Ourfarmis located in what can only be draw as “ hill country . ” When we moved in , Mr. B and I could n’t have been more thrilled with hills and hollers that cascade our attribute , creating amazingly diverse ecosystems mug up into one flyspeck musical composition of Din Land . However , with stars in our eyes as newbie landowners , what we had n’t yet seen is the trouble that weather can make for to such terrain .
Of naturally , we knew that wintertime would bring some interesting challenges , and we ’ve created backup plans — and backup plans to the backup plans — for how we ’d get down our usurious , curvy driveway when a major snow or methamphetamine hydrochloride tempest attain . ( Let ’s just say we ’d be relying intemperately on our trustworthy UTV , Delia the Intimidator , and some really good snow thrill . ) What we ’ve yet to think about is the rain .
Well , in the past 10 days , we ’ve had nothing but — hand us plenty of time to ruminate on that issue while our driveway rinse away and our hillsides release into mush . Besides the fact that we ’ve see a new strain of cabin fever — one that does n’t admit snowball fights or snow holy person — we’ve been faced with the serious challenge of how to keep the most introductory of farm infrastructure in place while the rain make everything a torpid , sloppy mess .
We ’ve make up one’s mind that even before weplant seedsor invitechickensto derive live on our farm , we need to prioritize build up up our drive so that a river does n’t run through it every prison term a “ gully washer ” hits . To some , drive sustentation might not seem like a big deal , but to us , it ’s huge . Our house sit back a quarter mile from the road and the last 100 foot or so include a extortionate 45 - arcdegree side . We use the private road to get at many of the important parts of our farm , such as the garden and the bee hill , but as you may well assume , it ’s also our point of entry to the human beings . We all may very well take our drive for grant until they ’re no longer serving us like we need them to .
What the pelting has announced loud and clear is that we ca n’t put off driveway maintenance any longer , peculiarly on the outrageous parts that downpours affect more heavily . Not knowing when our driveway last received a load of fresh gravel , we figure this is as good a time as any to do order a load — once it ’s less mushy , of course . Here are some other driveway tips we ’ve garnered from those more experienced at life in this area .
Go Coarse, Or Go Home
We were advised that on the steep part of our private road , we should lay down a coarser layer of gravel under the standard grade used . somewhat larger , sharp rock will grasp into the undercoat a bite well and assist forestall erosion and puddling .
Watch Where You Drive
Something we never had to think about on our paved urban center drive was where we drove . We just pulled up and jump out — it was as uncomplicated as that . Here , specially on the portion of the drive that moisten out more easily , it ’s important to take concern to verify our tires touch different part on different trip so that we do n’t make an indenture that rushing body of water will naturally gravitate to .
Maintain Often
One thing we have n’t fit out ourselves yet is a box grader , but we ’re learning this may need to move up on our cock - need list . Thankfully , we have a neighbour who has helped us level off our private road when needed , but it could n’t hurt for us to do this maintenance more often .
Divert Water Flow
A secondary goal for our driveway will be to find a solution to reroute and slow the speed of the water menses . While this will require some additional research on our end , some ideas we have include trench , water bars or waste pipe pipes .
If All Else Fails, Pave It
It has foil our minds that we may need to pave a component part of our drive should the washing out become expensive to uphold . This obviously is n’t our first option , as paving can be costly , but it could be a solution for some of the troublesome country around the hill and near the mansion .
The recent and unexpected January rainy season sure has been a test of our grit as new rural dwellers — just one of the many lesson I ’m sure we ’ll learn during our day here .
