Category Archives: General Information

Snow Melt + Heavy Rains = Flood

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Earlier this spring, we had a period of heavy rain combined with melting snow. This led to the increased volume of water over our waterfall.

However, it was too much water for the small creek bed to handle within its banks. The creek burst over its banks at the bottom of the mountain and flooded out into the pastures.

There was some minor flooding the prior year in the same location so I had attempted to block the channel that flooded with piles of logs from downed trees to divert the water away from the pastures. It didn’t work.

There was so much water that it simply pushed all of the logs out of the channel into the path behind the pastures.  It even pushed some of the logs several hundred feet away.

The creek flooding out into the pastures.

The water also carried a lot of sticks, leaves, rocks and mud (also several golf balls!?).  A lot of this debris was caught in the pasture fence. The debris blocked the bottom portion of the fence for at 3/4 of the way along the entire back fence line. In some places,the mud and leaves was more than 6 inches deep. Even with assistance from visitors, we haven’t been able to clear the entire fence line yet.

Water flooding out of the creek.

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Snow Melt and the Waterfall (Spring 2017)

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With a large snow storm late in the winter, there was a lot of snow that melted at once when the weather turned warmer.  A large snow melt means that our waterfall would have a lot more water flowing over it than normal.

Here is the shot of the final approach to the waterfall.

Waterfall in the spring.

Here is a shot of the waterfall from the base of the falls.

Waterfall close-up.

Here is a video of the falls showing the increased water volume.

 

More Snow!

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A few weeks ago, there was another large snow storm – we got over 30 inches in a couple days.

A picture of the house and main barn a few days after the storm.

We already had over 30 inches in a single storm early in the winter. With this latest storm, it pushed us over our annual average snowfall for the winter.

A panoramic view of the snow from the woods behind the pastures.

Another picture of the pastures from the woods.

Starting a few days after the storm, the temperature warmed up and the snow has been steadily melting since then. We are now down to just a few piles of snow near the driveway. This storm may have been the last significant measurable snow of the winter.

A panoramic shot of the pasture covered in snow.

The animals usually stay inside while it is snowing. The chickens also don’t like to walk on soft snow but they will walk on harder packed snow.

The goats don’t really seem to mind the snow on the ground once the storm stops and the sun comes out – here is a shot of the goats hanging out in the snow next to the barn.

Goats hanging out near the barn.

Local Wildlife: Cooper’s Hawk

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A couple weeks ago, a small hawk caught and killed a small bird just off the porch in our back yard. After a bit of research, I think it was a Cooper’s hawk.

Unfortunately, by the time, I got outside to get some closer pictures, the hawk had already flown away with its meal.

A picture of a Cooper’s hawk in the backyard.

Cooper’s hawks mainly eat small birds caught in flight and the hawks are too small to seriously bother our chickens.

The hawk on top of its kill.

Click through for a video of the hawk removing the feathers.

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The Old Stone Pillar

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I think we have just solved the mystery of the single old stone pillar in our front yard.

The pillar is well away from the corner of the driveway and isn’t near the corner of the property line either. It didn’t really seem to serve a clear purpose marking any boundaries.

In addition, the stone and brick pillar was falling apart due to the many years of freezing and thawing cycles throughout the winters. It probably wouldn’t have made it more than a couple of more years before completely collapsing. We decided to repair it last fall and redo the mortar and bricks that had broken off.

You can see the multiple colors of bricks in the photo where new bricks were used to replace old bricks that had crumbled apart.

The stone and brick pillar – after repairs.

A neighbor recently provided us with a pencil sketch from the 1950s or 60s that solves the mystery pillar!

Click through to see the sketch and solve the mystery.

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Snow!

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Last winter was very mild overall – we only received around half of the typical snowfall totals (just over 60 inches where normal is over 120 inches). This winter started off on a different note.

First big snowstorm of winter 2016-2017.

The first big storm came right before Thanksgiving – we received almost 30 inches in the first big snowstorm alone.

Here is a picture measuring the snowfall total during the first night of the storm – it was close to 20 inches the first night and near 30 inches when it stopped snowing.

Measuring the snowfall.

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Defending the Homestead

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Out in the country, traditional home defense products, like standard alarm systems, aren’t as effective because of the long distance and time before assistance can arrive. So, you have to go back to what worked in simpler times.

After some thought, we decided to build a moat around the house. Here are some pictures of the preparations for the moat going about 1/3 of the way around the house. It is approximately 10 feet wide and about 6 feet deep.

A view of the moat in progress.

A view of the moat in progress.

Another view of the moat.

Another view of the moat.

Another view of the moat with the backhoe.

Another view of the moat with the backhoe.

Click through for more information about the moat.

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Growing our own food (2016)

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Last summer, by the time the farm purchase closed and we moved in, it was too late to start a garden for the summer. However, the prior owners had planted a full garden with a variety of plants. With limited work needed on our part (just some occasional watering), we were able to harvest a large number of tomatoes, radishes, rattlesnake beans, kale, lettuce, green peppers, dill and much more.

This year, we had a lot more work to do – we had to prepare and plant our own garden! It took many hours to turn the soil and get it ready for planting.

The garden before planting (2016).

The garden before planting (2016).

Although last winter was generally warm, it stayed colder than normal late into the spring with frost still occurring regularly up through the beginning of May. We decided to go with planting from seeds this year instead of started plants. Due to the late frosts, we couldn’t plant the seeds until late May.

Our garden shortly after planting in late May 2016.

Our garden shortly after planting in late May 2016. Note that it looks very similar to the before planting picture because we planted seeds.

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Clearing downed trees

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One night, I was woken up at around 3 am with a loud noise (similar to a thunder clap) followed by a loud crash.

Just outside the house, a large chunk of one of our old maple trees broke off the main portion of the tree and fell onto the driveway.

A large piece of one of our old maple trees broke off in the middle of the night.

A large piece of one of our old maple trees broke off in the middle of the night.

With a scheduled meet-up happening at our house about a week later, we had limited time to remove the tree and clear the driveway to provide enough parking spaces.

Click through to see how we finished the process.

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