This year and last has been a prolonged gully washer. 4 inches of rain has fallen lately, causing water to carve deeper into the surrounding land. Building dams is the main way I hope to help stop the deepening canyons.
Monthly Archives: December 2015
Pond River
The emergency spillway is in full use on our main pond. Over 90 acres drain into the 1 acre pond. Too much water for too little pond. That will change.
Water Never Before
Even holes I dug a long time ago filled up with water for the first time. This is the 2nd year in a row with over 50 inches of rain in a year. Last year was a record, and this year beat last year. We average 30 inches of rain a year.
Pond Island Reappears
All the water ran down the hills and has filled up my Island Pond again. The Island only exists with excess water, like this year has provided.
Escape Artist
I will have to build up the dam on this vernal pond. The water is escaping through the goat pasture.
Greenery
I keep planting evergreens throughout the woods. I would have liked my bamboo to live and be one of the important evergreens, but so far only conifers are important here. Owls like the winter habitat I am creating for them.
Close But Safe
The Canadian Hemlocks I planted this spring didn’t seem like they would be this close to the water’s edge. Hard to tell where the water line was when eyeballing the dry pond this spring.
Not Meant to Be
The little dams I built throughout the woods suppose to stop the water and be big enough to not fill completely up, but I did not realize how much water can rush through the steep valleys. So I started building emergency spillways even for my little vernal ponds. This vernal pond is a good example […]
My Little Pond Network
I have a multitude of little ponds I built in a forest nearby the house. Today every little hole was filled with water, giving a nice appearance of a network of vernal pools, stepping their way down the valley.
Empty Nester
The Herons are long gone and all that sits in the giant Cottonwood tree are empty nests. The Heron Rookery will remain lifeless until next summer.