In my previous blog, I told how in 1998 my dad and mom gave Jenny and I a lot just south of their home on Camano Island, Wa. I shared that my first project was tearing down an old house on the lot and that I dreamed to replace it with an art studio where I could showcase my family’s art legacy.
But over the next eight years I didn’t do anything. Alder trees shot up,, some to over 40 feet tall. Blackberry vines took over. It was a mess. I took a few steps in clearing it by hand. I used my dad’s chainsaw to cut down some alders. I pulled out some blackberry vines by hand. It was slow, tedious work.
Then in 2008 I decided to have it professionally cleared. I hired Tim McGlinchy of Highland Earth Services.
Tim used an escavator to rake out and pile the brush and trees. He broke up and hauled out the old foundation. It was fun to watch a heavy equipment artist at work. What would have taken a year to do by hand took McGlinchy and his escavator just a few days.
In the late fall Tim burnt the piles and graded the soil smooth with a bulldozer. We planted grass. It came up beautifully in the wet fall soil. And we were one step closer to the dream of Sunnyshore Studio.
