Autumn

Daniel & Flora-se's house
One of the clauses in our lease states we have to each put in 8 hours a month on work around the farm. Our landlord Tarin and her son Daniel who lives across the street in the farmhouse with his 10 year old daughter Flora-se, purchased the separate parcels of land that made up the original farm in an effort to do something about the farms that were being broken apart for real estate all over the state. The farm is called Missing Bridge Farm as the road out front (RT 12) cuts across the original farmfield. The road use to be on the other side of the river which is on the other side of Daniels place but a big flood wiped out the road and all the bridges and when it came time to re-build they moved the road away from river (The North Branch of the Winooski River) and didn't re-build what is now the missing bridge crossing the river behind Daniel's place.


Ambiana & BearBear at the creek
A beaver had built a small dam on the North branch backing up water and Daniel came over this morning & gave to me the task of tearing it apart. It was a small dam and very interesting to pull apart as I deconstructed how the dam was built while doing so. Gaelen and I spent some time when he was here making some small dams in the creek out back and now I have some dam building techniques to share with him now. First the beavers nose together a rock base interspersed with willow branches in full leaf and clods of grassy sod to plug up the holes. Tree limbs and short big pieces of wood are worked in among the stones as well and on top go more willow branches and river stones. The branches catch the leaves floating downstream which effectively plug any gaps and make a simple but strong dam. I first pulled out as many of the branches and wood as i could then scraped the leaves out of the crevices and let the current take them away. I tossed rocks in holes and pushed others apart with my feet and before I knew it the dam was gone and the river free flowing; the only remnant of the beavers being a shallow ford of stones across the creek.

Amazing are the hues of the trees. Beautiful are the colored hills. The drive to Montpelier is 20 minutes, about 12 miles of rolling winding road along the North branch and through the Worcester range of hills. There are no strip malls, stop signs, traffic light or billboards. It is a as nice a drive as could be hoped for. We go to town most days which is the only drawback to our place. Homedays are looked on with excitement as we explore the surrounding geography, walking up creeks, checking out waterfalls and tending to the overgrown places around the trailer. We are wrapping ourselves up autumn like it's a cozy worn blanket after last year's coast2coast drive-by fall season experience. Compost, mulch and leaf pile jumping, finding a hardy cuke in the garden, eek a slug, Ya fishing with as line and branch at her crawdad hole singing the song as she does honey oh baby mine. Misty hills and clouds with rain, nights increasing as along with the outside we build our winter's nest.