On the hillside opposite my field beyond the buck pen is a HUGE Scarlet Oak. It has a huge root that comes out horizontally over a rock. Ms Davis the little old lady we bought the place off of said there was a spring under it that even during the big drought back in the 30's ran.
I built the buck pen but we mainly just used it when leasing bucks because you had to haul water to it. We dug out the spring again and would haul water from the spring to the buck pen, but a 5 gallon bucket is like 50 lbs and it was a bitch.
Then we had the big time drought years. There was USDA money available for cost sharing for development of springs. The catch was you had to build it and then they reimbursed you. We never had the money to afford the backhoe work, but Ms Hollowdweller knew a contractor from her job who fronted us the work. So she and I dug out the spring and built a concrete spring box. We did a good job but there's still water in the road ditch so it's prolific. Anyway the guy pushed a pipe under the road, and then ran it down to a 450 gallon stock tank we bought.
Not counting our labor and materials to dig it out by hand and build the spring box it was like $1600. We got reimbursed for all but 100 bucks! A little overkill for 2 bucks but it has saved my back a billion times over. Also we put the tank so only 1/3 is in the pen and on hot days you can set in the other part. Over the years the spring where it was cleaned out has run stronger and stronger, which is amazing cause the scarlet oak on top of it is probably near six feet in diameter! By far the largest tree we have on our 85 acres.
A side about Ms Davis: She was like 85 when we bought it and would still come out every now and then. I always noticed when I'd show her the bees, that was her thing that she'd get kind of misty. Anyway she died at near 100 a few years back. When Anita was in the hospital she saw her grandaughter who lived with Ms Davis. She told her that Ms Davis was always really glad she sold the farm to us because we still had animals and farmed it, unilke any of her relatives would have. None of them farm. Made me feel real good. Part of the continuoum.
The thing for us is to figure out how to creatively preserve it after we are gone. I have toyed with the idea of willing it to a church for a church camp with the stipulation that it would never be developed. Or to Marshall University or Cabell Co. Schools to use as a nature lab or something.
certainly much nicer then in CA,as I mentioned elsewere I'm blood to the McCoys so WV feels like "home"
