R Scott

Look around for hedges nearby, and copy them. If the particular species isn’t to your liking, at least pick something similar looking. The privacy and noise abatement are yield enough in my book, but flowers for pollinators would be a bonus.  Pick something easy to maintain and budget for the tools to do it.

Just a note on straw—it can have mature seed heads as Paul described, usually because the crop was too low of yield or damaged by weather or disease right before harvest (not worth the money to run the combine harvester through the field) but it could have been harvested and then baled just the straw, in which case is partially shredded and has most of the seeds removed.

Hay can be made from annual grains, or from perennials—alfalfa, clover, any number of grasses.  If cut at the right time, there should be very few viable seeds, but it is possible to have a lot of weed seeds off the timing was off.

Any type can have herbicide and/or insecticide residue, so source carefully.

The basic pocket kit is an Opinal knife, either the big folding sickle blade garden knife or the mushroom knife, and a titanium backpackers trowel plus a couple bags, usually the pocket reusable shopping bags like from Trader Joe’s or similar.  I’ll add pruning shears and gloves if I think I need to clear brambles or am after cuttings.

John C Daley wrote:Ross, I have to ask, why buy a block with so many mature trees and then cut them down?

Not the OP, but in our area many parcels are pure timber, you would have to cut that many just for access and small house site.  

Adam Savage (of Mythbuster fame) did tattoo a ruler on his forearm and had a couple videos on it. And yes it does change over time. He used to sell temporary tattoo copies of it if you want to try it, or play a joke on your friends ;)

Kali De Keyser wrote:Hello R Scott,
Well I'd rather move compost from a bin than remove soil - it seems easier to me and surely less disturbing to soil and plant life... the garden is full of plants : melissa, rhubarb, raspberry, redcurrant, roses, ferns and as the season advances, I will surely discover new plants.
We also plan to dig into the garden to put a water tank but that is another project...

I had annual veggie beds in my mind. It’s definitely a non starter for perennials. I just thought it could be a once a decade job instead of a once a week job. Plus you could probably get the person getting the soil to do most the heavy work.

I’m sure they passed it off as weight savings. Heck, the passenger seat might be OPTIONAL.  The Dodge Hellcat had configurations where the back and (I think) passenger seat were optional.

I can’t believe I’m suggesting it because it sounds so unlikely to ever happen to me, but you may want to remove soil from your garden beds. Take that soil to the farm or sell/barter/give it to neighbors that need it for their gardens. Then compost at your home. When the beds get too tall or rich in ten years or so, repeat.

All of the above!!

One thing to look for is when the native vegetation ISN’T blooming and add something to fill in the gaps.

How big of a paddock are you trying to use?  What kind of wire are you using?

I haven’t bought out even looked at energizers in years, but the last time I bought a good 12v energizer, a marine battery, and a small solar panel, plus a jogging stroller from goodwill. All that was still half the price of the equivalent solar charger.