You Stump Me No Longer!

When we first saw this diamond in the rough home, we knew there would be a lot of work involved to make it beautiful. We found out, after we bought our home last year, that the property had been vacant for three years before we moved in! The backyard was completely overrun with blackberries and thorn trees. After completing some much need renovations inside our home, we moved to the backyard. It was daunting. During the excavation of the yard, we discovered three little surprises. The best of the bunch was a four by six foot slab of concrete, the exact size of the playhouse foundation! Woot! The second little surprise was a stash of smaller rectangle concrete slabs we are saving for some walkways when the mister comes home. The final, and less exciting, was this big guy:

He sat proudly in the middle of our yard, constantly reminding us of his ability to sabotage all my visions of a dream yard filled with vegetable and flower beds, pathways and gates, smiles and rainbows. All thwarted by this snarky stump. Last summer we tried to set a bon fire around it to burn it out. Then we had a snarky black stump.

Enter the amazing team of Clean-Upers from our church. All these men showed up on the most beautiful day of the year so far (hello Mister 65 degrees), to do some labor intensive work in my yard. Amazing. So selfless and sacrificial, taking care of me and the girls this way. I was blown away by all the backbreaking work they did. 

Glen, the fearless leader, organized the men and kept them going all day. Thanks, friend!

The crater left by le stump. The kids had a field day playing down there.

The finish product! It may look like a bunch of dirt, but I see a bunch of dirt without a stump sticking his unwanted face out of the ground. Perfection!

While some guys kept busy with the stump, other men attacked our debris piles. It took four truck loads to clear it all away! Thank you Bobby-Jas for the use of your truck! 

Well, there you go. Phase one complete: stump and debris removal. Phase two: placement of the raised beds. Phase three: let the planting commence!