Finally finally finally! We have broken ground on our janky gravel backyard and can finally start putting some plans into motion.
First things first, tractoring is awesome. Mike makes it look easy, especially when he really hauls ass down the driveway with the trash sled in tow~ I was pretty nervous about using it myself since it’s a big ‘ol expensive piece of equipment and the back “yard” leads to a back “cliff” so self-preservation was a concern. But after learning the ropes, trying my very best not to hurt a heavy duty machine, I started scooping and fell in love. Ripping out Birch saplings, scooping yards of gravel and river rock and uncovering hidden boulders beneath filled an afternoon.
I was instantly humbled by the strength of trees when thick roots were giving the tractor a hard time, as well as any boulders that untangled themselves mid heave-ho of the tractor arm. My most recent workday consisted of navigating between the cliff and the spot I needed to be to uproot the final tree stump. After a lot of annoying moving and 2nd guessing, I dug the supports in and went to work with the bucket.
And now there’s a huge hole in the back yard! As well as a hole in the layout of our backyard garden that we needed to work around. We haven’t had time to measure out where paths and a patio will go but our new plan has features to work with our new and lumpy backyard.
I’m trying not to get too wrapped up in where all this extra gravel is going to go since that can be done later and it’s mostly out of the way but it’s hard not to want to keep everything neat!
I’m so happy we were able to start this project finally since it’s been almost two years since we’ve moved to Maine. Seeing where this space is by the end of the summer is such an exciting thought and planning for a fresh jump into next grow season will be something to look forward to when it’s 12 degrees out~