Wagmore step 2: Now that the grass is mowed... BRUSH!

Our first step with the new property was to clear the fire-hazard dry grass.  Once all the grass was gone, we realized that we had a bit of a brush problem.  Well, we knew we had a brush problem going in, but didn't realize the extent of all of it until all of the grass was gone.

Yikes! 

The view of the un-mowed part of one field...

The Husband decided he wanted to "work the land" and cut brush George W. Bush - style.  So he deserted The Child and I for a week, and went out to clear brush with my dad.

The first step was to rent a Billy Goat brush hog

and tackle the daunting task of the blackberries

This is the BEFORE shot...

It works well - berries flattened and chopped.

Apparently it's a LOT of work, though...

Here's the AFTER shot. 

Yes, it's the same location - it just looks much better!

Please don't think that this was the ONLY blackberry patch.  The Husband and my dad cleared many more over the course of week.  And we still have an entire fenceline in the back that is completely hidden by 12' tall (or higher...) blackberries.  Those might just get to stay around for a while.

And blackberries weren't the only brush around.  We also had baby trees, some scotch broom, and weeds/brush that we couldn't even identify.

The barn was surrounded by brush-various.

You can barely see the chicken coop in the background.

Oh, and there was a bunch of junk hidden in there, too.

...wait, where IS the barn?

But here's the "after" near the barn - a different side

Denzil continued to serve in a supervisory capacity.  

He also helps give an idea of how big the Billy Goat is...

The small trees and big brush that had to be chopped by hand

were put into burn piles.  We should have some good bonfires soon.

Now we've tackled the grass and brush - what's next?