Making Progress on New Party Site!

As noted in one of my previous blogs, I cleared an area in the woods out back just beyond the yard. The purpose was to create an area for gatherings around a camp fire and for camping with our grandson! First I had to clear a huge brush pile so it wouldn’t be a hazard while having a camp fire. It was also removed so we could drive through there with the Polaris. I also dumped shavings from my chicken coop behind the wood pile. So those had to be picked up and moved. Years worth of shavings, but most had completely decomposed so there wasn’t too much to move, thankfully. Still quite a bit but doable! I probably filled the wheelbarrow 5 or 6 times. The new location is behind the brush pile where I moved all of the brush to, which is in a better location, out of the way. The new brush pile is humongous now because I also cleaned up another brush pile and moved it here. And I was adding more as I worked in the trails. So it’s massive! But nice to have it all in one place! 

After the brush pike and shavings were moved and gone, I cleared the area across from it, going towards the house. The area was loaded with brush so that was more stuff added to the already new, huge brush pile! At first I was cutting them down but soon realized they were easy to pull out, roots and all! So most of it was done this way, leaving few roots to germinate again! 

Once the area was cleared, I determined where the best location for the campfire pit! At a minimum, 3 trees had to be removed, roots and all! One tree in particular was a tough one as it was more like 2 trees in one. One of the other trees had 2 trees but a single trunk at the bottom. They were dead anyway. And one other tree, also dead, had to go. But the dead trees hadn’t been dead for long. The stumps were still solid with very little rot, so they weren’t easy to remove either. Between my chain saw, reciprocating saw, ax, sledge hammer, shovel, and my Fisker trimmers, I managed to get the job done! It wasn’t easy but well worth the work! The area is now ready to start the campfire pit! 

Before; 

During; 

After; 

All my tools here! 

The stumps have been tossed in the woods with previous stumps I removed! Stump Heaven, LOL! 

And the trees I took down are now with previous trees I have taken down. I didn’t cut them up. Just dragged all of them into the woods in this location that is out of the way and barely visible! 

I ordered a hutch without the ball for my Polaris so I can pull the dump cart behind it. The hookup for the cart is just a pin, as seen below. The hitch is due for delivery tomorrow! 

I’ll drive around the trails to gather the right-sized rocks for the campfire pit! I plan to dig a hole slightly larger than the size of the planned fire pit to ensure there are no roots inside or just outside the area. I’ll start building the rock wall just below the ground in the hole, then fill the inside and the area just outside the rocks so that there is sand both inside and about a foot around the perimeter. Then I’ll build up with the rocks and that will make it pretty safe as far as preventing an underground fire. I don’t want any roots near the area where the fire is! If there were any, they could ignite under the ground and spread underground and we might not even realize it’s happening until hours later! Tough fire to put out too! That is why I have to dig out an area first, so I can eliminate all roots inside and outside the area. And building a rock wall starting from under the ground up will also create a solid barrier. 

Can’t wait to finish it and have our first gathering!