A "River" (tributary) runs through it

Here is a view of the little river tributary that runs through the back portion of our acreage. (4 weeks till closing!!). It's beautiful! There are some cedars in the back of the property (not many!). The moss grows thick and it's wonderfully cool. There are native (not stocked) brook trout in the stream and it runs all year. We are investigating small scale microhydro systems to see what we can do for harnessing some of its power, particularly in winter when it's running its strongest. It's a beatiful place. It forks just a short way to the right, which you would be able to see if this picture were larger, or if I could figure out if we could post more than one picture per post. The sound of the water is amazing, a roar that can be heard just a couple hundred feet (if that) into the property and gets louder and louder as you approach it. When you are by its banks (the banks are high) it has quite a thunder to it.

This is a place for exploring.

We have determined roughly the method by which we will push forward...

June 1 is closing.
That part of the season also coincides with the time that roads can be installed. We are going to run the driveway along the cleared portion of the land in the front (about 100 feet in from one end of the land) and wind it back through the trees about 250 feet. After that length, we are getting too expensive for road work.

This coming Tuesday is our soils test. We are going to take our rough plans for the house and stake out the spot we would like to build so that the septic designer can do a soils test for that area specifically (shouldn't be an issue here). Septic design (along with stairs and railings, electric and plumbing) are pretty much the only thing the building inspector here cares about at all, with septic being highest on the list. We will get our septic design from the designer within two days of his work (things happen SO fast here. It's an amazing amazing contrast from Whatcom County, where it takes 12 months just to get an appointment to meet with the building department! I'm thinking about our conversations regarding this right now, J & T).

After the road is installed, the site work for the building site will start. We're going to cut the trees ourselves, and then have an excavator come in and pull the stumps. The area we want to build isn't incredibly wooded, so it won't be much of a job. We want the firewood anyway, even if it isn't huge!

And we'll keep posting as we figure out more precise details and get more information figured out. Now it's time to work on houseplans a bit and read some building related material. This is really exciting.

Now I think we are caught up on our posting, and won't have to cheat by changing the dates anymore! Thanks for reading!

Tomorrow we are planting peas and some good cold hardy greens out in our newly dug plots up front here at the rental. Come on Spring!!!