The Forest Begins

      Two years ago, almost to the day, I decided to embark on a new journey, something I'd never done before or even really heard of. I decided the overgrown patch of weeds we called a backyard in our trailer park needed to be converted into woods. Sure, a garden might have been easier, even laying grass seed and mowing it every week would have been easier, but it wouldn't be a forest. I wanted trees, shade, leaves, pine needles, rocks, logs, birds and furry critters scurrying about.

       The soil is awful, not only clay based but full of gravel and old chunks of tar. The trailer park got lazy by the time they got to our section which meant no top soil, no grass, no trees or shrubs, just wide open space between our little mobile homes. When we moved in, ours was the last trailer before a cleared out field that would eventually be filled in with a road and homes. Not even a single bush between them. This meant for years there has been no wildlife, nothing to break the wind in winter or shade the yard in the summer. I wanted to change that.

      The problem was that when I started this daunting task, I didn't have any money to buy trees or any clue how to plant them. So I told myself I'd do it for free, or at least pretty close to it. Now, two years later, I've managed to do it. Obviously it's not a real forest yet, they take a long time to grow, but it's on its way and growing successfully. No money. No experience. Here's how its done.