One of the less-than-lovely things the previous owners did while living here is never disposing of things properly–namely yard waste, tractor tires, bits of concrete, old fence rails and deck boards. As such, the area next to the barn was a giant trash heap, and when I say ‘giant’ I mean about half the size of a football field and four to six feet high. To give you an idea, here are some pictures we took this summer. Out here, such a mammoth mess is a definite fire hazard and we were worried about being cited for it; apparently the previous owners had no such qualms.
The guy who mows the pastures stopped by when AS’s father was visiting, and he kindly provided me with names and numbers of contractors who specialize in tree trimming and chipping. I met with two of them and made arrangements with the one I liked best (Tree Techs By the Bay) to do the work. While rain delayed things by a week, last Tuesday they arrived and started the work.
The second pic below is after the first couple of days. Everything you see on the ground is fresh; they had to clear enough space inside the area first. Also that is the first of THREE dumpsters they managed to fill, and they were very organized about arranging the un-chippable boards and other things they found.
Below is an early pic after we managed to get the chipper inside. On the first day I was actually of use as they didn’t have a 4×4 truck that could easily move the chipper on the wet surfaces, so little me got to hop in our truck (Barbie), back her up to the chipper and, after they hitched it up, I backed the chipper into place for the night. I was very proud as it was the first time I’ve driven the truck with something attached to it.
Next is a pic of later in the week when they had actually made progress inside the pit.
This being Purgatory though, we hit a snag on Thursday. Because the previous owner’s method of dealing with the pit had been to just run an excavator over the top of the trash to flatten it down, we were left with this sort of thing (first pic below). What you see are layers of compacted garbage–tree branches on one layer, old fence rails in another, a tree stump and logs underneath it all.
Still, the guys persevered, and by Saturday this is what the area looked like (second pic). Since it is somewhat sheltered, we may eventually plant more trees in the space, but one delightful little discovery was the presence of a handful of walnut saplings. These little guys managed to sprout from walnuts carried back to the pit, probably on limbs cut from the two large trees we know were planted by the family that originally built the house. They somehow made a go of it–growing up above all the garbage–and are now pretty sturdy little guys.
While the crew will leave me with a few small piles of palm fronds like the one pictured below, the area closest to the barn will soon become an organized little composting area. We have already ordered our very own chipper (much, much smaller than the one these guys have though), and we will get a proper composting bin for our kitchen waste. (One other thing they did was clean up the skirts of the fir trees in the background.)
The crew took Sunday off and were back Monday morning to finish the work. All the bits trimmed from the trees (another post will detail that work), some branches and debris from the other side of the barn were all chipped. The second not-so-great shot below shows the piles of chips we have there (the animal pens on the fence line are our neighbor’s). But the fun news is the relic they uncovered in pic 3; it appears to be a piece of farm machinery. When the wind dies down, I will have to take some better photos so we can properly identify it.
Still, it was a chaotic week at Purgatory, but things look so much better and we now have a lifetime supply of wood chips.
Here is an “after” panorama of the back of the barn. Compare it to the original panorama of the mess.