Today was a particularly pleasant fall day and Melissa and I resolved to enjoy it by spending some time outdoors. So, we visited our distant lot to check on conditions and enjoy ourselves.
We are fortunate to have low-bush cranberries growing wild on our lot. They are ripe at this time of year and, although they are not found in any great concentration, we harvested a small amount with no special exertion as we walked around.
After we returned home, Melissa set about converting the cranberries to a batch of muffins. They were tasty enough to make me wish we had taken a longer walk.
While at the lot, we were surprised to see that the posts and gate of the chicken pen, although never plumb or square, are now leaning inward at a noticeably greater angle. More peculiar still: the interior of the pen, which had been scraped and flattened by the chickens, is now filled with tall grass. Upon closer inspection, we saw that a significant portion of the pen area has become a shallow pond.
I suspect that the trench we dug to trap the fence edge below the ground surface had not only the effect of preventing the burrowing of predators, but also the effect of trapping water from the fall rains inside the perimeter of the pen. We had to cut through moss up to 15” thick when we made the trench. When the fence was packed in, it likely made the pen perimeter less permeable to the rainwater that fell inside.
Furthermore, the chickens compressed the moss inside and gleyed much of the surface, which would have made the pen a less-permeable depression. The combination of these effects probably aided the formation of the pond.
The grass in the pen is of the same type found in other wet areas of the lot. I think the greater height and concentration is probably due to the fence keeping animals away from the area. Anything bigger than a squirrel would not be able to get through or over the fence without facing enough difficulty to adequately discourage most attempts. Left undisturbed, the grass has proliferated to a greater degree than is found elsewhere.
Regrettably, it seems we will have to relocate the pen before we can reuse it for chickens. Ducks might not mind the water, but they would want more dry land to nest on than is now available inside the pen.
Another conclusion I draw from these observations is that we will have to either leave the moss cover undisturbed or clear large sections in order to avoid making small ponds everywhere we operate.
The sight of those muffins makes me hungry for one myself. I can see you taking more walks to harvest more often what nature has to offer.
There are places in this world without enough water, and you have the need to discourage its presence. I’m blessed to live where our supply is very sufficient, yet its presence isn’t problematic. Something for which to be grateful, I can see.
Good luck with your resolutions!
Water management features prominently in our development plans.
We hope to collect as much as possible,
with the goal of not needing a well to support our operations.