The Would-Be Farm: Rock the Steps

What might  the principal exports of the Would-Be Farm be?

Apples? Rhubarb? Wild turkey? Hickory nuts? Cherry tomatoes? Okay, we have done pretty well with the garden but truth be told, our most reliable products are burdocks, porcupines, and rocks.

Haven't found much use for burdocks and porcupines, but rocks --

I only meant it to be a couple of strategically placed stepping stones.

Instead, as rock-moving projects in my world tend to do, the idea morphed and grew.

We built the cabin on the side of a hill, on piers (or stilts as they would be called, oddly enough, in a coastal setting).

​It makes a nicely shaded area under the living room where we can park the tractor and what-not.

Because this was a very wet summer, however, the down-below area was a clay-pit.

​The little boat trailer sunk to its axel. Walking around down there meant acquiring an inches-thick sole of clay stuck to the bottom of our shoes.

Solution: pour concrete.   

A levitating propane tank. Huh. Don't see that every day.

After some thought, we decided against doing our own concrete work. The guys managed to dig, gravel, and move the concrete by wheelbarrow from where the 'rete truck backed into Jeff's velvet field of green in a single day.

(PS, it took us only a week or so to fill those ruts and overseed the area with clover. The scars on the field are nearly invisible.

So we have a magically smooth concrete floor down below, perfect for parking stuff and enjoying the breeze.
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Of course, if you build it, they will come. But anybody wanting to get there will have to make a pell-mell run downhill from the driveway to get to the down-below.

Or use my decorative but winding stepping path through the rock garden.

Neither option is ideal, especially when you just want to turn off the hose or grab the little wagon. 

So steps.  

I meant to just put a couple of flagstones into the ground, but then the stones started piping up and the hill was asking for more...