Once my wife and I decided we were going to do this project solo, we decided to wait for mother nature to do her thing and let the plant life die for the winter. Without all the greenery including the hidden poison ivy, it was easier to get an idea of the projects scope. We broke ground in January during the remote school day to start Phase I: removing the shrubs.
This was not fun work. It took many days of back breaking manual labor to get the half dead evergreens out of the ground, to remove random stumps that were hidden under dead vines, and to dig up the large stump of a fallen tree. Any one of those tasks would test ones sanity, but tackling all three together… it was a challenge to say the least.
By the end of January we cleared out most of the area that would become an eating terrace, patio, and hammock lounge area. Then it snowed… A LOT and the project was put on hold.
When the snow melted, we had three little helpers.
LeRoy J. Watkins III 