Terraforming

In 2012 when we bought our retirement house and property in Puna on the Big Island, we knew that full development would have to be prioritized, so we chose to leave the front half acre untouched until we built the ohana, wood studio, and lanai. This photo of us walking up the driveway to the house was taken in February of 2012 -- the day we made the offer on our house! 

South side - before

North side - before

Over the past 2.5 years, while completing these projects, the invasive species in the front half acre have taken over, and crept out along the full length of the driveway. 

This week we contracted to have both sides of the driveway cleared.  Not ONE plant along the sides were worthy -- they were all hideous invasive and destructive species that choke out native forest plants.
 

North side- after

South side- after

The bobcat was able to root out the over-grown sections and push it all back so we how have places to plant the forest trees we purchased  (the blog of June 13 shows all the trees we will be planting.)  One  photo shows where some of our new trees (bright green) will go. It may look a bit ugly right now -- but to our artists' eyes, we see two gigantic palettes along the driveway for creative terraforming with other plants and cuttings we have been saving for two years.