Transforming My Property: Road Clearing and Shed Plans

A big Hello and welcome back to the Vandemonian homesteader. I hope you are all doing well!

As we shake off the remains of a relatively uneventful winter and move through spring, we are finally beginning to get a couple of days that tempt us with the warmth that summer will bring. I, for one, am looking forward to the longer days. I love how much more productive I can be with those few extra hours of sunlight.

For those who read my previous post, I mentioned that I have been pretty busy for the past few months. Honestly, I feel like I’ve been saying that more and more these past few days. But there is truth to the statement: Most of this year has kept me pretty busy. Thankfully, finally, all my hard work is beginning to pay off.

Good news, Everyone!

I also mentioned last week that I had some great news to share, and today, I will share it with you all. Early last week, I received a letter from the council informing me that my application to build on my block had been approved! After all this time working, saving, planning, and dreaming, I finally have approval to build. Reading that letter has left me grinning from ear to ear as I am another step closer to Achieving my goals.

As for what I’m having built, I decided on a 9mx6m shed with a pedestrian door, roller door, and multiple windows. I also have a 3x9m awning on the front, giving me a total footprint of 9x9m. Now, while it’s not a completely original idea, it is pretty common here in Tasmania, as I imagine it is in other parts of the world, to move into the shed while saving to build the main house. The planning application that I submitted was for just a shed. So once the shed company has finished with the construction, I plan to hook it up to solar, add a water tank, both of which I made clear in the planning application and then I will put in a kitchen and bathroom so I can live in it with relative comfort.

While I have no intention of making it into a cozy tiny home or a permanent solution, I do, at some point in the future, plan to return it back to its original state and use it as a garage and workshop. However, until that happens, I will make it as comfortable as possible while in there. So, to solve this, any work I do on the interior other than the fireplace will need to be done in a way that allows me to remove it at a later date, so I will need to use more screws or bolts instead of nails. 

 The shed is being manufactured and supplied by a local shed-building company, which will handle the majority of the work involved. I went with this path instead of doing it myself, as I only have so much time. They can have it up in a fraction of the time it would take me, and they would most likely do a better job. But before the shed kit and builders arrive, I must have the site levelled and a concrete slab poured in preparation, but I will get to that later.

In an optimistic form of preparation, I made regular trips to the bush block before receiving approval. On these trips, I began clearing, widening, and improving the road that is my driveway. As it was, I couldn’t get out there without scratching the hell out of my car, and if that was the case, I knew that there was no way on earth the trucks needed to start construction could make the trip. It reached the point where any spare moment that wasn’t spent at my 9 to 5 or in bed asleep was spent working on or preparing to work on the driveway. That is one of the main contributing factors to why my posts have been coming out closer to monthly instead of weekly, as I would prefer.

To make it more accessible, I have removed all the brush, scrub, and trees that have taken root on the road. Large trees that had fallen across the road had already been cut wide enough to allow a car through, but I had to re-cut them so trucks could safely pass through. In places where the road was a bit boggy or needed levelling, I went and filled the ditches and wet patches with varying sizes of gravel and sand to fill the holes and aid with drainage.

It has been tiring work, resulting in some long, arduous days. But it has also been a hell of a lot of fun and incredibly rewarding. After spending the day out there, as I slowly begin to drive along the winding track out and head home for the night, I notice that the road is smoother than it was on the way in. And that fewer branches are scratching on the side of the car. At that point, I feel a great sense of happiness that all the time and effort I have put in is making a noticeable difference. The simple act of removing or tidying up the roadside scrub has opened a lot of the property up and rewarded me with some fantastic views of the land I hadn’t seen before.

Removing the scrub hasn’t been straightforward; finding an efficient routine took a few attempts. Granted, a couple of machines could make quick work of what took me a weekend to complete, but I currently have neither the machine nor the funds to hire one. All I have right now is my brush cutter with a blade, chainsaw, mattock, and a solid, heavy rake.

The method that has worked best so far is to slash what I can with the brush cutter and remove the loose material with the rake. The chainsaw and mattock will remove any logs, branches, or small trees that may be hidden in the bracken. Any remaining scrub will be hit with the brush cutter a second time before I finish it all off by raking everything away.

I hit it with the brush cutter twice because its blade is not meant to cut anything thick—grass and small shrubs, that’s about it, nothing thicker than a pencil. As I mentioned before, hiding among the scrub is a lot of logs and rocks, and I don’t want to hit either with the blade, just in case it damages it. So, to play it safe, I remove what I can first to see if there are any hazards, and if there are, I go over the area again once they are removed. The thought of that blade shattering while spinning at high speed, that close to my legs and feet, is not a comfortable one, so I’m taking every precaution.

Once I have removed the waste, I sort it into three piles: rubbish, firewood and usable.

Rubbish

This is where the majority of what I remove ends up. Scrub, bushes, branches, or rotten logs are collected. They are then dumped just off the side of the road out of the way. I can’t use any of this stuff, so I am more than happy for it to break down and return to nature. However, If I had a chipper, I would be chipping it all down and making one hell of a compost. But I’m not yet at that stage, so it will have to wait. 

Firewood

This is pretty self-explanatory; any trees or logs that don’t look like they could be used for future projects are tossed in a heap where, at a later date, I will come back to collect them so they can be used for firewood. This stuff is generally short, oddly shaped, knotty bits of logs or trees. Some of them would be nice if used creatively in carpentry projects as they have a bit of character. But I’m in no position to collect bits of wood for possible future carpentry projects so they will go to the burn pile for now.

Usable

This category mainly includes logs or fallen trees that are tall/long and straight enough that I can use them elsewhere. At the moment, there were quite a few silver wattles along the road. The great thing about silver wattles is that they grow to a decent height with a relatively narrow trunk. I am fairly confident that with some work, I could use them as fence posts when making and fencing off my future vegetable garden, which I plan to do. A few silver wattles, chicken wire and a few sheets of roofing iron should make for a great possum and wallaby-proof fence.

What’s next?

Last week, I had a site inspection from the shed building company; the purpose of the visit was to view the site and check access. They were happy with the work done on the road and confident that their trucks could get through; overall, they were pleased with everything and were keen to proceed. Currently, they are waiting for the site to be levelled so they can begin laying the concrete for the slab. I have organised for a guy from a local earthworks business who will flatten everything and prepare it for the shed company. So, as soon as his job is done, the slab can be poured, and then the shed kit can be assembled. After that, I will bring in a solar company, and the conversion can begin.

So, for the moment, other than unlocking gates, pointing at things, and paying people, there isn’t much for me to do over the next two months. All the big jobs are in the hands of various tradesmen, so to help prevent idle hands, I will be using this time to do a bit of clearing and levelling of my own.

While I have the opportunity, I will clear a small space for a 20ft shipping container just off the driveway. I will use the container as a workshop and a place to store materials while I work on conversion later. I am also thinking of moving some furniture and belongings into it to make the move easier when it happens. But I will explain this more in a future post.

And that’s all I have for you today. Now you’re caught up on all my activities and know what to expect in the coming months.

Even though, in a way, it is a bit frustrating that everything I had planned regarding my garden here and setting up a market stall will all have to be postponed as a few half-completed projects in my backyard will now have to be moved. I am thankful that I found myself in a position where I could make this move and achieve my goals a lot sooner than initially planned. Besides, there is always next year to start a garden.

Next week, I will talk about purchasing a shipping container, my reasons for doing so and how I got about preparing a bad for them to sit on. So make sure to come back and check that out. Until next time, thanks for dropping in. Have yourself a good one and I will catch you later.