Clear away hemlock grove and cut down all walnuts that are in the way of the future garden, CHECK

Well, the clearing that was to be done on the land is done. It took 17 hours of LC and JC (with their track hoe), 8 hours of chainsaw work by the fabulous and ever working Eduard*, and about 20 hours of me being there- working some, thinking some, "supervising" some, and keeping a close eye on the enormous burn piles of hemlocks that were going. The only clearing left to do is for the house site, which as of now is undecided. The place looks so big and open now that the bulk of the clearing is done. I would say there are close to 2 acres cleared total, leaving 18 acres of precious woods. Even though I didn't do much physical labor today, I feel pretty exhausted from the process of thinking, being out in the heat, and decision making that will have long term effects on the land and on my life. Does anyone have a decent riding mower that you want to sell to me?

* Eduard has been one of the (if not the top) most enthusiastic and supportive friends in this process since I moved down into the holler into the Airstream. He first helped me set up gutters and a rainwater collection system for Airstream living, then he came to all the work parties to date, and today he came out and did some kick arse chainsaw work in the heat. Thank god and daniel boone for Belgium work horses who pose as humans.