Spring Cleaning, Take Two: Farm Style

Two men and a big, big machine (even though it's called a mini-excavator, I'd say it's pretty darn big) spent about eight hours yesterday cleaning up the mess left by the last property owners. 

One guy drove the machine, digging up all the crap, and the other guy was on the ground, separating the trash from the concrete blocks and the brush. They made two big piles of concrete blocks and two big piles of brush, which I will burn as soon as conditions are favorable. The digging arm of the excavator in the foreground gives an idea of the scale.

They also leveled out the pasture a little, smoothing over the holes where junk had been excavated and softening the grade somewhat.  One guy asked me if there had been a lagoon there, and I said I didn't know. He said, "Yeah, I think they just buried their old cow shit lagoon. Water kept squirting up in one spot." I said "Nothing these guys did would surprise me." 

Here is the final pile of trash, separated from concrete and brush. This is the throw away pile. It's not a great picture, because you can see how tall it is (notice the upturned wheelbarrow in front) but not how long. That would be about twenty feet. I'm going to have to get a 40 yard dumpster to haul it away and it will cost several hundred more dollars. 

I am thinking, though, about salvaging the tires. They make very good potato planters. I can have a white trash tire garden, just like dear old dad.