The First Cut is the Deepest...and Most Dangerous

Long before we could nearly die using a rented Bobcat or pour our piers or camp on our land, it was ruled by a kingdom of benevolent trees, protected by an army of ticks and frolicked in by a menagerie of deer, turkey, bears and other similar ne'er-do-wells that will be wonderful with a cold beer one day in the future.  In order to make that happen, we needed a drive way.  Heck, the entire property is densely wooded with pine, oak and pecan.  It's so thick that if you stick your arms out at your sides (read: pretend you are an airplane, not playing 'I'm a little teapot') you can't walk more than 1 step without hitting a tree.

We love that about this place and we are passionate about preserving that natural beauty.  The plan is to replace every tree we cut with at least 2 other living green things including fruit trees and berries and grapes over the next 2 seasons.  But a man needs a place to park his Chevy trucks, dang it.  And a woman needs a place to raise her kids.  So a driveway needed to be cut and I was just the man to do it.

To be clear, I had never really done anything like this before.  Other than borrowing an electric chainsaw one weekend a few years earlier to trim a small tree, I was a rookie.  The video here proves that.  This was my first time operating a gas powered chainsaw.  I dropped 10 trees that day and a few more in month to come.  The homestead site has come a long way since these early days.