Today I went out to my garden as usual to do some weeding and watering. When that was finished I had an urge (and the energy!) to do more work. Wonderful benefit of being gluten free!
To the north of the mobile home there is a storage building (basically an unfinished single wide mobile home). On the east side of that there is an open area that used to be a chicken coop, and a raised foundation outlining what used to be a chicken yard.
I'd like to have chickens some day, for fun and for food. The lowest cost way to do it would be to clean out and repair the existing structure. It's a big project, though, and I've put it off until now.
The coop itself is used for storage now, with rusty barrels containing miscellaneous odds and ends. A trailer meant to be pulled behind a tractor and spray pesticides takes up one corner of the yard. Next to that is a stack of 8 or 9 pallets and some boards with nails in them.
The other corner of the yard contains an old copper Pontiac under a disintegrating tarp. The car belongs to Adam's younger brother Ryan, who has expressed an interest in moving it over to a stable that the previous renters of this mobile home built for their horses.
Dry brush and tall weeds choked most of the remainder of the yard, and the little open space was covered with layers and layers of dead dry sticker bushes.
Where to start? I certainly can't move the trailer or car myself. The pallets were inaccessible amidst the dry brush. The weeds need to be mowed or knocked down with a weed wacker. All I could do today was to clear the dead plants.
First I raked the dry stickers into a pile. Then I shoveled them into a wheelbarrow and dumped them by a pile of clippings Adam's been building some yards away. Next I used some loppers to cut away the dry brush. They were so dry that they broke apart easily into manageable sticks. I made 3 more trips with the wheelbarrow before I was finished.
As I worked and saw progress, I started imagining all the wonderful things that I could do with the area. Sure, it could be used for chickens. Or I could start another section of my garden, grow more fruits or vegetables, or maybe even create a beautiful flower garden.
Then I realized I was getting ahead of myself.
The next step is to move the pallets and boards to the official wood pile. I could likely do that myself with George's pickup. I'll need help to move the trailer and Pontiac, and probably need help to clear the tall weeds. I don't even want to start thinking about cleaning out the coop yet.
Still, all in all I feel great about what I've accomplished so far!
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