Our first steps in opening up the wooded hill

The "log yard" before clearing trees next to the stream.

And after clearing. K7 has cut down the broken branch you see to the left that is blocking the road uphill. 

The grass seed is coming up, and it looks beautifully green and shady. This gives us another acre of grass. In the years to come, I hope to open up most of the hillside to look like this - keeping the big shade trees while gaining more grass. It will also eliminate the nasty underbrush that hides ticks, chiggers, copperheads, and coyotes. Now I just need to repair the water gap fence over the stream, and put the cattle and sheep over here to graze and keep the weeds from growing.

Reclaiming the hillside

The southwest corner of our farm was once cleared pasture land, but over many years, through neglect, this rolling hillside became overgrown with scrubs, brush and trees. 

Same area, different angle. Where the little pond sits there used to be a large, ugly dump, where previous residents tossed all their trash and broken stuff. It is gone, so now its time to reclaim this area as pasture land. The same friend I hired to work on our stream bed and banks brought his big bull dozer up here, and...

...got to work. I love the way he opened it all up by removing the cedar trees and heavy brush while leaving plenty of big trees to give beauty and shade.

The boys and I seeded this entire area with fescue and orchard grass, and some clover. I have to brush hog it frequently to beat the sumac and weeds back until the grass gets strong enough. It has given us several more acres for grass. Unfortunately, the tractor broke a few weeks ago,  and the two tractor repair shops in town are backed up due to haying season. I hope to borrow a neighbor's tractor this week in order to mow.

To the west, our newly opened pasture flows into the boundary line of the farm. This shady area was bull dozed last August so we could put up a good fence.

To the east, the "new" pasture flows into the existing hill pasture that we have been trying to reclaim with frequent mowing. The bush hog is not the right piece of equipment since it is designed for cutting brush and small tree saplings. I need to buy a "mower" which cuts closer to the ground. Or, I could go back to my original idea of putting a flock of meat goats up here - the only problem is keeping the water gap over the stream secure, so the goats don't escape. Cheaper to buy a mower...if I can get the tractor fixed!

Two Big storms = some damage

Each time my native Oklahoma got hammered by severe storms and tornados, we got hit with the remnants a day later.

The first one knocked down several trees - this walnut fell from paddock #1 over the fence into the orchard, tearing down a power line.

Had to wait a day for the electric company to come repair.

Didn't take them long to get it fixed...

...after which K7 was able to safely cut up the tree...

                         
                                   ...then load up the truck, and...

                                                    
                                                               ...haul it to another burn pile.

Back to that first storm. In addition to the walnut, we had several trees south of the stream fall. This giant dirt clod came out of the south bank of stream...

...and contained four trees, two of which were good sized red oaks.

Plus this small walnut fell over the road along stream...

...and another large red oak fell onto the road, totally blocking it. My neighbors came to the rescue and cleared the road in minutes.

K7 and K6 had to replace three roof panels on the hay shed. I sent K2 out later to put a lot more screws in to really hold it in place.

The second storm dropped this big walnut onto the county road. "S" called me at 6:21 A.M. to ask for help cutting a path through it so she could get to the hospital. The other two roads out of our farm were flooded and impassable. K7 was able to cut this escape tunnel, and she zipped through faster than I could get the camera ready for the memorable pic.

I then rounded up several neighbors and we had an early morning "block party" clearing the road in a drizzling rain.

Then we went home to find our fence down again due to heavy flooding, and some heifers in the wrong field. The boys got soaked wading across the water filled pasture, but were successful rounding up the escapees. Pretty exciting times.

New animals on the farm

K8 holding a newly born ram.

K8 owns the young momma ewe, "Quarter". We had no idea she was pregnant. 

A neighbor offered us a free 11-month old Red Wattle pig, so K2 started building this pen with K8's assistance (K8 is just out of the photo holding his new lamb).

They delivered the pig this afternoon.

K2 giving her a shower, because she was dirty and stinky!

We think she is about 180 pounds. We'll fatten her up until Oct or Nov, then put her in the freezer - lots of bacon, pork roasts, and seasoned sausage.

Jack-Jack came over to check out our new addition.

Making hay

I hired an Amish farmer to hay my paddocks last week. We got 24 large round bales.

The snake that didn't get away, finally...

It was hard to not see this snake in the road in front of our yard one evening last week. I stopped the truck and got out to verify what kind it was. It did not take off when I prodded it with a stick. It coiled and hissed, after which I could see the shape of it's head and the white sacks in it's mouth - a "Cotton Mouth" or Water Moccasin, one of four venomous snakes we have in this part of the Ozarks. This and the Cooperhead are so aggressive they get the automatic death sentence when I find them, so I ran over him twice. Danny drove by, and he squashed its guts out. I came by on the tractor 10 minutes later, and unbelievably, this snake was trying to crawl off the road, so I ran over it twice more, then picked him up with a stick and draped him over my neighbor's barbed wire fence. Came back 30 minutes later and he was GONE! Incredible! It was dark, so I looked for it early next morning and found it belly up about 4 feet away from the fence - finally dead. The moral of the story? For me there are now only two sure ways to kill them out right: (1) cut it's head off with a machete, shovel, or hoe (or a lawn mower as I once did); or (2) shoot it in the head, preferably with shell shot BB's from a pistol or shotgun.

The budding young plumber

I know its gross, but someone has to fix this problem - a clogged toilet. 

The plunger didn't get it, so he had to do it the old fashioned way. Yes, its gross and yucky, but everyone in the house greatly appreciated his bravery and "Can do" spirit.

"Really? You'll pay me for doing this? Alright!"

Mission accomplished! Dad paid him $20 and K2 paid him $5. Not bad for less than 30 minutes work. Next summer he turns 15, so I will arrange a short apprenticeship with a buddy who owns a plumbing company. The summer he turns 16, I'll do the same with a friend who owns a heating and cooling company to learn about that and electricity. 

Moonrise

K2 was studying on the back upper deck one evening when he noticed this gorgeous sight.

Mom's sitting garden

S has a giant vegetable garden, but has this shady spot in one corner from the hickory tree (which I refuse to cut down). She decided to create a little sitting area.

Pretty nice, isn't it?

She used the old trampoline for a base, then covered it with wood mulch.

K7 does Kip from "Napolean Dynamite"

Burn baby, burn!

Clearing dead brush and collecting driftwood from the stream bank is a constant job throughout the year. The boys are becoming quite proficient at burning.

Mission accomplished.

Mom checking out another burn pile.

This is a regular pile located in our "Log Yard", where we drag logs out of the stream to cut up or burn.

Same fire, different angle.

K2 ignited this one. It had lots of wood on it, and the flames were 35 to 40 feet high. It really lighted-up the pasture.