Secondhand Homestead: Splendor & Beauty

Today we are headed out to the land to start PULLING and CUTTING! I am posting pictures of how much the land has grown since we originally cleared it 4 months ago. Dean is in some of the pictures. I put him there to show the height. He is 5 ft. tall. There was NOTHING grown when we got here 4 months ago and now it's up to my chest. We are SHOCKED and EXCITED! It means good things for our garden but TONS of work for us right now.

We are going out today with the intent of pulling up and cutting down as much as we can. Also, I'm posting pictures our goat Francis. There's one of him up above. We sure LOVE him. We're anxious to get his fence up so we can put him on the land asap. Wish us luck!

Pratt and Francis! So CUTE!!

Ok, here's what you see right when you pull up to the section we plan to cultivate. We figure we orginally cleared about 2 acres and that's what your looking at here. This picture is taken right in front of our car. Notice the amount of pulling and cutting we will have to do. We thought about just paying someone to do it but we are going to see how much we can get down today doing it ourselves. Yes, we know we are crazy.

Here's the picture with Dean I was talking about. This plant was just a root in the ground 4 months ago. We just can't believe it!! 5+ ft. in 4 months. Whoa! We just can't believe it!

This is the walk way that walks us down to that group of trees you see in the background. Also, down to the brook. Once you pass that grouping of trees the tempatures drop immensely because of the brook and shade.

The beginning of the grouping of trees that was in the background in the picture above. Just some of the splendor and beauty we have been blessed with. Thanks so much Dad and Grandmama!!

Some more beauty! We researched at one point the name of this flower but have forgotten it. Some type of passion flower I think. We should see it in real life. It does take your breath away!! It smells lovely too!

Here's what you see as you walk behind the grouping of trees seen above. The tall trees in the background is where the brook is. This is where it is MUCH cooler!

The right side of the brook when you are facing it!

The left side of the brook when facing it!

More splendor and beauty!!

This is really exciting for us to see because this means we have a GREAT water run off right down the middle of the land. This is what the water has done to some of the mulch, pushed it down the hill. We're anxious to get the pond in to catch all that nice water for us!

This is just one of the dozens of OUTRAGEOUSLY large anthills on the land. This pretty much SUCKS! We are finding ways to get rid of them in a naturally. We'll see how it works. I had a dream last night about finding herbal insect repellent at our local health food store. We're going to look today. I've pretty much had it with getting eaten alive. If it's not the ants then it's the mosquitos. Last time we went out I came home with about a dozen bites. So much for raw foods and healthy eating as prevention. Oh well.