The Beginning of the New Back 40

Last month I mentioned how we want to landscape the back of our property and some of the ideas we have for it. We have tried to do things with it in the past and nothing really did well down there. We amended the soil, but not enough and have a caliche rock shelf that runs along there so the only thing to do was to really dig it out. The big hold-up of course, money to get it graded and bulldozed properly. Either that or doing it ourselves, by hand, over a good year or more as there are amazing amounts of rocks and boulders buried back there. Well, fate has smiled down on us. J is designing our neighbor’s house for him and in exchange B has agreed to do alot of the work we need done around here. So today was the first day of the transformation of the back 40. Yay!

B showed up with a Bobcat and proceeded to grade, dig, move rock and build up tiers for my garden areas. We discovered that there was a lot of great soil underneath alot of the larger rocks too, so it won’t be too much to amend and add a layer of good topsoil for us to be in business with planting. We are using the rock we dug out to build dry stack retaining walls, which I will plant all types of sedum in. We will use these new garden spaces for both vegetables as well as ornamentals. The flat, graded area at the very bottom of the property will eventually house a lap pool, but for now a skate ramp is going in. Yes, my girls and their daddy are all skateboarders and a half pipe in the backyard is just the coolest thing for them. Hah!

The sides will be planted and up on the very top will be the beer garden where we will have counters, bar stools, cob oven, and seating all covered with a patio cover which will someday be covered in some kind of vine. We are thinking grapes but haven’t fully decided yet. That will be a huge project regardless and will take us the better part of next year to complete. I’m just so excited we are finally starting to use the land we have back there. And I love the idea of community and bartering, it’s so wonderful to see it working!

Hope you all are having a productive and happy weekend! Peace!

Before:

And the bulldozing goes forward:

Working on the tiers:

It looks so different:

B had a little trouble getting back up the hill, but he made it eventually:

Look at that dark, rich looking soil…makes me so happy:

These are some of the rocks that will make up the wall:

The tiers are taking shape:

Long, dusty, dirty day, but oh so much fun too:

Thank you B!!!!