Emancipation in the Orchard

It's easy to forget that just a few months ago, the orchard looked like this:

A week or so ago, this photo shows the west fence where about a dozen 

espaliered apple trees were wrapped in vines and thorns.

We've made steady progress on freeing those trees along the fence. They are the bulk of our apple crop, and I want them in sun and fresh air before the spring. Today Adam and I rescued four more trees. A fifth tree was dead already.
The fence row today:

Hmm. I was hoping there would be more of an obvious difference between the two photos! There's more blue sky showing at the end of the row. I guess that represents all the work we've done. Sigh!
For what it's worth, we've emancipated about ten trees thus far. My hands hurt from the thorns, in spite of good work gloves. I'm hopeful for our apple prospects.
We decided to put a burn barrel inside the orchard for getting rid of debris. There is so much debris! Branches and vines to kingdom come!

This is a good example of a portion of the fence. Do you see the fence in there? Do you see the pitiful apple tree, whimpering for help? Well, they're in there!

Here is one of the healthier ones we rescued today. But all that mass of weed trees and vines on either side will undoubtedly try to take over again. Constant vigilance is required.

The burn barrel turned white with heat. We barely made a start on all that we need to burn in the orchard.

Update: I counted yesterday. There are 15 emancipated trees around the fence line. We have two more to free. I'm excited about that.