Mountain Lane Homesteaders

Do we REALLY need a potty?

12:41 PM, Monday, July 31, 2006 .. Posted in Living in the Woods .. 3 comments .. Link

Over the past year we have slowly been eeking back toward "civilized" living when it comes to land improvements. We are doing as much of this as we can on our own so it is a slow process. First came the phone line, then the electric, and then running water. What's still missing? A septic system.

We spent Saturday surveying our land with a borrowed transit. We found where all the lines need to be dug to have our septic system pass the county regulations. Our property is at the base of a mountain and is thus FULL of rocks and clay. Therefore there is only one place in the vacinity of our building site that we could find that would "perk" so the septic would work properly. As we began measuring the distances and marking the lines we realized that we were going to have to remove some trees to get this job done. There can be no trees in the area of the drain field or too close around the edges because the pipes are perforated and the tree roots will seek out water through these perforations and thus create a clog in the system.

I love our trees. We have A LOT of trees....Ponderosa Pine, Grand Fir, and Douglas Fir to name a few of the varieties. Some of them are enormous and some of them are no more than 12" tall. I find myself watching out for even the tiniest of them. The areas I have started to mow still have tiny trees I am leaving in place while I painstakingly mow around each one. Simply going out and deciding which one to take down for a Christmas tree was a BIG deal! Now mind you, we do have 7 acres. What is with this new "love affair" with trees? Maybe it's because for the first time I have actually noticed how the tips of the pines and firs turn a very light bright green during the spring as they are producing their new growth. I can now go to our trees and see just how much each one has grown just this season. I don't know, but whatever it is, taking down trees because we "have" to is very distressing.

Unless you have experienced this phenomenon you may think I have lost it. Saturday we got the lines all figured out and yesterday we started the dreaded cutting. I found myself so stressed out that I literally had to work myself up for each tree to go. At one point Sam mistakenly took a small one down that we had decided could stay in place and I FREAKED OUT on him. Go figure. Both of us were highly keyed up and it was only through sheer determination that we got the task completed. We only had to take down one mature tree. All the rest were little ones that no one would blink over.......except us.

One of the trees that went was one that had a tiny little bird nest in it when we were first looking at the property. We eventually got to see 3 little eggs in that nest though we never saw the baby birds. It was just sad to see it go.

There are still lots of trees on our property and a month from now we probably will forget what things looked like before. I imagine that no one will be thinking about the trees as they reach back to flush the potty! But as I was going through the experience I knew it would be something that would make it's way to my blog.

Where else could I go to talk about my trees and know that if not everybody understood, surely SOMEONE would?!!!

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Trees

7:23 PM, Monday, July 31, 2006 .. Posted by teapots66
Oh, Darcy, I can't handle the thought of my one maple being cut down and all my nice flowers in my less than quarter acre yard by the new owners - never mind a whole lot of trees. But you know flushing will make it worth it.... And did it make some firewood for you for this winter?
Sending my sympathies for your landscaping... from hot CT (over 100 degrees forecast the next two days - plus humidity). - Chris
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1:22 PM, Tuesday, August 1, 2006 .. Posted by TChannel4
Oh yes trees a lesson we learned the hard way. Well I can't actually say it was at our hands that we had to learn this lesson but rather the previous owners. They installed a septic system years ago and we have a huge Oak tree that is the major source of shade for us in the back yard. Well as the years carried on the roots pierced the drain lines and well as you can imagine this caused us a big pain. We ended up having to have a whole new system put in last year.

God Bless,
Tammy
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7:10 PM, Wednesday, August 9, 2006 .. Posted by southofthegnatline
.........we must be sisters separated at birth........last fall, we had a pond dug and on one particular day while I was away over in the city shopping - I returned home to discover that my dh had turned the contractors loose clearing a large, large area along our creek.............too many small trees were GONE.

I FREAKED doesn't come close......I nearly moved - I was so distraught........I've (sort of) come to terms w/the vacancy and have dedicated spare change to planting an orchard there now.........but suffice to say - I won't ever be the same...............nor anyone else around here!

Meanwhile - I want to build a real outhouse on the upper 26 - so you're not alone......

so glad you stopped by the Front Porch - I'm enjoying perusing around your blog ~

Blessings,
Harriette Jacobs

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About Me

My husband and I along with our 3 children, moved from Iowa to Montana 3 years ago fulfilling a long time dream of living in the mountains. Last summer we purchased and moved onto our bare land and are currently living in our home made cabin which has evolved from a shed to a barn to our cabin and future guest house. The foundation for what we now call "The big house" is dug and waiting for our next burst of energy!