Digging up the Ground for the Gazebo Floor

We had to loosen and remove soil six inches deep. The tree roots were a nightmare.


The big shovel thought the tree roots were toothpicks. No problem.

After removing the soil six inches deep, we had to level and stamp the ground. We did this by hand. Oh my.

Staking the ground for the Wedding Gazebo

Robbie, myself and Sophie position the stakes for our oldest daughter's wedding gazebo. Noel and her fiance, Danny, will be married here this summer.

Yep. that's me. I like getting my hands dirty... and my butt.


We had to level a string to help us level the ground.

Sophie became an expert at reading the string level. A perfect job for her.

If you look closely you can see a rough outline for the gazebo. It started out as an eight post gazebo design. We later changed it to a six post design.

There were too many tree roots to dig up the soil by hand, so we brought in the big shovel. Robbie loves to dig in the dirt with the big shovel.

Art Farm Portraits

Clearing the area to build the Wedding Gazebo...

A gathering of the big machines.

They move like a herd.

What I love about this process ~ manipulating the earth, building a design born in our hearts... I love my children building with us. All five of our children ages 6 to 24 (and Noel's fiance of course), have been working side by side with us, and we've all been hitting it really hard. Here are two of my babies making me proud...

Everybody learns to work the Big Blue Tractor!

In preparation for building the wedding gazebo, there's been a lot of moving stuff around: moving rocks, mounds of dirt, heavy trees and their even heavier root systems. Using the Big Blue Tractor makes all this manipulating of the earth, easier.

Noel working the Big Blue Tractor.

Who is the project manager in this photo?

Big machines, heavy chains, manly men.

Look at that grin. He just earned a lolly pop!

Isaac digs out an old dead tree.

Isaac takes charge of Big Blue.

Wedding Gazebo ~ Getting Started

Rob arrives with the backhoe ~ on loan from our friends Lonnie and Steve, who love to bless our socks off. We love you guys!

Cheering their Daddy on as he digs out a stump and root system.

Isaac with his Dad.

Robbie concentrating. Check out that tongue.


Big machines are so much fun!