Anyone who has been out to the property knows that our driveway needs some love. It’s about an eighth of a mile long, steep, and it curves. It’s also just a dirt track with lots of rocks. (We grow rocks out here. Seriously.)

This week, we had two different companies come out and give us bids. Today, the one we chose is starting work!

The driveway actually splits at the start of it. One side is “our” driveway, the other is an easement used by the neighbor who has land up above us. Her side of the driveway is even worse than ours.

Because we’re now living out here, the power company has been keeping the trees along the power lines trimmed. That has meant that a lot more rain has been coming down on that side of the driveway, washing it out.

Today, the company we hired is going to start grading and leveling out the easement side of the driveway. Then either late this afternoon or tomorrow morning, they’ll start on the main side of the driveway.

Not only are we having our driveway leveled off some and graded, we’re putting down recycled asphalt that’s been crushed into gravel.

Because the asphalt still has tar in it, it melts together as it heats during the summer, and as you drive on it. After about 10 years, it’s more like pavement than gravel. We’ll need to have more of the asphalt gravel added to it every 2-3 years for a while as it solidifies.

It’s going to be so much nicer to drive on! I’ve been wanting a new driveway for a long while. Particularly after this winter.

The company we hired is kind of a “do everything” construction company. Two guys, young, nice. Hungry. They gave us a bid on Friday and are starting work on Saturday, because they have some big jobs coming up and can just squeeze us in now.

In addition to the driveway work, we’re going to have them do the initial work on improving the box that we have around all the fruit trees/orchard.

We need to replace the fencing that we have around the orchard. It’s rotting and starting to fall in on itself. In addition, we’d like to increase the size of the box a little.

The company we hired is going to use a smallish bucket on a tractor to dig a trench about three feet out from the existing fence, line the trench with weed prevention cloth, then fill it with gravel. The trench will help prevent critters from digging into the orchard.

When I get back from the Mystery workshop, we’ll build the new fence on top of the rocks. That way, instead of having wood resting on the ground, the wood will be on top of the rocks and less prone to rotting. We’re also going to paint it to help preserve it.

So that’s our construction! The first of the big projects we have going on this year…Do you have any big projects planned this summer?