Brush in gulley - leave it or not?

[JimParker]

Next time I go out there, I'll get some pictures of the big gulley. I've pretty well decided to leave it alone and just keep piling brush into it as I clean up the other brush piles.

Yesterday, my wife asked me to get her a chain saw for Christmas. She says she gets to play (I mean - work) with tools also! Actually, she wants 2 of them...

I was out there for about 4 hours on Wednesday, just messing around. Consolidated a couple of brush piles into one bigger one. Leveled out a couple of really bumpy areas. Things like that. Anyway, while eating lunch, I sat and watched a hawk cruise the meadow, then the treeline, and then loop back about every 30 minutes. In the distance, I could hear a couple of crows cawing at each other. Add in a few songbirds, some butterflies landing on the wildflowers, and a beautiful day with temps in the mid-60s... I've got a wonderful wife, 3 fantastic kids, a great job that pays well, and now this beautiful piece of land. What a great lead-in to Thanksgiving Day celebration with my sister's family. Is this a great country of what?

 

[ddivinia]

Where is your new place - Farmersville?

D.

 

[texasjohn]

Howdy,
I put brush in erosion areas. Birds sit on it, droppings happen, trees spring up, slow water, slow erosion, grass grows under dead brush, difficult for herbivors to get to, reduces erosion rate, gathers runoff debris, dirt begins to fill in the area, bottom flattens out, water slows down drops silt, variety of plants increases, critters hide there... its a good thing, leave it there.

Goats will NOT, EVER, get hurt on any part of the terrain you describe.

Have fun doing something else with your tractor seat time

 

[mikim]

FYI -- my wife really likes the 2 echo saws she has --- light weight - handle on top ....

 

[RalphVa]

I filled in a gully made by rain coming down from the neighbor's turnaround area with gravel. At one place, I put in a "lazy man's rain garden" by making a dam with some big rocks. Then filled in behind the dam and put some Jamestown Weed seeds down. Had a nice crop of Jimeson weeds with their pretty flowers this summer on it.

Where the contractor pushed excess dirt from the carriage house construction, there's a mini gully that I'm filling in with stuff. Eventually, I'll maybe get a load of dirt delivered and dump it in there on top.

Another place where there's a big gully, I built a mini dam out of leftover cement blocks. They stop some of the minor erosion.

I'd leave your gully, maybe put some stuff crossways down near the bottom end of it to better stop erosion. Continue to put brush in it. Cut it up to pack it in better.

Ralph

 

[Pilot]

Leaving the brush is probably not a problem.

The only potential problem I see is from flooding, maybe a flash flood. Then what happens is that the stuff will start to move and may pile up against something further downstream, doing some damage or causing more cutting of banks, maybe undercutting the edge of a road or driveway. The '64 flood here in Oregon had logs piling up against bridges until there was so much pressure the bridges gave out. That was an extreme flood & we had really big trees. But we lost some big bridges. A walk downstream to see what's there could identify problem areas. Or maybe the stems on this brush are smaller than I imagine or the volume of the brush is smaller and there is no problem at all...

BTW, I am 1/3 of the way thru building an RV-9...and live less than 30 mi. from Van's. Eat your heart out!

 

[JimParker]

Where is your new place - Farmersville?

Yep, it's really closer to Princeton, but the mailing address is Farmersville. If you know where 380 crosses Lake Lavon, we're a bit north of there, next to the Army Corps of Engineers land.

Sounds like you're in the general area also?

 

[JimParker]

BTW, I am 1/3 of the way thru building an RV-9...and live less than 30 mi. from Van's. Eat your heart out!

Now that's just downright mean! From what I've heard, 1/3 finished means you've only got about 90% left to go! I hope you enjoy yours as much as the other RV builders I've met love theirs. Are you going to paint it green and yellow?

 

[ddivinia]

I grew up in Greeville and have driven 380 many times - know the area well. I am in Red Oak now (25 mins south of Dallas).

D.

 

[Pilot]

Actually I would like to paint it green & yellow, but around here in western Oregon the green would disappear against the background of trees. And at Van's fly-in, I have noticed that some yellow planes attract bees and I am allergic to them, so I'll probably go with blue or marroon. Got the top wing skins riveted on last week, the QB fuselage is ordered & will be delivered in March.