Hardin Brothers Landscaping

Due to the repetitive nature of my monthly posts, I thought it might be a good idea to space them out a bit. The type of work done at Amber Ranches changes with the seasons. You can look back at some of the older posts to get a more detailed description of the type of work done each month of the year, but for the sake of not boring everyone to death, I’ll TRY to make these posts less detailed and more worth reading.

Summer Recap

As always, summer was full of weedeating. We try our best to keep the roadsides maintained so that drivers can see where the ditches, rocks, ledges, and culverts are. It also just looks good when it’s maintained. 

Some folks have asked me if there is any way that I could mow the roadsides instead of weedeat them. I do have a sickle mower on my tractor that can lay tall grass down, but it is made to mow fields of very tall grass. We use this mower to put up hay with. My granddaddy tried to use it on the roadsides at Amber Ranches, but it didn’t do a good job. Due to all the rocks and uneven ground and gravel, the teeth on it kept breaking, the cuts were also uneven and simply didn’t look good. Weedeating is the only way to maintain our roadsides. 

For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s a photo of my brother and cousin using a sickle and disc mower to mow and put up hay…

Overall, summer went well. We had a difficult time finding seasonal workers to help with the demands of summer maintenance, but this coming year should be better due to an economy with more stable wages and seasonal workers hopefully more willing to work.

Another problem that we encountered this summer was that my family’s scraper blade finally broke. I contacted some professional welders and the expense of welding it back together was simply not worth it. Thankfully, we had enough money to buy a new one and it is doing well. 

Summer Road Maintenance

Due to increased development and visitors, the roads at Amber Ranches are being driven more, and therefore require increased maintenance. All it takes is one 2 wheel drive vehicle, or even an all wheel drive vehicle with slick tires and no weight to tear the roads all to pieces. Please remember to tell your guests and construction crews to have four wheel drive or all wheel drive vehicles with all terrain tires that are in good shape. 

Here are some photos from our summer at Amber Ranches…

Fall Recap

As usual, Fall was full of leaf blowing. It’s always important to keep the leaves blown off the roads and roadsides so that our culverts and ditches don’t clog up. Leaf maintenance also goes into winter. 

Here are some photos from Fall at Amber Ranches…

Winter

Winter is finally here, but we haven’t seen a whole lot of snow yet. Winter is also the time when our biggest gusts of wind come in to bring down trees, sticks and limbs.

Please discourage your guests from trying to come up to Amber Ranches in the winter. Our local forecasters don’t usually consider the weather at places like Amber Ranches that are above 4000 feet in elevation. If you do come up, make sure to bring some chains for your tires and ALWAYS have good, all-terrain tires and four wheel drive (all wheel drive will work too). 

If you can’t get up the mountain, give me a call at (828) 208-1986 and I’ll help you. If you need a place to park, you can park down on the paved road next to our family’s red, metal building. 

Here are some photos of our Winter so far…

Hardin Brothers Landscaping Services…

As most of you probably know, Amber Ranches contracts my small business to maintain the roads and roadsides of Amber Ranches. 

My brother and I also offer a variety of services to individual homeowners in the winter such as driveway scraping, gravel delivery and spreading, selective tree cutting, underbrush removal, firewood delivery, chimney sweeping, mulching, snow plowing, and hardscaping projects. Please give us a call at (828) 208-1986 if you need some work done. If we can’t do it, then we might know someone who can.