Clearing The Fencerow

In years past, I showed you how there is a little piece of woods that borders the south side of our property.  It is overgrown.  When the kids were younger, they made trails and forts back there.  There's a few acres of wilderness to run around on, letting your imagination run wild.  You could pretend it is the Amazon or the Mekong Delta.

One thing is for certain - unattended land wishes to revert to it's uncivilized form.  The privet and Chinese tallow and Chinaberry trees grow faster than our national debt and encroach on our fence line.  Usually, I break out my swing blade and machete and spend a full day reconquering the jungle.  It's hard work.  Work smarter, not harder is the motto, I believe.  

In some cases its better to let someone else do the work, subcontract the job out, you might say.  I'll introduce you to the crew:  LuLu, Rosie and Elsie seemed up for the task and after a job safety analysis and a planning meeting, I set up the equipment.  It consisted of a solar charger and a temporary fence using poly-rope and step-in fence posts.  Then I opened the back gate.

The clearing crew immediately sprang to action, heads down and eating the tender spring growth.  They had about a ten foot wide by 150 foot long area to clear.  The girls were trailblazing in earnest.  Yes, they are outside the perimeter fence and could get away, but I trust the electric fence primarily because I forgot to turn it off the other day and grabbed it and it shocked the stuffing out of me.  The cows have all tested the fence and learned to respect it.  Respect it, we all do.

I let them clean it up for a bit and then I went back out there with them and picked up fallen limbs and tree branches that had fallen in this buffer zone and threw them into the woods.  I like to think that by clearing the fence row and keeping it clean, it will discourage rat snakes, minks, possums, and other predators from crossing over to our property as they'll now be exposed to hawks and owls.  

I let them work in there for the better part of a day, until I saw them sitting down, chewing their cud.  Then I opened the gate and the fence clearing crew meandered back into their pasture.  I'll give the grass a chance to grow and then I'll rotate the girls back in there to keep it clean.  It's a win-win situation, for sure.