Clearing Loads of Blackberries to Reveal a Barn and Field

Before: Blackberries were taking over the field and had climbed all the way up to the barn's roof line.

Another view (to the right of the barn): massive amounts of blackberries


R: Before picture L: after some initial blackberry removal work was done via the excavator


Luc and excavator in action

More action pictures


Right: clearing the blackberries to reveal a very old stone building


L: Progress! R: some remaining blackberry branches in the barn windows


L: the girls watch and record Luc's progress R: Stella points to Daddy


L: Removing the blackberries reveals . . . the barn! R: Luc at work on a cold, wet day

Dealing with the blackberries: burning

The girls watch the fire with dad and warm their hands


Above: some of the massive piles of blackberries.

Raised Rock Planter makes a circular driveway

Placing rocks after dumping off many many yards of dirt (see below pics) to make a planter and a circular driveway.

BEFORE: with rock pile and dirt piles. A lot more dirt to go . . .

And more dirt . . .

AFTER: There it is with the dirt smoothed and rocks placed to make the planter.

Rock Wall frames an entryway in the Woods in Langley

This newly constructed home in the woods called out for a beautiful rock wall to frame the entryway and bring the elegant elements of nature from the surrounding woods in toward the home. Luc created this short rock wall, which will be the foundation for landscaping around the home. Above: the rock wall is under construction. Luc's hand tools are in the foreground.

The rock wall will act as a retaining wall for what might become a planting bed or a beautiful lush lawn. This time of the year there is a lot more water to work with both in the soil and raining down during work days. Above you will see some water that has puddled due to digging and earth moving that has taken place.

Above: measuring the length and width of the wall: a line marks the angle at which to build the back section of rock wall.

Completed rock wall!

Baby Stella's First Ride on the Great Yellow Machine (excavator)

Luc takes baby Stella (1 year old) on the excavator, for the first time and...

... they load her wheel barrow with a rock ...

... and Stella takes over the controls

... I have this under control dad...

Here is how you move the bucket, Stella... well, she loved it!

Neighbors have a job too: excavating a road, spreading dirt, and making a 1st class RV perch

Luc was working on the neighbor's terrace (see December 16th post) and the neighbors hired him and sometimes partner Doug Roraback to haul dirt to their site to create a parking spot for their RV on a steep embankment. The job consisted of filling in a large "dip" in the hillside with dirt and creating a road to the site. Once filled in, the area will serve as a parking spot for the home owners RV. The proposed parking site will also have a magnificent view of the water.

Doug hauled more than 25 large dump truck loads of dirt from Greenbank & Coupeville to the site in Clinton. Luc used his excavator to move the dirt, shape the land, fill in the dip, and lie gravel on the newly formed road. Here is where the road meets the new road Luc made

Filling in the "dip" and the view of the water.

Just beginning the filling in process. Look for this stump in the following pictures to get an idea of how the job progressed.

Part of the road to the RV site

RV site-to-be

Moving the dirt in to the site

Stump is pictured on the left. Excavator perched precariously.

Now this is perched precariously!

Road to the RV site with Doug's dump truck (blue) dumping a load at the future RV site.

the road to RV site
Above: the final finished platform

Terracing a steep hillside to create planting beds in Clinton: excavator, land remodling, dump truck work

The owners of this property wanted to make their steep hillside into planting beds. Luc used his excavator to sculpt the land into 5 even terraces. This meant moving and bringing in a lot of dirt, including a nice layer of compost for the top (notice how dark the soil is!). The end result is a beautiful wave that undulates down the hillside. Next: planting!

Above: terraces with natural weed-reducing newspaper layer and on top of that compost


Above: terraces as viewed from hilltop

dump truck and excavator at work...

Terraces before adding newspaper and compost layers