The “new” homestead is 31 years young this month. My Mother built the home in 1985, and the landscaping basically ended there! Before renovations started last September, the house was rented for almost two years. Needless to say, the yard needs A LOT of work.

Phase one started this weekend.  First, we had to call the local fire department to make sure burning would be allowed that day.  Here in our town, you call a dedicated phone number after 10:00 A.M. on the day you plan to burn to ensure that weather conditions allow you to safely proceed.  After confirmation, at 10:08 we all loaded up and headed over to the homestead ready to burn the downed limbs from two years of Cape Cod storms. I don’t think any of us expected to still be working hard five hours later!

Town rules specifically ban the burning of leaves so we also loaded up our push mower (which has a nice mulching function) and a gas can (for refueling the mower, not torching the neighborhood), and one rake to deal with leaves.

What we wound up doing was so much more involved!  Pulling one bramble led to another, then another….  Soon we were cutting back pricker bushes, and cutting our unprepared, un-gloved selves in the process!

Lunch time arrived and take out was ordered, on the way more hands were added to the work crew. The teenagers worked incredibly hard, keeping up with us “old folks”, and surprisingly, seemed to enjoy the work!  I know they enjoyed the marshmallows we roasted at the end. The littlest of the crew started off with a bang, running at top speed gathering as many twigs as their arms could carry.  Alas, they ran out of steam quickly and enjoyed playing in their new surroundings.

The Fire Department also mandates a stop time for burning of 1600 (4:00 P.M.), so we gave up on trimming branches and pulling brambles by 1530 and let the fire wind down a bit before dousing it thoroughly with water.  We checked back at the property two hours later and applied more water just to be cautious, after all, the goal is to live there soon, not start from the ground up in a burned out frame!

The added benefit is we will now have ash for the chickens to cleanse themselves in, which, according to my research is not only fun for them, but beneficial as well, limiting critter infestations in their feathers!

My great Aunt, a true Cape Codder by the very definition of the term, used to refer to anything other than blue skies and zero wind as “weather” or, for you locals, “weatha”.  Well, “weather” has hampered our stage two efforts, but we are dedicated, so stay tuned, another update is in the works!  Plus, our chickens are due in less than two weeks, so next up, building their coop!