The Walden Effect: Farming, simple living, permaculture, and invention.

Creek Walking

Bank of creek


My brother, Joey, came over yesterday and tempted me out for a perfect Saturday afternoon of creekwalking.

Eroded tree roots


We passed trees whose roots had been eroded bare by rushing water.  (Notice the taproot on the walnut in the center photo.)

Doll in the creek gravel and river cane.


Some of the flood-deposited debris was quite disturbing....  The river cane, though, was awesome --- stands of wild bamboo holding the bank in place.

Creek in a gully.


As we walked downstream, the creekbed became a gully over fifteen feet deep.  From our excited gasps, you would have thought it was the Grand Canyon.  Lucy ran up and down the hillsides with ease, even climbing eight feet up a tree at one point in an attempt to find a shortcut to the other side.

Creek running into a sinkhole.


There goes our creek, flowing down into a sinkhole.  This is the cause of our frequent floods --- when water levels rise, the sinkhole reaches capacity and then the creek just backs up, turning this whole basin into a pond.  Local lore says that someone shook a bag of flour down the hole once.  The marked water slipped down under a ridge, below the river, then popped back up on the other side.

The best thing about family is that they can share in your oddball hobbies, like soaking yourself from the chest down for a couple of hours as you trace a creek to its end.  Thanks, Joey!



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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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How neat! Maybe you could try the flour technique someday?
Comment by Brandy :: Young in the Mountains Sun May 3 14:09:34 2009
It would be amazing to see it ourselves, but I'll probably just take their word for it.
Comment by anna Sun May 3 21:39:22 2009





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