My Summer Project: Awesomeizing a corner of my yard

July 2014: I didn’t really think to take a “before” shot, but the area pre-bamboo-clearing is that overgrown thicket in the back.

I’ve knocked most of the bamboo down, and we’re about to have tree removal specialists remove the two-stalk tree in the middle.

The trees come down, instead of having the wood hauled away we ask them to leave it, cut into 2-foot sections. My wife is somewhat concerned about the volume of wood strewn about our yard.

The kids are less concerned.

I'm doing just fine.

With the trees down, it’s time to get to work clearing the brush from the overgrown area. I’m blessed with some great helpers!

Cleaning up this mess is no fun. I’m spending a lot of the weekends between our house and the conservation center, disposing of refuse.

A portion of our backyard was once a pond. In 1929 the town tore down our train station and filled in the pond with its remains. We find parts of the old train station everywhere we dig. It’s great for my kids, because who doesn’t want a train station buried in their backyard?

We also find other cool stuff, like this old Boy Scout beltbuckle

with the area cleared,

I start roping off a perimeter

The fun arrives.

With the playset built, it's time to build a retaining wall for all that mulch. Fortunately, we have a lot of a particular building material laying around.

Burying all the logs 9-12 inches deep leads us to hitting a lot of roots

and small rocks

that turn into large pieces of train station (son for scale)

The wall is coming along (bonus: there is a fox in this picture)

My neighbor George, an awesome dude in his late sixties, becomes my coworker.

PsBattle: Two men, some logs and a playground

Promontory summit!

Teamwork makes the dream work. Never forget it.

A sight to behold.

Complete.