A Swale and a Cut

 

There is a fair uphill/incline behind our house that seems to stay wet much of the year.  There is both quite a bit of run off from the mountain and several significant (wet and dry weather) springs just up the hill a bit that contribute to this issue. It renders the land largely unusable. As you can see from the above picture I generally cut up only as far as the swale that was cut just behind the house. (I'm assuming this was done to save mowing. When you're up at hunting camp you don't want to have to spend time mowing lawn.)

I tried cutting it one time last fall and got the tractor stuck.  When I took the Jeep in to get the tractor out I got the Jeep stuck. After getting the Jeep and the tractor out, I managed to get the tractor stuck a second time.  Lesson learned.  Lots of clay and lots of water - don't cut!

Soooo... this year we had a swale cut in at the back of property line to shed the run off and the spring water.  

We anticipate that this will alleviate most all of the problem.  The extra good news is that the solid and extensive clay base we found makes the reality of a future pond a lot more likely.

Things have been pretty dry of late so the newly cut swale along with the dry conditions allowed me to get into this section of field and begin clearing.  The John Deere had quite a workout today cutting a good third to half an acre of 18 inch deep grass and ferns on some pretty rough ground.  Thankfully I had had it brushhogged last year and took out some of the scraggly unwanted pines.

So this...

 

 

Became this...

 

There is still quite a bit of cut field over to the right of the pics but you get the idea.  We're hoping the the old swale (seen mid pic) might no longer be necessary but we'll have to wait until we get some good rains and the wet weather springs run again before we know for sure.

It may not seem a big deal to some but any progress is encouraging.

The lady of the house has identified this area as eventually playing host to a patio and outdoor barbecue pit for entertaining. She's even mentioned a pergola...

This evening we spent sitting out watching the barn swallows work the freshly cut field.  It was quite a peaceful sight!

The next big project is the bathroom...stay tuned for that.

Thank you, Lord, for gifts of grace along the way.