Clearing Brush in Our New Yard [video]

I vividly remember the day we first stepped foot on this parcel of land. As we trekked our way through all the gopher hills and blackberry brambles, it was easy to fall in love and feel new dreams churning in our minds. It was the 100+ year-old oak trees that really sealed the deal for me. I wanted to raise my boys under and in those wild branches. Unfortunately they were hidden in the overgrown underbrush. Last Summer was busy putting a driveway in and building the shop and it gave us a chance to more thoroughly acquaint ourselves with the layout of our land and how we envision our yard. We took advantage of this weird limbo-stage before construction on the house begins to prune out some trees and clear out so much of this underbrush. Something about hard manual work like this is so satisfying, and I not only feel it in my bones but I see it on the boys’ faces. This is their space too and they own it. The beauty here is so breathtaking to me and those oak trees are more spectacular than I thought. Our dream is to keep this space relatively wild and maintenance-free.