Mother's Day Demolition Project

Over the last 2 years, Dan and I have worked hard to 'take-back' our once overgrown and previously neglected backyard.

Today, our friend Jason (pictured here) came over with his John Deere tractor to help jump start us into our final phase of landscaping in the forest area of our yard.

The plan was to demolition an old and large stump area near the house that had created a large dirt hill about 35' from our property line. 

Besides being a talented guy, Jason's also quite the character. 

In the first picture, Jason is having fun showing off the heavy stump he lifted with the tractor and poses with the front wheels off the ground. Not to worry, Jason had the situation under control and we all got a good laugh.

The next picture is of the area after it has been completely flattened and graded...it's so beautiful! All day, I kept looking over there admiring the work Jason did.

Thanks to him, we've now added 35+ feet of usable space in our backyard and it will be easier to maintain once we seed the area.

As a side note, we replanted to other parts of our property, 8 mature ferns and 3 smaller cedars that had grown in that area over the years so that no plants were wasted or disposed of. This is in keeping with our goal which is to maintain the natural plants native to our area, to reuse plants already on our property, to reuse lost & forgotten materials such as paver stones put in by previous owners, to create a low maintenance yard that is dog friendly and to do all of the above at a minimal cost. So far we're right on track!