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["Jeanne Driese" <jeanne13 AT earthlink.net>]

As James said, there is just no way to describe the feeling you get as you 
watch the water appear!  The wet weather spring that runs out of the hill and 
down my last 4 steps was so thrilling to me that I stood on the steps and let 
the water flow right over my shoes.  Wish I could get that water to flow back 
up to the top of my hill, but at least is not wasted as it runs down the 
drive, across the road, and into the creek.  
Greene County is usually a bit lower in overall rainfall than the surrounding 
counties, and every drop has been greeted with gratitude beyond belief.  My 
life becomes much happier when I can see water in all the places it should 
be.  One can hear the trees hollering yippee!
Jeanne
tnhillwoman
North East TN zone 6
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Clansgian AT wmconnect.com 
  To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org 
  Sent: Monday, January 12, 2009 10:04 PM
  Subject: [Homestead] Creeks


  Bev posted about her creek a few days ago.  Unless you live in a place 
where 
  you expect to get rain and then don't get it for a couple of years, you 
can't 
  understand the utter fascination with seeing water there on the ground 
right 
  in front of God and everybody.

  Last year Bev and I were both in 'Extreme Drought' areas.  This year her 
area 
  was upgraded to "Sand, dust, dead cow skulls, and buzzards circling 
  overhead".  My area was not and remained for a second year in the extreme 
drought zone.

  And it was.  Usually during a late summer dry spell the water comes back by 
  mid September.  This year for the second year running the ides of December 
came 
  and went with no measurable rainfall since June.

  Then the gods relented.  It took four or five good three day rains storms 
for 
  the springs to begin flowing again.  Then another and the creeks began to 
  come back beyond an ooze.  Finally this last round resulted in freshets 
springing 
  up in the road.

  The world is a very different place with water!

  Yet with all this rain the creeks are just now up to their average normal 
  level.  Here are some pictures of our creeks I took today, if they don't 
open 
  it's because the freebie site they are on has maxed out its transfer quota, 
just 
  wait a bit and try again.

  The back of the property, the south border, is the middle of Big Jacob's 
  Creek.

  www.geocities.com/one7thfarmer/bigjacob.jpg

  The view is downstream.  To the right is a 15' bluff and at the top of that 
  is back pasture.  To the left is the Cherokee National Forest.

  www.geocities.com/one7thfarmer/bj2.jpg

  This is Big Jacob's seen from the pasture and looking upstream.  To the 
right 
  is the Mirkwood.

  At the north line of the property  is Harper's Creek.  Prophetic, that, 
  considering my trade.

  www.geocities.com/one7thfarmer/harpers1.jpg

  This is near the eastern line of the property.  In the upper right of the 
  picture you see a board wired to a tree.  This was the fenceline of some 
previous 
  owner.  This creek is entirely on our property and parallels the county 
road 
  30' away.

  www.geocities.com/one7thfarmer/harpers2.jpg

  And here it is exiting on the western side.  The debris you see to the 
right 
  are old bee hives.  The creek winds nearly to the road (that's where the 
  bridge is) and then angles off into our holding making wedge on the NW 
corner of 
  the property 150' long and 40' wide at the base.  This is a auxilliary 
orchard 
  and beeyard.

  For the first ten years here there was no bridge, we had to ford this creek 
  to get onto the place.  If you didn't plan for the creek rising, you didn't 
go 
  anywhere.  If you did plan and parked the vehicles on the road side of the 
  creek, you then ported everything up the ridge on your back.

  There is a third and much smaller creek on the place, Bee Suck Creek (no I 
  don't know).

  www.geocities.com/one7thfarmer/bee.jpg

  Ours is the first privately held land that this creek and Big Jacob's Creek 
  flow through.  Harper's creek goes by a number of houses before flowing by 
our 
  front.  Bee Suck Creek is by far and away the longest of the three creeks 
and 
  it never dries up nor much changes level in wet or dry weather.

  www.geocities.com/one7thfarmer/join.jpg

  Here is where the Bee Suck Creek empties into Harper's Creek.

  www.geocities.com/one7thfarmer/pump.jpg

  And here is a where a small basin is empounded on Bee Suck Creek to provide 
  water for the garden.  The pipe goes up hte 20' bluff to the shoulder where 
the 
  main vegetable garden is located.  In the center of the garden is a pitcher 
  pump.  You can't see it from this angle but the pipe under water is held 
  verticle by large stones and has a foot valve.  



  James

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