What makes you fall in love with a house? Is it the layout, the square footage, the way the sunlight dapples the floor? Susan and I fell in love with our house for a lot of different reasons.
We loved the wood burning stove and hard wood floors. We loved that we had roughly 2.5 acres of mostly wooded land. Sue loved that the kitchen, although small, had original Amish handcrafted wooden cupboards. However I fell in love with the house when I was walking through the backyard and realized that the small "creek" that flowed between two hills and away from our house was not a natural feature at all. It was a drainage ditch that looked natural and drained the water into the sewer system out by the road..
It was man made, I could see where the cut for it began at the top of the hill and had been obscured by some underbrush. I would trace its path down along the hill and how closely it followed the lay of the land.
Someone long ago dug it to keep the water flowing away from the house. A slight raise in the elevation on the other side of the house, most likely fill dirt from the "creek side", had diverted any water away from the home on the other side.
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| Following the lay of the land |
It was a natural and simple solution to keep the basement of the home dry, which anyone here in Western PA can tell you is hard to do. Our home also sits at the bottom of hill and is surrounded by trees which provided a natural windbreak during winter and shade during the summer to help keep the home cool.
While I am not an expert on permaculture or anything like that, I knew enough to realize that it was an example of using the environment around you to live in harmony with nature. Deep down I loved that idea.
Thus when my buddy Aaron offered me the use of his RK37 and the idea of making this appear more of a "natural dry creek bed" came into fruition. We would still follow the lay of the land, but deepen and widen the "creek" somewhat. We wanted to make what was basically a drainage ditch, appear more like an old creek. While still keeping some of the plants that grew around it, like fiddlehead ferns, in place. Susan had talked about getting a wooden bridge from a wood working friend of ours. So why not get started on it? The problem was that none of us expected to start on this project over the Memorial day weekend. However when you have a tractor available, you take advantage of it. That seems to be a rule here living in the country. You don't turn down free help.
For more info, and the basic outline we are following, look here. Although there is some disagreement if we need to use a liner or not, as the original "creek" did not have a liner. Personally I would like to put some sort of landscaping liner down but it also comes down to cost and time. Plus we seem to have enough large gravel and rocks in the yard and surrendering areas to create some nice features.
What I have in mind is something like this picture off to the side. However that was professionally done and I don't expect my final product to appear anything like that. However we are taking advantage of the natural stone and rock on our property to create some "waterfalls". I'm probably going to have to buy more rock.
While it didn't take long to dig the ditch a little deeper, the constant rain that we had Friday and Saturday meant that little was going to done. However the weather did cooperate with us on Sunday and Monday, so we were able to get the basics done Due to circumstances - our buddy Aaron needs his tractor back by June 4th - we only have a limited time period to get the work done.
Due to the weather we also put off power washing the house for another weekend. Our home was not lived in for two years before we bought it, and we had an elderly gentleman living in it before that, so the home needed a good deep cleaning. Friday and Saturday were cold and miserable days and I had no intention of getting sick.
However the old saying, common in every state , of "if you don't like the weather, wait ten minutes" proved true as the weather was drier on Sunder, and come Monday it was a comfortable day, perfect for mowing the lawn and other yard work. Including the planning and start of a make shift fire pit.The fire pit area is not yet completed, or started for that manner, but the stock photo to the side should give you a rough idea of what I've in mind.
However so far our adventures in creating a garden have all been for naught. Even though we bought seeds from a reputable source; they never sprouted. Currently we are trying to get a few things to grow from table scraps. Although I believe that Susan is more interested in growing flowers than she is vegetables. We have several flowing plants that are doing very well.
Susan and I have butted heads over a vegetable garden before, and frankly I'm not sure of her reluctance on having one. I do understand that they are a lot of work, and in the end it may be easier to go and buy carrots from the local grocer. Still though...is that the point?
We may just not be on the same page when it comes to "country living" yet.
I am trying to fully embrace this country life and I know that things take time. I joke about how HGTV and it's various home improvement shows have ruined me. How I expect all these projects to be done in roughly an hour and our house will be completely unrecognizable
That is not the reality though. The reality is that if you want something done then it's get up off you ass and go to work every day. . You don't have to work hard, but you do have to work smart. I do know that the sweat equality I put in today will pay off in the future.
That first cold beer around the fire pit means a lot to me. As does listening to the rain water flow over and around our rocks in our "creek bed".
We will get there eventually. I just have to be more patient and never break the chain.
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