
You could use a wood chipper to chip the brush down into mulch and fill in where the garden will go.
Ana! I am happy to have ONCE inspired you, as you inspire me in SO many ways. I LOVE "Are You My Mother?" I miss reading that book now that my kids are 9 and 11.
I was visiting http://www.decorplanet.com/Bathroom_Vanities_s/1.htm while I found your article so I figured I should email this furniture company to let them know about these cut trees. Hopefully they chould collect them and turn them into nice furniture, and plant other trees.
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