Our Riparian Life

Before we moved to our farm we lived in a subdivision. We had cats, dogs, rabbits, and a few fish. We leased a wonderful horse for a year but I had to drive almost an hour every day to take care of him. 

wild grapes just starting to grow

I longed to have a farm. We searched for a year before we found this house. In that year I prayed and prayed that, if it was the Lord's will, we would find a piece of property in which we could have a farm. At first it started like any other dream but then it became an obsession for me and it occupied almost all my thought. As the year progressed and we couldn't find any land that we could afford or that was livable, I began to think that it was not the Lord's will for us to have a farm. I cried myself to sleep many days. Then I asked the Lord to change my will so that I wouldn't long for a farm any more. The Lord's timing is perfect. I know this and I was completely aware of this at the time of my heartache.

wild grass

However, when you become obsessed with a desire a battle begins and sometimes a war will start with what you know and what you want and perseveration is all you do. About the time I asked the Lord to change my heart this house fell out of escrow and we stumbled across it. I say stumbled but I know that the Lord had his GPS working in us and he pointed us to this house. With the help of my parents we purchased this house and built our barn and now we have a farm. I am grateful everyday and I thank the Lord everyday for our farm. How does this connect to the riparian life? Well, the Lord could have brought us to any property, but he didn't. He brought us to this property and it has a beautiful creek flowing right through it. Within our beautiful farm there is another completely amazing world that we get to explore. The Lord far exceeded anything our hearts were even hoping for.

bullfrog tadpole

more tadpoles from smaller varieties of frogs



possible parent of some of those tadpoles ~ beautiful I might add!

stunning rock on the side of the creek

wild grass growing with some non-native mint

horsetail plant

wild grapes

a micro tadpole

damselflies ~ oops sorry to intrude

a honeybee stopping for a drink

the western view of the creek

tiny fry

a medium sized tadpole

possible newt eggs ~ we will carefully check back in a couple weeks

eastern view of the creek

wild mint ~ I wonder what the story is behind its growth here?

a beautiful blue rock ~ we need a geologist to help us identify these beauties

heading east in the creek

a mayfly nymph

Caddisfly larva inside their fancy little stone houses

A water boatmen

a damselfly enjoying the mint

thousands of mint roots

wild grapes ~ I can't wait until we can feast on these.

a micro frog trying to camouflage

iridescent green fly

a water loving snail

one of the ancient oaks that guards the creek





wild roses



fruit of  a crab apple tree growing in the creek



Likely frog eggs belonging to the frog below



frog found hiding near (above photo) eggs

 

Woodpecker pantry

Peeta's hideout