Destinations...

My neighbor to the west of us came over yesterday to see about cutting down the pasture/weeds that have overgrown the area in front of the house. This is also one of the only flat-ish areas we have on our land.

Gary came over with his brand new tractor and my jaw hit the driveway gravel when I saw it. What a nice machine he finally got himself. A/C, Heat, and every other nice thing you could want in any vehicle.
He has a skid steer, a bulldozer, and cool attachments for his skid steer which is huge!

He made short work of my weeds and said the 6 ft burdock plants bogged his machine down. Imagine. I thought I could go out there with a machete and cut them. Huh. Guess I was kidding myself.

The mules are finding more grasses and browsing on the cut up plants. They don't seem particularly hungry which means they are finding good stuff all over the place.

Gary then thought he'd mess around a bit in the back side or the other meadow. He brush hogged all the multiflora rose bushes I'd been fighting for years against. He made very short work of the thistle patches. 

 When he was finished, he stopped by the house and visited with Rich for a little bit. 

I'd told Gary I'd pay him and handed him the $$$ for the current going rate for brush hogging. He peeked at the cash and then started to refuse and I said, "Please take it. Running a tractor like that costs fuel and your time. Plus, do something nice ... like take Kim out to dinner."

He looked sheepish as he pocketed the money. Rich concurred. Gary then said he was going to repair our common fence on the west side. He was going to get some cattle again to keep down the brush and grasses in his acreage. He told us that now that Kim was retired, she liked to walk on their land.  Without cattle for the past 4 years, the brush and undergrowth has gotten out of hand.

His comment was: I caught hell for her not being able to hike around and look for sheds because the woods are full of crap now that we don't have cattle.

I offered to help with the fencing. We are supposed to split the cost when doing common fences between neighbors. 

Seeing as that the fence hasn't been fixed well in over 30 years, it was really time. I can help with sharing the costs, but not much in chain sawing and stringing fence as I have to be close to the house.

Today, Wednesday, is supposed to be a fishing day, but the guy I hired last year to take down 6 trees texted me last night to come out and give me an estimate on some other work I'd like done to the yard. 

He has free time to do estimates on rainy days. I do like working with him. He is young, curteous, and does good work. AND he keeps in contact with me even when he is busy and can't get out to see me right away.

 I am also hoping to have some kind of excavating --> brush cleaning to a difficult part of the 'forest' that the gals like to hang out in. I'm going to change fencing to a more limited area. After all, I only have 3 equine left and they can't keep up with all of the growth. I can build the fence, but need an area cleared to do it.

The end game is to make this place look much nicer so it doesn't look  neglected by a couple of old fools. 

When, in the future, I am ready to move off the farm, I want it the farm to look  like a charming place instead of weedy overgrown pastures and piles of 'good' junk stuff.

I'm starting now, because in a few years, I will probably move to an area where I can get public transport, groceries delivered, access to bike trails, parks, and health care close by. I realize that I eventually won't do well in a such a remote place.

I will miss my starry nights and forest trails. But I'm sure I can find happiness in just about any place I choose to live.

The conundrum is this. If I get this little farm looking exactly how I imagine it should be, then I will I leave?

Life is a process isn't it?