Woodchuck and I realize that we have been all work and little fun, whether here at our home or on the land. So on our latest work day trip to the land, we made a list of things we wanted to accomplish and that had to include some fun things too! It was going to be miserable again in temps and even though we headed out at 7:30 a.m., stepping outside was like hitting a brick wall while trying to breathe thru pea soup.
Now admittedly, we have a very different idea of what we consider fun. I find sitting on the ground surrounded by plants and insects to be fun. He likes cutting, burning, caveman activities and just being all around difficult. Take that with how he is on the land, a fire blazing out-of-control while riding a steamroller, and I knew that I was going to be in for some tense moments. It is a continual battle to get balance when it comes to Woodchuck. He is full steam ahead and doesn't care who or what is in his way. I am not ashamed to say that he has made me cry and feel like what I want doesn't matter and that I am just in the way. I know we are not the only couple that traverses this high-wire, so that's why I bring that up here. We are all different and we all have to put the effort into interacting with each other in as gentle a way as we can. There is no "I" in team.
Of course, leaving off from last time, my goal was to finally finish digging out the Lilly of the Valley. I am not saying that I got all of the root system, nor found all of the patches, so I will continue to keep an eye open for it each time that I am out. I dug up around 12 patches of it throughout our second CRP forest, the last two times whilst being attacked by mosquitoes. I put the word out on FB that if I didn't make it home, my friends needed to let the police know that the mosquitoes did it. Woodchuck stayed with me this time, though did not help dig. He did help pull my wagon, and got himself overheated doing so!
He was chomping at the bit to get to what he wanted to do and I am being very serious here when I say, welcome to our shit-show! We loaded the smallest Jon boat on my wagon, which is now all scratched up because nothing was laid across it first. This is why I can't have nice things! I know, I know. It's a work cart for the land, but it was mine and the only thing that I asked for so far in this land adventure and if it got damaged, I wanted to be the one to do it. But what is done is done, and I digress.
Hubby wanted to get out on the main pond and drop a line in. Why? I asked. It was very clear that no fish could have survived this many years in that water. He wasn't having any of my less-than-enthusiastic behavior and went full steam ahead. I started having a panic attack when it came time for me to get in the boat. I have been in a boat with him three times previously. Three different boats, three different times in three different places and none of those adventures went well. Woodchuck does not admit his limitations.
While we were both wearing life jackets, he is a large Slovak that doesn't know how to swim and I would have been fighting for us both if he had gone in. There is so much plant life, that anyone getting in that water would be wrapped up like an aquatic burrito and probably eaten by the big-ass bullfrog sitting on the edge of the water. Not to mention, the water smelled horrible. Did I mention that Woodchuck has a very big nose? That nasty water would have had a field day in his nostrils.
But, getting there was important for me in other ways. When we first looked at the land, I was thinking that this would be a wonderful place to hold a drumming circle, a small festival, classes...but now that I own it, I don't want to share it. Yet. I am quietly listening and watching. Learning about the land and what it needs in order to get back to healthy. Feeling its energy. I know for sure that events such as the ones that I originally envisioned, are not meant to happen here yet and I am not ready for them either.
Since day one, before we even made the decision to buy the land, I have been making a comment about the back ditch being more full (of water) than the front ditch. Why I zeroed in on this and couldn't let it go, I don't know. No matter how many times I brought it up, I was kind of ignored. I wondered if the vegetation was too thick and blocking some thing? The guy that hubby will be using for various projects like cutting the driveway and clearing the land for a house, made mention that we shouldn't cut the vegetation out because the banks are steep on the front ditch and the roots are helping to hold to hold those up. We've been kicking around the idea of a controlled burn there instead.
Being out on the pond helped me to see a whole other side of the pond and from other angles. After much hyperventilation and curse words, we push off the bank and the water starts making weird movement. WTF is happening?! Frogs. Lots and lots and lots of frogs running hopping for their lives from the battle ship being rowed by the sweaty Kraken and the damsel. So freaking cute! But hmmm, I wonder if this is an indicator of water quality?
While in the pond, I notice bushes heavy with white blossoms. Oh my. Elderberry! And all nearly in the water now. Nearly all edges of the pond are "leaking". This was beyond leaking, I know this to my core. Some thing else is going on. As when I find any issue, I feel a sense of urgency to fix it. How long has it been going on? How much longer can it continue before it causes another issue? My fear now is that this pond will merge with the watershed pond and I don't want that. This pond we are on is ours alone, privately owned, not on any government program. I want to do what I want with this pond and not have it interfere with the watershed pond. I start feeling a panic attack coming on. What am I not seeing? What is going on here?! I also notice the tree stump in the water that the seller told us they tried removing when they dug out the pond, but it wasn't budging. There's something purple growing on it. So we rowed over and wow. Bittersweet nightshade! Well now, if there was ever a doubt that poison was persistent, here ya go!
After a morning of heat, humidity and clouds, the sun came out and started to boil us on the pond. It was time to make it back to the bank, hyperventilate some more, cuss some more (there's always time for that!) and get on to other things! I needed to get back out to the watershed pond to try and identify the grass that I saw last time. THAT was no easy feat!
Everything is still growing unchecked and the spot that I needed to get was, of course, being blocked by a downed tree. I waded through a sea of sensitive ferns, and then crawled under the tree, which has obviously also been used by a deer by the fur left on the branch that also caught by my backpack.
I finally make it over the mud to the ponds edge and what do my wondering eyes see? Damn. Phragmites. This shit-show just keeps getting shittier!
I can't remember what other things we did that day, because we were so hot that my brain fried like an egg inside of my skull. And considering that I work all week in a small store that has no a/c, and Woodchuck in a machine that has no air and he has to keep the windows rolled up, we are slowly killing off brain cells every day this season!
Fast forward to the evening and I tell my husband that I have a theory about what is going on with the pond. The ditches again. Why is the back always so full but the front one isn't, even when it is more than capable of holding even more water than the back one? I have seen a trickle of flow in the front ditch in one section and it's flowing the other way, away from the pond and back ditch. I look at these ditches nearly every time I am there. It's all just not sitting right with me. I wonder, I tell him, if the front ditch is being blocked of the majority of the water and that pond isn't leaking, it's actually overflowing? Now I'm not saying that some bank work doesn't need to be done, or that I completely understand this whole process of how the ditches and pond work, but I've got ideas and guesses and need to try them out.
We were planning on going back to the land anyway on Tuesday to meet with the forester, so that was going to give us a chance to also check that front ditch out. The meeting with the forester was much anticipated, and went by too quickly, but we now have a better idea of what we need to focus on and when! I'll receive his plan in a couple of weeks. My main focus needs to be getting the MFR (multi-flora rose), AO (Autumn Olive) and bush honeysuckle taken care of . BUT. As usual. The Mr. is causing some issues. The best time for me to treat those plants is Fall. Hubby doesn't want to wait that long. He wants to open the canopy up, allowing more sunlight, and then allowing more of those things to grow. No matter when I do treat them, it needs to be a couple of days after of no rain and it will take a couple of weeks to really affect the plants. This is something that he and I still need to hash out.
So we try and test out my theory about the ditches and ponds. We could hear the trickle of water going from the back ditch to the pond. We could just barely see the part of the front ditch that comes off of the pond, because the vegetation is so thick now. That water is looking higher than the very front part of the front ditch. I can see the watermeal in it this spot too. We walk over the other side of the culvert and it's so completely overgrown that we can't see anything. He hacks away at some vegetation all while trying to not fall down into the ditch, because as I mentioned, those banks are much higher. It's not working to help us see much. I inch forward. I'm terrified of heights, even though this might only be no more than several feet down. And I see stagnant water. So stagnant that it's almost black. No movement at all. Have we figured it out? Now what do we do?
According to hubby, we wait to tackle this once we get the tractor. I'm worried that we have several days straight coming up of rain, and another couple of weeks before we get the tractor. And expects me to be able to direct him at the edge of the ditch once he's on that tractor. Should I just file for divorce now? Start packing up my things? I don't want that kind of responsibility! I don't know enough about tractors and distances from ditches! Ugh. The stress! We needed to shelf this for now.
It was such a beautiful day, sunny, but also with clouds and breezes. I always find myself wanting to be on the prairie on such days, so I told Woodchuck that I was going to harvest and pull some plants. I did this, but was also so distracted by finding previously unseen plants and tiny little hover flies with rainbow iridescent wings kept landing on my hands. I always take the time to say hello and thank creatures for visiting me!
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