Creating a Pond

Despite temperatures above 110 degrees, the show must go on.  As long as your in the shade, it only feels like 109 though, so it makes it much more bearable.

The two main projects going on now are continuing to clear the barn area and working on the pond.

From 2012-07-02

The pond hadn't really been on the radar since it still had water in it, but the hot, dry spell we just went through dried it up much faster than we expected.  I was surprised to come by one morning and see that it was bone dry.  I was also a little stressed because this has become our main water supply for the goats.

However, this was the opportunity I'd been waiting for since the pond filled several months back.  When I originally built it, I had no idea it would work so well and last so long. 

Now that it was dry, I had a small window of time to cut down all the trees that were growing inside the dam and pond perimeter.  I also needed to patch up the leaks and smooth it out to make it look presentable.

The picture below shows how it looked right after drying up.

From 2012-07-02

I can testify that lighting a bonfire in 100+ degree heat is as unpleasant as it sounds.

From 2012-07-02

Luckily I had a tough work crew that was able to handle the heat and was able to stay in the kitchen.

From 2012-07-02

The bulldozer was a great for  digging the pond deeper and building up the sides.

From 2012-07-02

We were able to get the pond dug to around 6 feet at the deepest point.  Luckily it was clay all the way down, so it will be great at holding water.

From 2012-07-02

We didn't finish a moment too soon.  The day after we finished,  a big storm came through and filled the pond up to the first level.  My next task is to get some grass growing so the water doesn't end up getting so muddy.

From 2012-07-02

Most of the water comes down this road and runs right into the pond.  My next plan is crowning the road and making a channel on the side, lined with rock, to divert more of the water directly to the pond.

From 2012-07-02

A drawback to having a fence in a forest is that  trees are constantly falling on it.  After the storm that filled the pond came through,  I was surprised to see  a big tree (cut up in the pic below) laying across the fence.

I was also surprised to see the goats and donkey still in the pen.  Although, as we looked closer, we saw lots of tracks and pellets indicating they spent a fair amount of time playing outside the fence.

When a hurricane knocked down the fence last year, the animals all escaped and went on a three day romp through all the neighboring farms. so it was nice to see they like this pen enough to stick around.

From 2012-07-02

The stump in the bottom center part of the picture is from the tree that fell across the fence.  The post is newly planted in an attempt to fix the damage.

From 2012-07-02

It's kind of hard to see the fence in this shot, but it shows another big branch that's fallen across the fence.  I'm beginning to realize that I really need to get down to the prop and check on things after every big storm, as well as the fact that it's going to be a regular occurrence.

From 2012-07-02

Clearing Cedars for a Pole Barn

The never ending process of clearing cedars continues.  It always amazes me how long it takes to process the cut trees and how quickly we can mess it up again.  The rough equation I've come up with is that a half hour of tree cutting takes about 4 hours of post-processing.

However, it's nice to see the field get bigger and bigger after each cleanup.  We're getting really close to having enough area cleared to put in the barn.

From 2012-06-18

The orange  bucket in the background is approximately where the barn is going to be located.  There's a shallow wellhead under the bucket that I'm think of using as a cistern.

Since the well has such a low refill rate, it goes dry when there's no rain, I was thinking of using rain gutters to channel the water off of the roof of the barn into the well hole.

 It might end up just pumping water into the ground, but it might work.  Experimenting is what this is all about 

From 2012-06-18

It's great when I can bring my work crew in to help.  We processed this 30 foot cedar in about an hour.  It'd be much easier if we just burned everything, but I just can't force myself to waste any more wood than I have to.

From 2012-06-18

The fire begins.  The hardest part is that I work myself into a frazzle once I get the fire going.  Once a good coal bed is burning, it's hard to stop throwing more wood on.  This burn session was a good one.  We had nothing left but a bit of ash and a couple sticks.

From 2012-06-18

The fire kept burning on into the night.  It's just about burned down at this point.  Just a few branches left.

From 2012-06-18

Another project I'm working is getting the pond fixed up.  I'm trying to cut back the trees, so more water can collect and I can seal up the dam better. 

When I first made it, I ended up getting several logs embedded in the dam wall, which is ugly as well as leaky, so I spent an evening cutting them out and clearing out the water area so it looks a little nicer.

From 2012-06-18

The next step is rent a backhoe and start digging the pond deeper.  Once that's done, I can take the bulldozer back in and smooth it up.

When the basic pond shape is good, I plan on cutting back more trees, for better water flow, as well as putting in a culvert on the side of the road that will drain into the pond.

I'll also start planting some grass so the water doesn't get so muddy.   It ought to be a pretty nice setup after that.  The picture below shows some of the trees I cut down around the pond.

From 2012-06-18

I'm finally getting all the gates on the new area hinged up.  Until now, they've just been tied down with wire.  They look a lot better now, and are lot more functional.  The fun thing about a farm is that there's always some new, interesting project to work on.

From 2012-06-18