Progress So Far

In our continuing battle against mosquitoes and other biting insects, we have been busy removing all the overgrown shrubs, trees and weeds all over the property.  This is where we are at the moment. The huge mess at the front of the house which in it's glory days was once a beautiful perennial bed I'm sure, has been completely cleared out leaving me a nice clean slate to work with.

The goats have done an excellent job of clearing up the brush to their skeletons.

But still have lots more to finish.

All the overgrown shrubs in front of the bay window have finally all been cleared away.

As well as most of the vine along the chimney.  I was unable to reach the higher branches so will need to either have hubby climb up a taller ladder or onto the kitchen roof next to the vine to remove.

I actually was able to start tackling the huge forest along the lane way this afternoon.  If you look closely, you will see that one is able to actually see through the bushes and to the lane way beyond.

This is what I got from all that clearing.

And this.

It looks like I took down a maple tree but in fact, I took down about a hundred trees.  All baby trees that had been growing wild inside there.  They should have been taken down long ago because what has happened is that they ended up blocking sunlight from the full grown trees that were actually planted there on purpose.  The result is I now have three huge dead pine trees that I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with.

Our focus hasn't just been on the greenery around the house but also on the pasture.  Oldest and I mowed thousands of weeds down today as well.

The horses and sheep have been very good at grazing the grass and keeping it low, but the weeds were a different matter.

Thistle is a popular weed in my pasture.

I'm not able to mow the side of the hills in the pasture, but we do what we can on the flats.  

Not only will the removal of the weeds eliminate places for bugs to take up residence, but it will also help to stop the spread of weeds if cut down before they go to flower, as well as help to restore the pasture by keeping it healthier.  I'm really hoping in the next couple of days to have the remaining brush removed and do away with all possible habitats for unwanted guests.