Green Acres is the Place to Be, Farm Living is the Life for me!

 Ok, so don't forget you can click on any of the pictures to follow and see them a bit larger.

Living out on a fairly decent sized plot of land, surrounded by large timberland, approximately 3 1/2 miles from a tiny town (population 624) and approximately 28 miles from a bit larger town (population 7,268) which is right next to a bit larger town (population 16,660) is wonderful.  What more can I say?  What could be better than living in this paradise I call home?

 City life is definitely not for me.  (Does that sound a bit Green Acres-ish?) 

My girls and I decided that, since we could hear the creek down in the valley roaring with all the recent deluge of rain, we should just walk down there and check it out.

You can see how muddy the road that leads to the valley is.  This is about halfway down.

 There's a bend in the dirt road here and you see the little  creek coming off the hillside near the second well.  Notice how happy all the ferns are!

We've been hearing frogs croaking, too.

 This is the only level spot, but don't walk there as the mud is a bit sticky.  Don't try to drive down here in the winter because even in 4-wheel drive you're not gonna get back up the hill!  (Everyone should scream right here as the vehicle slides from one side of the drop off to the other....)

 And here's the last stretch until we reach the valley.  The ruts are nasty this year, but my dear husband can smooth them out with his tractor when the weather finally dries out.....maybe in June???

It's lovely to walk down to the valley, but a long haul back up again!  (What's that pounding noise???  Oh, yeah.....it's my heart.....)

 To the right is the corner of the first field.  Now, it doesn't look very field-like at the moment as it is totally flooded and the beavers have enjoyed the winter immensely and have taken down a good sized alder tree.  Of course they chose to fall it on the fence rather than into the creek.....

 This is another tree they've taken down.  You'll notice that after they felled it, they also gnawed the branches off and removed them to the creek.  I can't imagine how strong a beaver's teeth must be.  Go ahead, YOU try gnawing just ONE chip off this tree!

 This is usually a meandering creek.  It's still meandering, but it's WAY over its banks at the moment.  I think this one is my favorite picture.

 Up close beaver job here.

 This little bridge looks ancient here.  It's really not that old, but the dampness of our Washington climate really takes a toll on wood.  Incidentally, it used to be a bit farther to the left (about 8-10') but a couple years ago the creek was so high it carried it over to rest against the alders there.

 Walking back through the field to the road back up I spotted this little pile of fur.  Do you know what animal it came from?   The correct answer is elk.  We saw lots of other signs of elk, but I shall spare you pictures......

You got just a tiny tour of just one of the amazing woodland places to explore in these woods.  Did you enjoy the fresh air and the smell of the fir trees?

That's it for now.  I'm ready to start my day now and head out to milk the goats & feed my bunnies (see my new litter?).  Yesterday was an in-town-buy-groceries-pick-up-feed-eat-lunch-out-now-I'm-exhausted kind of day, so today I'm back at work here on the farm.  On the docket for this day - working in the greenhouse/rabbit house, repairing cages and getting ready for some spring planting!

More later...What did you think of my muddy valley?