A Sleepy Hollow-esque driveway project

I'm so very proud to have partnered on a recent project with Blueberry Hill Events (http://bbhevents.com/) here in Oklahoma City.  This really is an amazing and unique venue for weddings and parties of all kinds.  The property is simply incredible and it might make you forget you are practically in the heart of the city.

The owner had a clever vision for using an otherwise unusable part of their property.  She wanted a road down a very narrow easement so that guests could meet up with the parking valets, enter the property through a restored barn, and the valet could take their car to a hidden parking area out of site.

We started with this:

And had to quickly spread it evenly about 300ft down this path. The elevation change from top to bottom was about 15ft.

In less than a couple of hours, we had transformed the area into this road through the woods:

The parking area at the bottom of the hill cleverly hides the cars from the wedding area:

Prepping the family farm to sell

It's always a little sad for me to see family farm land finally reach a generation that, often for many very good reasons, is no longer interested in living on an acreage.  This 78 acres has been in their family for a few generations but is being prepped to sell.  That's where I came in.

Like most days, this one started off with a beautiful sunrise over the subject property and an old outbuilding there.

After years of neglect, much of the land had been consumed by briers and brambles. See how they lean sideways? The sole purpose of this design is to poke as many holes as possible into the skin of the dude on the tractor!

No matter how hard I try to spot these obstacles before I hit them, every now and then some stray wire will sneak in and slow me down. This mess only took a few minutes to clear from the brush hog.

Clearing this fenceline was by far the toughest task of the morning.  Not only was it very steep, as you can see it was full of more brambles.

Even so, the finished product turned out great, don't you think!? 

Brushogging in the heart of the city

Even in the heart of Oklahoma City, it's easy to miss the fact that there are empty fields and lots all around us that need regular maintenance.  I've driven by the road that leads to this field more times than I could even count and didn't even know it existed.  The owner of this property is both a nurse and realtor.  This field represents a dream she's always had to develop her own neighborhood.

I love turning this:

Into this: 

Here is a before and after of a grove of 1-2 inch diameter thorn trees:

Downtown drainage project

Talk about a fixer-upper! This customer's house was built in 1911, not longer after statehood.  It is located just a few blocks from the capital building and is in a very historic neighborhood.

The problem this family was having is that their yard was a little bit higher than their their driveway and water running through their downspouts dumps right on their drive.  As you might expect, this is a recipe for trouble.

Here is a shot of the really cool house.  They've done a great job fixing it up and making it very attractive.

It's important to consider the drainage of the entire property before any dirt is moved. Fortunately in this case, the backyard was not contributing to the problem.

The stain on the driveway next to the trash can is evidence of the water that was being retained and the obvious starting point to moving dirt.

It's important to shoot grades throughout the project to keep a close eye on things.

Mid-project...

The final product...now water can move away from the driveway and out onto the field. As an added bonus, I raised the level of the yard where the water was leaving the driveway.  Now it is being properly re-directed onto the street where the city's storm water system can collect it appropriately.

On the steep in El Reno

This rural customer on the far edge of El Reno has a large, steep drop-off at the back of her 2.5 acre home site.  Because of the slope and the busyness of life in general, she had let it grow up beyond the capabilities of her riding mower and needed my help.  She was thrilled with the work and we have a backhoe project coming up next to manicure the rest of her property.

In total, the mowing area was probably only about 1 acre but there were lots of down limbs and debris to contend with in the mowing process.

Here are some consecutive before-and-after shots.  Remember, the camera can't capture the depth of field necessary to fully contextualize the steep slope here.

Brush Hog in da Fog

MAN THIS WAS A BEAUTIFUL START TO THE DAY!!

There were a couple of times on the morning drive where visibility dropped to below a 1/4 mile.  It was extremely dense, to say the least.

But, while that made for some slower driving, it also made for a dramatic sunrise.  Here are a few pics of the day as it got started.

This was one of those mostly flat fields with only slight elevation changes that look so well-groomed when finished.