Do you ever have one of those projects in the back of your mind for literally years that just never gets started? One that’s maybe so overwhelming that you put it off and put it off…

Well that would be tackling our back yard. It’s a forest. We are lucky to own a third of an acre of mostly overgrown shrubbery on the side of a hill.  There’s trees, weeds, thorned bushes, and poisonous plants of all variety I’m sure. Still, I always thought it would be neat to have a fire pit way down at the bottom, but come on…it’s a jungle out there.

As it turns out, all you need to blaze a trail through a jungle is a machete! Just like in the movies!

backyard trail 1

I can sense you’re underwhelmed. But trust me, this roughly 3 foot wide piece of trail was hard fought by me and my husband this weekend.

Allow me to introduce you to your tour guide, Millie.

trail to firepit

Hot on the trail of something and spring loaded, she loves the backyard- it reminds her of hiking!

trail blazing

Seriously, she should be a model. Are you impressed by our brush clearing skills?

dog on the hunt
Down the hill we go, in case you weren’t sure how far…here’s the view from the bottom.

view from the clearing

That’s a lot of bushwhacking, people! I thought we’d need heavy duty equipment, but all we used was the machete, a metal rake, and my bare gloved hands pulling up the rest. There were a lot of angry insects and one very cute frog, who I re-homed for fear of accidental machete-ing. Shockingly, the work only took us (mostly Mike, with me at the end) about 4 hours. True story: I originally suggested hiring someone. #lazyblogger

At the bottom there’s a large semi-flat area which we are still working on clearing. I was so pleased to find two trees that might be able to hold my hammock! Never underestimate the importance of mature landscaping- we learned this the hard way as owners of a new construction. Saplings, that’s all I’ve got up by the house. And that’s only because I planted them!

firepit clearing

I lingered down at the clearing just long enough to catch this wild beast scoping out the area.

future firepit clearing

The cutest. We obviously still have a lot of work to do, but we’ll definitely have fires going this fall 🙂 Wanna come over and roast with us?

5 Responses

  1. Amy Evans

    WOW! that is going to be awesome! Millie should totally be a dog model. She is beautious. I will be over later with some marsh mellows!

    Reply
  2. Runt

    The good old machete! This post is funny for me to come across because our backyard is kind of similar. Once you step down from our deck (we have one of those decks that’s on the first floor but you still have to go down the stairs to be on the ground ((because our house is in a hill))), there is a bunch of grass and just over grown craziness. We wanted to clear an area for grilling, fire pitting, gazebo-ing (yes, these are official words =]). Well, one day Hubs just went at it with a machete and cleared it ALL. It looks so much better and I think he actually had fun doing it. =]

    Reply
  3. Marsha Milstock

    Very impressed with your hard work,
    And your very own forest!!!!
    A great place for Millie to romp and explore.
    Enjoy, and go play!!!!!

    Reply
  4. Sandy

    I’ll bring the marshmallows and graham crackers…….you got the chocolate bars?
    : )

    Reply

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