a year has passed here already!

It is difficult to believe that already we have been in this heaven for a bit over a year...still every day I look out over the back yard, the vineyard or the pond and I see how beautiful it all is. And how much more beautiful we want to make it...What started as the exact business we always wanted has turned into a whole lot more. This community, this place - I want to make sure that this land - even this little slice of 13 acres - is preserved forever. I want what we add to this landscape to be improvements that will last many lifetimes. There are so many choices: a wind turbine for power (we are on a hill with constant breezes), berry fields, and orchard, a dairy cow, goats, a pony (or 2), rabbits...I don't know where to start. So I just get up and do what is in front of me, or at least the least onerous choice of what's in front of me.

For instance - yesterday we added ducks to our pond. I am hoping for some help in clearing up many years of sccumulated debris and quickly spreading pondweeds...it was amazing how much life they added to what was (I thought) a very nice place already. We have a LOT of pondweeds that need to be brought under control; and we have been planting cattails, iris, and other wetland plants around the edges all spring - mostly to add some color and for filtering the stuff that flows down the hillsides and into the pond. It is springfed; and the little creek that runs out flows for about a half mile, then into a larger creek, then in another 100 yards or so, into the James River. So, we do our best to keep the water clean and chemical free. The fish and frogs are abundant, and now the ducks have added another dimension. True, the water is a bit muddier from their munching, and they aren't picky about what they step on, but eventually I think it will all even out, especially as we take down the weedy saplings that keep dropping leaves into the pond, and replace them with plants better suited (ong term) to such a wet habitat...it looks better now than last summer, and it will look even better in the years to come.

I like sending guests down there in the woods for a walk, and now they have something to sit and watch for a while!

Oh, and we got 2 eggs this morning from them! Add that to our chicken eggs - and breakfast just got even more interesting!