May 19, 2016 Looking back and moving forward

We are getting dangerously close to having much of the Farm cleared out. So I figured I would show the progress using some of the pictures we have taken in the past year.

This is how we found it.

It's hard to tell the story of clearing the farm using pictures. But the above picture is about what we saw on the first day. It was winter, so the foliage was down a bit. The below picture is the Spring version prior to clearing.

We thought the place was pretty bad when we found it.

We never imagined the extra badness that came with the sun. We didn't know it then, but there was nothing of any value at all in the six foot pile of trash in the Container.Once you got through the hole in the gate there was a goat path to the back. I bought a machete and started chopping. It was a hopeful thing but turned out to be completely useless.

After Tractor Day #3 we finally got all of the trash pushed out of the Container.
Another five or so yards of stuff to get rid of.

I haven't got a picture of the container yet, but the ground is clear, the Container holds the beginnings of our Farm project's furnishings, and all of the way around it only little stuff remains.

This was the backside of the Mobile Home that had burned, and the Motor Home that was parked out back.

And behind the Motor Home there was a Camper.

There were piles of trash everywhere you went. The fence had been cut. We mended the fence on our first day after we got the lease from Collette Kramer. We laughed at the stupidity of the project, but always could see the land underneath all of the rubbish.

After Tractor Day #3 we had much of the trash pushed into piles.

The picture above this one is the same area today.

Today, other than the dirt being trashy, you can see all of the way to the front fence.

If you look at the trees in this picture, you wouldn't believe that it could be the same place.

The motor home sat behind the mobile home, the camper behind the motor home, near the shipping container. All packed tightly with trash, surrounded by trash.

These are the same trees today.

But there is still so much to do.

Hidden around the edges there were piles of trash as well.

And then there was the Blue Tarp of Mystery.

The Blue Tarp of Mystery was in the middle of the property, but couldn't be seen from anywhere. We only found it through exploration, and after some blood was spilled. About ten yards of burnt ash and debris that someone had scraped together. There is still a bit to take off the Farm.

Eventually we got the Blue Tarp of Mystery uncovered and it became the Blue Tarp of Doom.

This above is where the Blue Tarp once lived.

There was a shed. The whole thing teetering on collapse.
Look at the trees on the right.

Jack knocked the Shed down on Tractor Day #2 once we cleared the area enough to get to it.
The trees are the same, the point of view changed.

The trees are the only thing remaining.

This area was actually the front yard of the mobile home.
In the distance is the roof of the shed.

Now their front yard is the only place where a pile of trash remains.
The trees on the right are the same as the ones in the shed pictures.

 The place always had a certain charm that we could see through the berries and trash piles.

From the road you could see why I stopped in the first place.

Standing where this picture was taken took some effort. 

In early Spring the trees and berries flowered you could walk around smiling. Mostly because the trash was covered up under green stuff. But you couldn't see it much of the place.

There was a huge Black Walnut tree near where we found the well on Tractor Day #1.

The Walnut tree tells the story of Creekside Farm so far.

It was one of the first areas we cleared out.