It’s A Jungle Out There

One of the areas that has been an ongoing, or rather, stagnant project for the last two years has come back on the radar. There is a small piece of land at the end of the NW corner of the property. Only about an acre in size, it is bordered by the river on one side, the property line on another, county road on the third side and a small pasture on the last side.

Many, many years ago, even before we owned the property, the owners had this little piece fenced from the rest of the farm on the pasture side. Over the years, we had installed a boundary fence on the actual property line out about 300 feet from the old fence.  The cows enjoy this spot during the hot summer days because the tall firs on the far side of the property fence along with the river on the left side keep the spot cool and damp. Over the years the original fence fell into dis-repair and it was easy to ignore since it was broken down and easily navigated to get to the site.

Occasionally we would remove parts of the old fence, what was left was taken over by growth of brush and trees. It has taken some 30 plus years but I will now tackle the problem of the dense foliage that took over the fence row. I have crab apple trees, wild filbert, vine maple, elderberry, and cherry trees to contend with along with buck brush, wild roses, hawthorne and honeysuckle vines to cut, mow and tear out of the ground.

Removing the growth is just the first step. All the fence pieces need to be removed also. The project started on the side next to the road and will continue across to the river. The copse of tall wild cherry trees located in the middle of the site will stay to keep a nice shady area for the cows to graze and lounge. All the brush and fence pieces removed will just make the area more easily accessible for the cattle and for us to check on them.