Draco Hill

It’s time to build a water feature near the south end of the house. Paul has flagged out the space, carefully siting it within already-landscaped areas. And the digging begins. This pond will have an outside shelf of about one foot, likely lined with rocks from the place to build the right microbial life, then…

The sledding hill is ready at Draco Hill! Now we’re just waiting for the snow. Yes, some folks might think that’s a little crazy. It’s only October after all, but this winter we get to break a new friend from Tennessee into Iowa winters! Plus, it’s been a little too long since our young friends…

Paul’s big project this summer was a “pergola” or as some of us like to call it, an “arbor you can sit under.” He tells the story here, but here are the photos of the work on progress. We sited it facing northeast, with the sun to our left, our guineas to our right and…

We bought this boat in January from a young fellow who lives on the Mississippi. Who buys a boat in January and expects it to work? Such is the wonder of Craig’s List – making you trust in people even when there are so many bad ones out there.  Well, it’s a great boat and…

The edible savanna takes shape! To recap – We’re building an orchard on the former farm terraces at Draco Hill. We removed 215 trees – mostly box elders, cherries and ash, using the wood for firewood, and the slash to help with soil erosion on two long roads elsewhere on the property. Our neighbors used the stumps…

OK, so there’s lots of news about our orchard planting but we haven’t taken enough photos, so that’ll come later. For now, we just have to show you our friends who’d made a home in our dome. We came upon them yesterday. The first one was startling, but at least we could see it sitting…

Draco Hill has been wanting for snow, and today we have it. We’re expecting another few inches today. Time for snowshoes, sleds and our new-to-us toboggan…at least before it all dips down below zero tomorrow! This is what we woke up to this morning.           Our screen porch has turned into…