Of rock and strawberry beds

We have been working on this yard since we moved in almost three years ago. We have removed approximately 8 trees to allow sun to shine on the yard and garden area leaving still almost a dozen trees on the property. The back fence on the property is lined with trees on the other side so we didn't lose all of the shade completely. We love trees but some of the ones that we removed were blocking valuable sunlight and we want to get the most of our property including lawn to play on and veggies and fruit of our own. Some of you may remember the tree falling incident from one year ago yesterday. If not, you can read about that here.

The area above is our "party and entertaining" area. A benefit of taking three years to work on a yard is that we have taken the time to see how we will use each area. This has kept us from doing anything permanent that we would want to change later. The big bed on the left is where the strawberry crowns will be planted when it stops sprinking long enough for me to get out there. The area beyond that is the fire pit area for roasting marshmellows and visiting with friends in the the late hours. We have used the area for this but until last weekend it was mostly dirt. The rocks make the area look so much cleaner.

Here is a view from the other side. As soon as Steve has recovered from surgery he plans to build a step the entire length of the deck he built two summers ago for more seating for family and friends. We have 19 nieces and nephews on both sides combined plus our five kiddos so this type of seating will come in very handy. Just beyond Lil and the black doghouse is where the play structure will be built. We started with one side of the yard and are working our way around to the larger area of yard on the side. I heard somewhere that Rome wasn't built in a day so I am trying to not to expect our yard to be finished that quickly either. Not that my yard is a large city or anything. Just sayin'.