Up the very middle of the property is an old fence line that Ms. Sara put in 60 years ago for cattle. It’s overgrown and tree trunks are woven in and out of the fence. We haven’t completely decided if we need to take the whole fence line down or just re-run the barbed wire, but the trees have to come down first.

Since we completed the pecan orchard, the fence line was naturally next. There are so many trees, blackberries, honeysuckle, persimmons, and, you guessed it, poison ivy. Mike! We need some of that stuff over here!

There are also birds. Lots of them. And a lot of nests. I talked to my friends at Wild Birds about when it would be safe to start removing trees, and we agreed that except for bluebirds and wrens, which are more cavity dwellers, most of the nests should be empty by this time.

In preparation for this task, I bought some chain saw chaps for Brett. If I was being completely honest chain saws scare me a little bit. They’re big giant cutters that can take a limb (pun intended, tree or human) off. And let’s face it we’re learning, and it would be a terrible lesson to learn to saw your leg off. I bought the chaps instead of the pants for two reasons – one, he can wear his regular Duluth Trading pants, and two (obviously) who doesn’t love a good looking man in a pair of chaps!?

Now that we’re safer operators, you can see our progress on the fence line. And why I made Brett leave this little stand of Sweet Gum trees in the middle. Here’s the before, after, and the nest.

There’s about 800 feet to clear, and we’re about 30% of the way there. It’s not nearly as cool here as under the pecans, so the first thing we did was to clear out under a persimmon tree in the pasture nearby and set up camp there.

I can’t wait to see this done too!