Monday, July 20, 2015

A SURPRISE CLEARING

Sometimes we get a surprise from the least expected place.  

Recently, the local power company at the farm called us and said they were in the area doing clearing along easements.  There is nothing we can really do about that, they do have a 10 foot easement all along the spots where there are power lines and we just have to let them do it.  They called to make sure we didn't have livestock or anything that might 'get out' while they were there.  They asked if we wanted the waste hauled off or chipped in place and left.  We opted for chipped in place and left behind. 

We really had no idea about the outcome or what it would look like as we had never experienced this before.  

Front of property before
Here it is before (a picture I took late last year).  This picture is from the corner of the front of the property looking toward the driveway entrance.  As you can see, you couldn't even really tell where the fence line started, or stopped, and the brush began.  Look for the barely visible power poles.

Front of property after
Now, here it is after!  This picture was taken from the driveway looking back toward where I was standing when I took the other picture.  How amazing is this?  They pretty much just cleared it all the way back, 10 feet from the property line which is where the power lines are above.  They also, unfortunately, sprayed brush killer on the stuff left behind (which is why it's turning brown) but there isn't much we can do about that.  

But they weren't done...

Woodland spot before
The power lines run along the road in front and then down the property lines separating parcels of land to the spot where the pole runs over to the house.  We didn't even think about that until we saw it.  Above is a photo from when we had the property cleared that created the small wooded area.  

Notice the area behind the trees.  Again, this is before.


Woodland spot after
And here it is after they got done.  Wow!  It's definitely a difference, kind of looks like an island of trees now.  We are grateful that it was done, saves us a lot of work along the fence line.  Not to mention, I should be able to keep it up now with the mower...theoretically.  


14 comments:

  1. Wow it is so open! That is a bummer about the brush spray though...

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    1. Yeah, I asked if that was optional and they said no. Ugh. Typical government. but we are happy with the rest of it. ;-)

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  2. That's a good deal except for the weed killer. It is so bad for the environment. It looks like if they could cut that large swath of land through there they could have gone between the poles for those bushes. Is there a ditch along side the road?

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    1. I know! We asked and they said it was not optional. Ugh. Yes, there is a ditch and those bushes are along our fenceline. Under them is a barbed wire fence. One of our plans of the future is to have a new "nicer" fence put along there.

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  3. That really opened things up. And the bonus is that you have some free mulch from the chipped up brush.

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  4. The difference is amazing but I sort of miss the denseness it gave your patch of trees.

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    1. Yes! I noticed that too. But in person it doesn't look as barren as it does in the photos. It will fill in and I hope to plant some new, lower growing things around the area this Fall. Theoretically at least, ha.

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  5. I remember when they came down here and sprayed the weed killer. We don't have very big lots as it is down here on this dirt road and they did not spray in any of our yards even when the power lines did cross them but an area they sprayed past my garden was bare and nothing grew on it for years. It is coming back now but it has been like 12 years.

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    1. Oh my, are you serious? Dang...thanks for the heads up. Kinda scary that something can be so negative on the environment huh? When weeds won't even grown, that's crazy. Wow. Kind of sad.

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  6. I would be careful about where I used that mulch until I was sure that the weed-killer had gone. How I wish that less of that stuff was used. Much less.

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    1. That is a good point, I thought about that after I posted about that. It is a sad thing what it can do to the environment huh?

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  7. 1st Man,

    They did clear a lot, looks so much easier to take care of. I would worry if they sprayed bug spray and killer close to your home because of your garden, or the local animals.

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    1. Not close at all to the house, so that's good. The side part is behind the barns but about an acre away from the house. And the big one on the front along the road, well that's a good 7 or 8 acres away so we're good there. :-)

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