One of my projects this summer has been creating a yard around the house so that Jadon can run around outside next year. So far I have moved some dirt around and leveled out the area where the grass is going to be…
The next step is build a retaining wall as our yard is 20 inches below the level of our neighbors pasture. The only problem is that brink is crazy, crazy expensive!!! It would cost over $500 to buy enough brick for a 64 foot long / 20 inches high wall. Crazy. 
Not having that kind of money, I tried pricing railroad ties…nope. They are about $23 each – bring the price up to $700+.
That leaves one opinion as we have to have a wall there due to the landscape. That opinion is to start picking up rocks at friends pasture and haul them back to the house to build a rock wall.
Sigh.
This was the one thing I was hoping to avoid as it takes a ton of time (which is very limited right now) and skill (which I don’t have). Oh well. I guess it is time to cowboy up and start hauling rock. 
Ouch…
I have some rock moving experience.
When I went to school at UW some of us athletes got paid by a rancher to palletize rocks for sale to landscaping companies.
It’s come in handy, though! I moved a bunch of big rocks landscaping my own back yard!
cement?
I thought about that but it would cost way too much to hire a cement truck to out to the property – plus the cost of buying plywood for the forms ($16+ per 4×8 sheet).
I could mix the concrete myself in small batches, but then I would have a weak wall with lots of unconnected joins (new concrete does not join very well to old concrete).
is your main pic supposed to flip around? I nearly freaked