After waiting patiently for nearly two months to see our new home, you can imagine how excited we were as we drove down the one lane gravel road that leads to the property.
Trees crowded in from all directions. Mighty oaks soared straight to the sky and small saplings jostled one another in their quest for sunlight. There was a steep driveway at the very edge of the property, but Beatrice was not able to navigate it. We parked on the right-of-way, the only space available.
It took us over a month of braving chiggers and spiders to really get our bearings. We discovered our new home had a surprise for us – a circular driveway and a level spot to build on. Judging by the size of the saplings on the space, it had been at least 15 years since these had been used, but they were there! We set about clearing the trees and were able to park Beatrice at the top of the hill right next to the site of our future house.
While one of our goals is to leave as much of our home natural (well as natural as previously logged land can get), it is necessary to clear out the overcrowded saplings from areas we are going to use. I HATE cutting trees. I come from a place that is not friendly to trees and each one is precious to me. While I resigned myself to the necessity of cutting them, I was determined we would use them for something. That is how the wattle fence came about.
Since the trees are so dense on our property, they grew straight up in search of sunlight. This left us with many long, straight poles. By setting up a framework using the largest of the poles strung from tree to tree (with some posts set in larger spaces) and medium sized poles attached as vertical stringers, we were able to weave a strong and beautiful fence that will one day contain our milk goats.
I am so happy with the fence. Was it a lot of work? Yes! But I found it enjoyable, more like an art project than building a fence. It was fun to search out the perfect sapling for the next weaver and very rewarding to watch the huge pile of sticks dwindle. I managed to use up everything we had cut so far for about half the fence. We still have more clearing, so I expect the fence will be finished this spring.
Progress is beautiful!