Driveway Repairs
August 28th, 2013 · No Comments · Posted in farming
The former owner of our farm property was a builder who insisted on doing most things himself. Unfortunately for us, that included building our driveway, a dirt and crushed stone affair that measures more than 800 feet–nearly the length of three football fields–and cuts a fairly steep path up the hill from the main road.
Problems with the driveway made themselves abundantly clear this spring during three weeks of steady rain. Drainage was not adequate, so all the water running off the hill sliced right through the driveway at one point and seriously gouged the edges at others. Driving up and down was bone jarring. I tried my best to fill in the holes with the stone tailings that were left from drilling our well. But I could not keep up.
Enter our local excavating crew. They had been busy digging trenches for new water and electrical lines to the pastures. Then they brought in a bulldozer to push the dirt back into holes they’d made. We thought this would be a good time to address the driveway issues. Yes, I know. One more expense. But it had to be done. Howard, a real artist with this machinery, made quick work of it. It only took him a couple of hours to sculpt a new driveway in the problem area with a wonderful crown in the middle and gulleys along the sides to drain the water away.
Now we wait to see what happens when the fall rains come and whether we will need to have loads of stone delivered to resurface the driveway. Seems like there’s no end of big jobs to be done starting a new farm. I can’t help wondering how farmers managed in earlier times. Where would we be without all this heavy equipment?
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