And Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, Heeere’s Bruce!

August 16, 2026

In Bruce’s own words and pictures, the removal of the pig pen fence from the start of the project to today.

Where the entry gate was, but the right-hand gate post was broken off before we bought the place. This small paddock includes what we think is an 8-place pig feeder, and a small shed with a gate for a door.

There’s the post, on the ground, and where it was mounted in concrete in the foreground. Last year, this southern border, along with the western border, produced a lot of good blackberries. This year, not so much, so we’re OK with tearing it all down.

From the west (the direction of the house), the shed is hard to see behind all the brush. By the end of the project, this will all be clear, and I will probably take down one or two trees, as they’re sickly and badly leaning.

Here, I’ve cleared a lot of the brush from the southern and eastern borders with my Kaiser blade, and then mowed the area down. This makes it easier to get close to the t-posts so I can remove them.

With three t-posts removed from the southern border, I found that the southeastern corner post, another big wooden one, had also snapped off at the base. It was hard to see before, with all the brush. Now I’ve pulled that secton of fence out of the way, and cleared a lot of that brush.

The gatepost, mostly cleared of brush.

The corner post, also mostly cleared.

The “pig feeder” (does anyone need one of these?), with a bit of the ever-present wild salad greens. Fortunately, we know the right dressing to use with these greens.

With the southern fence gone, I can more easily get the tractor in here, should be able to lift the feeder, move it somewhere else. And maybe find out what’s been living in it, and under it.

The tractor, with the loader bucket off, but the backhoe in place for counterweight as I use the loader to pull out posts.

Some brush cleared from both sides of the eastern border, and the southern border mowed. I’ve pulled the fence, including the gatepost and corner post, off the the side. We may end up using the fencing material for garden trellises.

Looking along the remainder of the eastern border.

It’s a little hard to see the fence, though the wooden posts are readily visible. I need to pull more staples from those posts, fully separate the fence from them.

The northern and western borders are still pretty messy, and there’s a lot of junk growing around the gate to the shed.

Now the eastern border is clearer.

Most posts removed, brush cut, and area mowed.

I have a manual t-post puller, but found the posts here to be too well entrenched. So I use the bracket you can see on that t-post, attached to some chain hanging from the loader. I had been using a ratchet strap, but it tore. The chain should hold up better.

Close-up of the loader, chain, and bracket. The bracket fits around the t of the t-post, and “catches” on the bump-outs on the flat side. Ideally, anyway.

And this post is out! Some came out fairly easily, making me think the manual puller would have worked for them. Others took the full power of the loader. And some refused to budge. I may pour water around the problem posts, to loosen the ground. Or I may dig a little.

This post has the roots of a small tree or bush (privet?) wrapped around it, and caught up in the fence.

More of the wild salad greens. After working around this stuff for a while, I thoroughly wash with Tecnu, to neutralize the toxin.

It’s hard to tell there was a paddock surrounded by brush!

I’ve cleared some of the northern border at this point. It was harder to reach the fence there, so I could snip off the clips holding the fence to the posts. I’ve also cleared up some of the brush along the western border, so soon I should be able to remove the fence on that side. With all the fence free, I can roll it up, put it somewhere for future use.