Ahh, Spring!

[mdmead]

We live in a rural area just a few miles out of a small town. This is fruit growing country, although the last 20 years has seen a significant increase in residential development, displacing a good bit of orchards.

We live on this dirt road. This is a cherry orchard just up the road.


These blooming pear trees are right across the street from us.


We bought this place just about two years ago. The home (a very old beat-up doublewide) was (is!) a fixer, but the location and property was the big selling point. I'm hoping the following pics will show you why...

This is the south side of our yard.


We had over 200 cherry trees when we moved in. I loved the idea of having an orchard but the work required would have been overwhelming. Being an ag community, the county really cracks down on those that don't take proper care of their trees and puts the local growers at risk. Last spring I cut down all but 22 trees.




Seeing the cherry trees in bloom is cool!


This is the view out our bedroom window (to the south). Beyond our side yard is an orchard of pears (closest) and apples (farther in). (That tree isn't dead. It's just a slow leafer!)


Here is the other side yard (north). Yes, that is our 'fixer' home. (Don't laugh, our property and home are paid for!)






This is a Sequoia planted many years ago. They don't typically grow around here.


This is looking off of our back deck off towards the north side. We do have neighbors here and also across the street (next to the pear orchard).


This is part of our backyard, down below the garage and all my crap.




This is our front yard. Our irrigation water is hiding in this structure.


All is not perfect on our property. We also own this area which is far from pretty. This big hole was dug out to be a pond by a previous owner. This year I've been running water down to it and it is slowly filling. (It's up to about 8" now. Woo Hoo!) The houses back there own down to the bottom of the hill. Zoning in this area requires 2 acre lots or bigger. (There are some exceptions.)


Hope you have enjoyed our little 'park' in Washington.

[kings-x59]

Nice! ...have a room for rent?

[mdmead]

Nice! ...have a room for rent?

Uhh, did I mention it is a SMALL double-wide!

[Rebel]

Very very nice. You're doing a great job of keeping everything up. Really nice,,expect a visit any time. Don't worry,,we'll call ya when we get in town.

[mdmead]

Very very nice. You're doing a great job of keeping everything up. Really nice,,expect a visit any time. Don't worry,,we'll call ya when we get in town.

Hey, ASV members are truly welcome any time. (I certainly have room for RV parking.)

[kings-x59]

puttin a double bed mattress in the back of the 'stro rat now, be right up!

[potskie]

Man that sure is gorgeous. I want to find a nice peice of country property for myself.

Why does it look like you cut all that with a push mower? Seriously if you have been man I have a job for you I could always use guys with that kind of stamina

[tbhager94]

very nice, my house and lot cost me only $7000 and its all paid for, now we can start to fix it up, this summer we are going to fence in the yard a total of 350' of fence.

[astrozam]

Looks like you have yourself a little bit of paradise there Matt, well done

[mdmead]

Why does it look like you cut all that with a push mower?

Uh, not a chance, I'm too lazy for that. The last two summers I used a 40" cut Murray rider and it took a loooong time to mow. ](*,)

I upgraded to a new 54" cut Craftsman this year. Yeh Baby! Mowing still takes a bit over two hours though.

(Oh, and the first year I had to mow all around the 200+ cherry trees. I'd first mow back and forth west/east. Then back and forth north/south. Then I'd have to do a final cut weaving between the trees west/east. PAINFUL and SLOW. That alone was probably reason enough to cut down the trees!)

[potskie]

Sounds like you need a Z frame or Stander in the 60 - 70 " range. We run a couple Standers(52") where I work that would with an experienced operator probably cut that in less than an hour. While still being maneuverable enough to trim cut around the trees and leave a really nice pattern or sweet lines. Like this ...
I only say "experienced" because it takes a bit to get used to moving across a lawn at 20+ miles an hour

[Smiliesafari]

What a gorgeous spot !!!!!!!!!! With all of those blossoms it must smell great. At one time I was surrounded by orange trees and in the spring the air was filled with the scent of orange blossoms. Not anymore. All of the orange groves have been replaced with housing. YUK!!!! The next time I'm up in that area I'm going to visit. Count on it.

[lockdoc]

Very nice! We just had a Cherry Blossom Festival ourselves.

[mdmead]

Sounds like you need a Z frame or Stander in the 60 - 70 " range.

I was looking at some of the zero-turn mowers before I bought the Craftsman, but ultimately decided against them because one of the selling features was always their speed. While the ground looks great, it is rough and I can't mow fast. (Well, I can, but it is hard on body and machine!) A Stander might be better, but then there is the cost issue...

I'm tight with a buck (in some areas) and loved my old $700 Murray rider. Realizing I needed more, I struggled to find a balance between price/performance/durability. I read a ton of online reviews and what I discovered was that all of the major name brands in my price range ($2-3K) weren't really known for being trouble-free. My dad owns a Craftsman 48" cut which I've used a few times and worked on a few times. While it hasn't been as dependable as my old Murray, the repairs haven't been anything major either. I felt going with a Craftsman (Husqvarna in this case it appears) would be the lesser of evils...

A pleasant surprise with this new mower is the turning radius. It isn't as good as a zero-turn (obviously) but it turns TIGHT. It out-turns my Murray and runs circles around dad's Craftsman. (His mower turns OK in one directions and really poorly in the other.)

[mdmead]

We just had a Cherry Blossom Festival ourselves.

Cool!

Interestingly, we don't have anything like that around here that I'm aware of...

Last year was a real bust in our area for cherries. We had several hard freezes that decimated the crop in the upper Yakima Valley. The few cherries that survived were quickly picked over by birds as they didn't have their usual smorgasbord to choose from. It was a tough time for me as I have some of the sweetest tasting Bings growing on my property (that I had discovered the year before) and I was really looking forward to eating them! Here's hoping for a bumper crop this year!