Evil Trees

One of projects we'll be tackling in the coming months is cleaning up the tree grove on the north side of the driveway. Getting it thinned and fenced will give the ponies some extra grazing space.  Thankfully for the clean-up efforts, it's not the graveyard grove where all the old farm equipment and random household metal bits were left to die (although there's one of those, too).  This particular grove has its fair share of deadfalls and the packrat mounds are... numerous.  

The squirrels scolded at me as I walked through this afternoon, scoping things out.  There's actually a fairly wide clear spot at one end where T says they used to put a picnic table in the summer months.  The table's long gone, but the grass is as lush and thick as winter grass gets, and it was somewhat heartening to find at least one section of ground that won't need too much work.

Along with the deadfalls and other debris, the grove also has a couple of particularly nasty hazards that are definitely going to have to go: honey locust trees.  

If you've never encountered one of these spine-y beauties, count yourself lucky.  Some of those spike balls have needles as long as my hand, and they're distressingly sharp.  I cleared a small patch of young growth out of the pasture along the driveway when I was running the fence, and even sturdy leather gloves weren't proof against their porcupiney-ness.  There are at least two big locust trees in the grove, but thankfully the majority are more innocuous varieties.  We'll thin and so some limbing, but not enough so we lose the windbreak.