Eastern Sunset

Eastern Sunset
Because Sugar Mountain and Bear Ridge are too our west and south west we don’t get much in the way of western sunsets. Instead we look eastward to see the sunset colors on the clouds over the same mountain where we look to see the sun rise.

There was a bit of rain yesterday – 11″ in a 24 hour period – and high winds at several points. I hope that they took down the loose tree limbs as that will make for fewer power outages this winter. Although we lost power for the night we have no damage up here on the mountain. All our ponds are full again after the dry time of summer and I suspect the water table is well refilled.

All our land is sloped so we don’t have flooding problems. Years ago this would have produced wash down problems. When we first came to Sugar Mountain I used to watch the torrents of water wash down the mountain across our fields and think about how to capture that, to soak it in so that it didn’t just wash away taking our soil fertility with it. Millennia of this wash down had robbed our soil of nutrients.

I have seen all too many farms, including ours before we got here, where the livestock, and wild animals, walked up and down the hills creating grooves that the water then rushed down, taking away the dirt. There is a cow lane on our land that was smoothed down to the bedrock due to this effect.

Over the past two decades I have been terracing our land both actively by moving rocks and dirt to make terraces like the Aztecs and also more passively through judicious cross hill fencing so that now the water is caught and soaks in rather than rushing down the mountain so fast.

My trick with the cross hill fencing is that the animals walk along the uphill side following the contour lines of the fence pushing down a swale at the fence line. The plants grow in that swale anchoring it with their roots. When we get torrential rains the water fills in behind the swales where it soaks into the ground rather than rushing uninhibited down the mountain. Essential I have turned our paddock fencing into automated water bar creation systems.

Both methods of terracing work. I use the tractor for major garden terraces such as the south field plateau. The fence line method is for larger areas. Personally I prefer the fence method where I can use it due to the reduced effort. I’m naturally lazy.

Our neighbor’s are fine – they too are up on the slopes of the mountains. The state’s road system didn’t fare as well. Our postman Don told us that many bridges and roads are closed down in the valley along Rt-302 up towards Wells River and in Bradford on Rt-25. Apparently even I-91 got flooded out. Holly is glad she’s this week.

Outdoors: 78°F/58°F Sunny
Tiny Cottage: 70°F/67°F

Daily Spark: Have ladder – canalope.