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.