Clearing the Front Fence

Clearing this little section up front by the fence took several hours. I was working with a pair of extendable hedge shears, a bypass lopper and my trusty folding saw. I removed one low hanging branch from the pine, but most of the project was comprised of removing young privet. There were thorny vines running all through the privet and up the trees making the tedious chore that much more difficult. There was a little bit of sumac, which I've convinced myself is of the non poisonous variety. There were also a few poison ivy vines, definitely of the poisonous variety, although not the largest I've seen on the farm. I cut out the sumac and took it over to it's own brush pile, separate from the main pile. I wanted to keep it separate so I don't burn it by accident, just in case. I cut about a one foot section out of each vine of the poison ivy and left everything behind, avoiding the area as I worked.  Most of the remaining smaller trees are wild persimmons, they had already lost all of their leaves for the season since they were in such dense shade. Hopefully they'll fair better next year with the newly available sunlight.