Discovery

Over the weekend - well on the sunny day of the weekend - we worked on clearing out a small section of the property.  It was pretty overgrown and creeping into the established lawn area when we purchased the house this summer.

Exhibit #1:

Eventually we will contract with someone to come in with an excavator and clear out the area for the animals pens in the wooded area, but at the moment the need is to clear the area where we need to put fencing to contain the dog.  Thus the kids and I went to work with the mower, hedge trimmers, and other assorted tools; including a bunch of elbow grease.

We made several discoveries in the process of cleaning out that little corner of the yard.

We found a bunch of trash, an old clothes line that was set in concrete and dug up and discarded with the concrete attached, some cinder blocks, a truck axle , a pile of asphalt shingles, some wire fence.....

and......RASPBERRIES!

Ironically they are located very close to the spot where we were planning to start some raspberries growing.  I am still working on trying to identify them, but from the way the large canes are spaced and orientated I am wondering if these were not intentionally planted here by the original owners.  We found 10 good sized canes spaced three to four feet apart and then a bunch of smaller off shots that had gone every which way.  I am still working on cleaning out around the larger canes to see what can be staked and managed and what needs to be forfeited for the sake of organization.  We will order some canes to add to this area, but it gives us the luxury of buying some different cultivars instead of starting this year with just basic red.

Still much work to do, and a great deal of dreaming because the finances took a big hit with an unexpected change of plans at work.  The raspberry enterprise seems "do-able" this year, the larger excavating project is now in question.  Blessed be the flexible, because they won't get broken.