These pictures will mostly likely persuade you to never join me on an invitation for a work party. I am so very grateful for my loyal supporters (my family) for spending a Saturday finishing up the dog yard! Here’s a brief timeline of events and some before photos.
May 2007 :: Original foliage (blackberries) in this area. Multiply this times 100 to get the idea of how many blackberries overtook the area in the 3 years since then!
2010 :: Burning brush and after we used a tractor and brush hog to remove all of the 6′ tall blackberry vines!
2010 :: Setting posts to contain the area
2010 :: Looking at two days of grueling labor – removing all the old blackberries, burning the brush, and setting all of the fence posts.
Fast forward to this weekend .. 2011
Due to the insane amounts of blackberries in this area AND the amazing ability blackberries have to grow in this area, it was necessary to lay down something to block them from resprouting. A layer of wood chips or barkdust would just be the perfect nutrients for them to take over my beautiful new dog yard!
In comes the felt. This is a by-product from the fiber mills up in Longview, and is as effective as a thick layer of gravel to deter the blackberries. We layed out rolls and rolls of felt and were able to cover almost all of the open areas.
Bob getting ready to go to lunch after the felt was rolled out.
Rolled out felt
Post-lunch = unloading the bobcat (my mom and I share the same passion for working in pajama pants and muck boots 
)
If you ever wonder how much hog’s fuel is in one dump truck load, this is it. The second pile is by the horse pasture…
You can also see the 4 yards of gravel we got to fill in the area outside of the back sliding door. This created a nice base into the shop to prevent water buildup, since it is about 18″ thick.
Back sliding door into the shop – large gravel base and hog’s fuel leading up to it.
Bob worked the bobcat like a PRO! We learned very quickly that we couldn’t turn on the felt without it creating huge wrinkles and to build up the barkdust from the beginning of the path, as it was easier to drive on the barkdust layer than directly on the felt.
The 2nd pile of hog’s fuel – the perfect spot to fill in the natural muddiness that occurs in this area with the leftover material!
Those were our management chairs 
Trimming trees while Bob creates large piles of hog’s fuel…
Trimming up the felt rolls
Unfortunately, you cannot do this project without hand tools and a lot of manual labor! Aspirin, alcohol, icy hot, and heating pads were well-utilized at the end of this day!
Looking through the beautiful forest area to the shop! I can’t wait for all the trees to get leaves to take some official photos!
Due to the slickness of the felt, I had to use just straight hog’s fuel (or barkdust). As time goes on, I will start mixing in wood chips to change the consistency. Straight wood chips would have just slide off and created a big mess
Photos to come of the dogs .. they have all given their full approval and Beamer works hard at enticing the girls to do massive chasing laps around the yard. This equals success!
