Hello Everyone!
Apocalyptic Homesteading Day 425!
Exploratory hiking, Finding a watering hole, Searching for an old well & A meadow full of straw!
It was pretty late by the time that I fell asleep last night and although I did not wake up super early I did manage to get up not all that long after sunrise. Considering the weather has still been quite chilly getting up super early is probably pointless given that I have not been motivated enough to work in the cold. When it comes down to it I just miss waking up to the stillness of four o'clock in the morning and getting in a nice afternoon nap.
Anyway, I was still pretty sore from yesterday's activities so I skipped doing any projects (even light-duty ones) and settled for doing only my routine chores instead. Later in the day I went hiking with one of the dogs and explored that portion of the meadow where I had previously found that piece of a plough and that large rusty pipe. Aside from finding two more sections of metal pipe (that were both dissimilar to each other and the aforementioned pipe) I did not locate anymore metal objects. I have yet to explore everything in that area because much of the vegetation is rather thick and there are a heck of a lot of briers so it would probably require cutting back some of the brush to really see what is what.
A lot of the meadow had dried up since the last time that I hiked there and I was surprised to find (along that same edge of the meadow as the pipe) a very small pool of water. I was at first thinking that maybe it was a spring but then I got to thinking that maybe it was just that it was in heavy shade and had not evaporated away like the other water in the meadow. Then I hiked maybe ten meters uphill of that pool and found a massive hole in the ground which made me question my shade theory. From the looks of the hole a good bit of runoff water winds up in it from both the uphill side and from a nearby road but when I climbed down into it the hole did not seem mucky at all. Granted I did not go to the very bottom of the hole because I could not see what I might be stepping into because the brush was so thick, so who knows what might be down there. It is a pretty big hole though and is around two meters by two meters wide and all of at least one and a half meters deep from the portion that I could see.
For now it is a mystery what exactly is going on over there in regards to the water so my tentative plan is to go back with a shovel and start doing some exploratory digging. Even if I do not uncover a spring or anything like that I am thinking to dig out that pool of water and expand it some so that it will collect and hold more water. Given that what is usually the most damp area in the meadow lacks any water right now finding that one small pool in the shade is a really good sign of a spring but I do not want to get my hopes up too much. I will be happy if its just a natural rain water collection point that can hold water for the wildlife.
It is kind of funny because the main reason that I decided to hike over there is because it finally clicked in my head that the rusty pipe that I found awhile back reminds me of some old artesian well pipes that I have seen before and I had gone to see if I could find any signs of an old wellhead. Now that I am thinking of it I should be extra careful when I explore that big hole because there may well be an abandoned well (or what remains of one) at the bottom of it.
Since the land has been heavily used for growing and harvesting timber there may well be one or more old wells around it. Whether any well(s) would be useful or not is another matter but it would be a cool find nonetheless. In many places those old artesian wells have been capped over with concrete which makes finding them somewhat easier than looking for a piece of rusty pipe sticking up above (or buried right below) the ground.
Overall, I did not get much done today but it was enjoyable to hike around and do some exploring. As far as the meadow goes I am tempted to mow some (or all) of it and collect the clippings for use in the chicken coop and maybe that new compost that I have been building. With all the bad weather moving in a little extra 'straw' would help the chickens stay warm so I may just get out into the cold tomorrow and try to get the lawnmower started. If it does not start I will get the old swing-blade out and do it the hard way!
I hope that everyone is doing well and has a nice day/night.
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