Fall Preparations on the Land

Jeff is working up on our land this fall in preparation for the planting of our vines in the spring of 2013. We've been working on our land since 2005. It began with just the two of us clearing the overgrown invasives such as autumn olive, bittersweet, multiflora rose and poison ivy. My husband was using his new tractor and I was doing manual labor. That was the year that I became intimately familiar with poison ivy. I could even spot it growing up trees and creating a lush green canopy on otherwise dead trees. We gathered up all of the invasives in a pile that kept growing and growing. This photo shows the growing pile situated on our land facing north. Now that I am looking at these 7 year old photos, it brings back such vivid memories of all of the vines and brush that we cleared only to find them growing again the following spring.

Undaunted, we continued working on the land as therapy from our day jobs until it became clear that we needed some substantial help. We received help in 2006 from Ed who made short work of all of the trees and climbing vines.
Jeff and my husband have been working on our land this fall. On Sunday, we went to see what Jeff had done in the week that he's been working on turning our soil to remove boulders. It's coming along!