Getting into my Land Routine

I've had a great couple of days so far this week on the land - I've got into the routine of waking up around 6.00, getting a brew on and then doing some marking or blogging before heading off to the land at about 8.00, and putting in about 6-7 hours graft before heading back at about 16.30 for a shower, dinner and dicking about on Hive for the evening.

Unfortunately I've been so busy I haven't taken too many photos, must remember to get with that for the future!

Strimming

I've spent the last two mornings strimming, and it's quite tiring work, even with 500 EU's worth of Stihl (my favourite new toy), I've got a lot to strim, and before I strim anything I need to walk over the land first (the grass is a foot thick in places) and check for any bits of thick wood, stone, metal, and get rid of those before I get to it.

I'm probably working a bit inefficiently too, given that I'm quite new to industrial strimming, and it doesn't help that the land is uneven, especially where the previous owners have made swales - they're a bugger to clear with all the peaks and troughs.

I've limited myself to three hours a morning of clearing/ strimming - it's pretty tedious TBH.

I imagine a professional would have cleared my entire lower field in two mornings, I've done about a third - but it's a learning process!

Tidying/ setting up living areas

This really is NOT something I enjoy - I'd rather be building and planting, but before that I NEED some nice spaces to base myself from - unfortunately with no one having lived here for two years there is A LOT of tidying up to do and rubbish clearance: the kind of stuff that can't be salvaged.

At some point I'll need to set up a decent temporary kitchen, tent, shower and compost loo, not to mention an area for water storage - but I need to clear the sites of bracken and general rubbish first, it's a bit frustrating, but it has to be an early priority.

Clearing the Olive Terraces

I'm also prioritising clearing the olive terraces, mainly because I think they're going to make beautiful chillax spaces once they are clear - but it's a pain - there's some thick brush in there that I'm having to saw out by hand before I can get the strimmer in, and yes that'll mean more strimming.

Other priorities

Water storage really is another priority - I know where I want to put my ICBs when I get them, but the ground is seriously rocky there and I need to have a think about maybe building a platform or at least levelling it properly in some way - the last thing I want is them getting punctured!

Once I've got all of the above done, I need to think about getting the house sorted and then planting. The later I probably won't get around to until winter, but that's cool - tree season!

A new weekly routine...

I've opted for a routine of Monday/ Tuesday and Thursday/ Friday on the land doing stuff, Wednesday as my town/ shopping/ chores/ sociology blogging day, and Saturday/ Sunday as marking/ blogging and chilling days.

Here's the view from my house - note the rows of perfectly manicured olive trees in the distance, not sure I like things that clean, but it's a contrast!