Going Off Grid in East Tennessee; The Story and Chat Thread (percent, between)

[ylisa7]

Originally Posted by Bones

No, no, no....Sink 2 poles into cement, leave about 5 feet above the ground. The pole with the generator on it pivots between them to lower to the ground....

Now I got it That's a good idea...but too late for us. The digging over by that building is a bear and I would not want to redo it and dig in 4 poles and 2 ground rods now


Hawk-Just like you, we love to watch nature

[ylisa7]

Since it is so cold today, I decided to write another chapter. This is the "clean up" year. It's time to pull our place together and that means doing some landscaping. We reserved the first batch of Leyland Cypress that came into Lowe's. We have tried many local trees from local growers up here and have lost most of them. The Leyland Cypress from Lowe's that we planted a few years ago on our last property are doing fantastic so we decided to change out our problem trees here and use them again


March has been an incredibly warm month so we are getting a head start.

I prepped my garden and cleaned it up. Now I just have to wait a bit longer to plant seeds.



We bought fifteen 5-6 foot Leyland Cypress. They really are pretty evergreens but they get huge. We will have to keep them trimmed down.



Mike starts working at the back of the house. We originally planted Hollies and two things happened. 1. The deer used them to bed down in the winter and squashed them and 2. They don't grow fast enough for us We are going to take out the hollies and move them to the side of the house and we will also find a new home for the small arborvitae.

Mike digging out the old arborvitae.



Next he digs out a Holly and boy are they stubborn.



Two of the new Leyland Cypress are in and cut down. Mike wants them to grow into a hedge on the back of the house.



Two of the hollies are moved to the side of the house. Eventually we will build a set of steps and a teired garden on this side



The back of the house is done and 6 trees are in.



And all six hollies got moved.



Another day, Mike and I start to work on the small garden on the side of his building. This is going to be a bear for us. It is not good dirt here. This will be our hardest area to dig...but we are determined


We start to dig the holes for 4 new plants over here. The first one wasn't too bad. The others we had to use the electric chisel to help chisel and break the rock. It was a very slow and hard job to do. We also dug the holes much bigger than the trees and added new dirt with compost mixed in.


Mike using the chisel to chop up the rock.



And finally the trees are in by Mike's building



Next on the agenda: Take out the old arborvitae that got eaten by the deer in front of the house. We have a total of 8 of these. We will replant them somewhere else.

Starting to take out the arborvitae.



Mike using the saws all to cut the roots.



On the front left side of the house we are going to have our "close" stack of firewood. Mike digs out a level spot for the 4x4's.



Working on the other side and digging out the old trees.



Mike and I both take turns digging and then dumping the buckets of dirt onto the side hills of the house.


Planting the Leylands on the right side.



We found a new spot for six of the arborvitae. We decided to put them on the outside of Mike's building where it would be nice if they grow but won't be devastating if they get eaten.:roll eyes:


Starting to plant the arborvitae.


And they are in.



Then we moved the wood off the patio and onto the new smaller set up.



The patio is finally clean again.



And the new trees to the right of the house.




Yay...all the new trees are planted. Mike had 4 more small trees to plant and he put them along the back fence line.


Now it's time to get some good grass to grow. We have to work on the back hill again. It gets a little better each year but with the cows trampling it, it never takes off.


So we have to seed and hay it. Mike throws the seed out while I spread the hay around. Hopefully we all get some more grass in this year.



Each year we also add some dirt to the angled walls by the house. They sink a little each year. I think we may be finished this year. We added dirt, put some grass seed down, and covered it with hay.

The left side.



And the right side.



Next it's time to start working on the back yard. We have one area that we abuse by driving over it with the tractor, trailers, Jeep and 4-wheeler. We need to stay off it after we fix it.


First I rake up all of the dead debris.



Once I get rid of that, Mike spreads some new soil.



Then we see and hay it. Lastly Mike waters it.




Whew I will be happy if I don't see another shovel for at least another month, lol.


That's all for now. I hope you enjoyed this week's changes. Next week I will start the building the shed stories.

Have a great week.

Lisa

[SPLIT]

GOOD DEAL , Nice PIcs. Actually with the cool wind today in east Tenn it was chain saw day, & got two trees cut in front yard.. The tops were dead & would have reached the front roof.

I have done quite a bit of moving trees out of the woods & around our house.. If one uses a bucket of water to moisten the ground, or the Clay you stand a chance of digging a good hole...Also heard the saying to Only transplant anything big in a Month with the letter " R ". So that leaves out May, June , July & August.

. Also if one mixes some Sand in with our Clay, along with your mulch is another hint.

[ss20ts]

I love how Nikki was supervising so many projects this week! She sure knows her stuff about landscaping.

[temptation001]

Originally Posted by ss20ts

I love how Nikki was supervising so many projects this week! She sure knows her stuff about landscaping.

She's just waiting for the perfect moment to terminate Mike and Lisa, so she can take over.

[Hawk J]

Originally Posted by younglisa7

Now I got it That's a good idea...but too late for us. The digging over by that building is a bear and I would not want to redo it and dig in 4 poles and 2 ground rods now

In regard to hard earth/clay digging projects, in the future...perhaps you can get a good deal on a used auger or post hole digger,etc, which will attach to your tractor 3 point. Checkout Craigslist,
TractorByNet.com | Compact Tractors | John Deere, Kubota, New Holland , or another tractor accy site.

Have a beautiful day.


Maybe like this but used...http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...ic&cm_ite=hole digger&mkwid=sxxqVdFqU&pcrid=14228690951&mt=b

[cassy1]

Wow Lisa pretty soon you won't even be able to see your house with those trees! Or is that the idea? Beautiful anyway, I just love your house and the view!

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by temptation001

She's just waiting for the perfect moment to terminate Mike and Lisa, so she can take over.

Maybe she can do the work and write the posts.

[Furd]

I fear that you are planting the trees WAY too close to the buildings. I see this all the time and when the trees mature they are hard up against the buildings and also grow lop-sided.

[Liondandy]

Your updates are very informative and your story telling is superb but please, please don't work Nikki so hard next time, OK?