Brush and Weed Clearing are regular tasks on a country property. Generally they are done for the purposes of creating open space (either for some particular utility or just for spaciousness) or for fire prevention. I chose to set my home on the edge of a meadow to maximize about 1-2 acres of open space towards the front,  the brush line out the back. The meadow is basically monthly maintenance of keeping the weeds and native grasses down and away from any native or domestic trees or shrubs. It is amazing to see how many and various native grasses, wildflowers occupy a single square foot; left unchecked these meadow plants can grow to a height of six feet, so becoming a fire hazard. Brush clearing of the remaining 3-4 acres of the property seems to be an on-going project. Clearing brush creates more open space on your country property and gets rid of a gnarly, impenetrable tangle. One of the big thrills of clearing brush is that you may find a native specimen plant or a boulder to highlight in the new open space. Clearing brush and clearing weeds both provide tremendously good total body exercise.

Although brush clearing and weed clearing, share the mutual purpose of creating open space and fire prevention, they really are two different activities and require two different set of tools.  For clearing of weeds in the meadow, I prefer the use of a gas string trimmer for cost and ease of use; tending takes about half a day per month, April thru August.  I use a wheeled string trimmer by Swisher to trim the wide open and flatter spaces; I use a hand-held string trimmer by Stihl for fine, detailed work around trees and rocks or up against landscaped areas, or for areas with greater inclines.  It pays to use a quality brand for their durability and power; for small to mid-size properties lower end gas string trimmers are good enough. As a caution, using your lawnmower in a meadow is not so good for the meadow, the lawnmower, or the ol bod'; always use protective eyewear, disposible ear plugs, close-toe shoes, and work gloves.  For brush clearing, pruning shears are great for cutting dead or unwanted twigs.  Loppers are good for cutting branches up to two inches thick, ground level to a couple feet aboove your head; I use two lengths 20- and 30-inch which cut different thicknesses as well as heights.  Hedge shears are good for shaping a shrub or skirting a tree's foliage to a straight line a few inches above your head so you can easily walk under the tree into its shade.  An extended limb cutter cuts limbs up to 15 feet high for tree-thinning or remove dead limbs effortlessly. Mine all have metal handles and are made by Corona.  My Stihl chainsaw cuts anything above 2 inches thick.  Disposing of the cleared brush is a comparable problem to clearing it. I use a Troybilt homeowner portable chipper-shredder - it makes the best mulch from this handy brush clearing machine that can be spread 6 - 8 inches thick using a lawn rake.  A pitch fork is a useful  brush clearing tool for picking apart rodent nests that grow in the architecture of oak stands.  Other useful brush clearing tools include wheel barrow, handgloves, knee pads, protective eyewear, old clothes, and steel-toed shoes.  An assortment  of brush clearing tools need not be expensive, ranging from $5 - $40 tops, power tools $250 average, the chipper-shredder a worthy $800 investment. It is a big thrill to create open space in what was a gnarly mess, revealing specimen trees, shrubs and boulders, allowing the twinkle of the sunlight to silhouette the leaves and penetrate to the ground.

Once you have the tools, brush and weed clearing is cheap fun, great exercise and a good way to improve your country property's appearance and value. To find out more about this author and his writings, kindly visit http://fox-joe.com and http://joeandkathifox.com