Valentine's Day...the annual day where we men get to express our love without shame, has recently come and gone, but we thought this week would be a good opportunity to remind our followers why we at Gravel Grading & Excavating aren't just tough, good-looking guys.  We love a lot of things.

​1. We love to help people.  In our line of work, we are lucky to help people build their dreams.  Whether we get called in to help dig the foundation for a family's new home, install ag tile for a farmer making the best use of his field, or dig a new pond for some fishing and relaxation, we take great pride knowing that the work we do helps our customers.

2. We love to drive big machines. Remember how much fun it was to play in the sandbox as a kid?  Especially with those toys you could sit on and use the hand levers to scoop and move the sand?  Yeah.  We get to do that every day.  At work.  Now the sandbox toys are bigger, and they have engines and names like John Deere, Caterpillar, and Bobcat on the side. 

3. We love to play in the dirt. Much like #2, our favorite things to do as kids have become our jobs.  There's nothing like the satisfaction of building something new or solving an engineering problem.  It's a humbling experience to use our experience and skills to reroute waterways or reshape the landscape, and it never gets old.

4. We love our local communities. Oftentimes our crew gets called in to help on public works projects, and we enjoy helping our towns infrastructure function better.  In the last year we've helped create new parking lots for our local schools, prep sidewalks to keep our citizens safe, and work below the surface to keep water and sewer services functioning.  The guys on our crew volunteer at local events and fundraisers and serve the community as members of organizations.  Our homes and communities are important to us, and we're thankful to serve them.

5. We love to help people. In our line of work, we are lucky to help people build their dreams...oops.  We already said that.  But really, it's the best part of our job.

Thanks so much to our customers, family members, friends, and followers.  We are grateful for your business in the past, and we look forward to even more projects in 2018.

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Farmers in this area can tell you, no matter the season, there's always work to be done.  Though summer may be overlooked as a time to just sit back and watch the corn grow, this time of year our friends in the ag sector keep busy with spraying and side-dressing crops, cutting and baling hay, tending livestock, and prepping machinery for the impending harvest season.  Summer is also a time where farmers survey their fields for ways to improve efficiency and production and to implement erosion control measures.

Reconstructing waterways is one way to satisfy these needs. By clearing (cutting down and removing) and grubbing out (removing roots and stumps left behind) freely-growing trees and shrubs along fence lines and waterways, farmers can gain acres for additional planting which increases their production.  Or, as in the case of our clients pictured below, they needed additional erosion-control measures put in place to reduce field runoff after the heavy summer rains.  

In these photos from a crop farm near Monticello, IA, you can see how trees and shrubs had grown up along the creek near this field.  Not only did these growths get in the way of farm machinery, but the steep banks on the sides of the creek meant the landowner was losing precious dirt and topsoil when rainwater drained off the field.

To help aid water drainage, Gravel Grading & Excavating came in to alleviate the problem.  Using dozers and excavators, we started with clearing and grubbing the existing creek banks.  All trees and shrubs were removed and hauled away using our dump wagon.  We then laid back the banks at a better grade to allow for maximum water retention and less loss of soil for our farmer.  Our last step of this project was to lay down grass mat and seed to encourage quick regrowth of natural grasses and ground cover.

Are plant growth or soil erosion something you struggle with on your farm? Let the experts at Gravel Grading & Excavating help reconstruct your waterways and move the earth for you!