Day 30: Tree Planting

Tuesday

They say the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, and the second best time is now.

"Now" finally came this afternoon as we planted some trees along our drive. The older kids helped briefly, and then were whisked away to Scouts and Activity Day Girls. Abby and Will stayed to help, along with Kim.

We had a pretty good system. Kim created ribbon labels for each tree, which we tied on to their trunks (i.e. twigs). We placed them in two buckets with a few inches of water to keep them moist. The buckets, and Abby, went in the back of the mule. I then hooked a tape measure to the mule and extended it 20ft perpendicular to the road. We drove the mule along the road, measuring the distance between the trees (30ft) with a walking tape. I'd start the hole and move the mule from hole to hole, placing the correct tree at each hole. Abby read the labels and handed out trees to me in the right order. Will held the tape. Kim came along behind and finished the hole digging and planting. It was quite the process, and it worked well.

The basement has been fully excavated and I have a few better pictures of the competed job. The extra dirt has really helped our backyard develop.

Will and Abby were great help, and they got to play with the goats afterward before heading home.

Daily Stats		Hours Worked			Cost
	Day	Trevor	Family/Friends	Contractors
Today	30	2	2	0
All Time	30	23.5	22.5	116.5	$13,496.75
Summary of 5/6/2014		Work Done Today
		Planted approx. 20 trees
		Materials Used Today
		Red Oak, Redbud, Tulip Maple, Dogwood trees
		Who Helped Today
		Kim
		Contractors On Site
		None