It is a Stone by Stone thing

Building a life is like building a garden... You think you have a plan and a design.... .sometimes you  even fool yourself that you are following your plan... but gardens like life are always unpredictable and changing.... And in the end... it is only the results of the surprises and the seasons of change that produce the result. 

We came to this old ranch a while ago... it was barren, grazed back hard by years of cattle and neglect... Not much rain in the first place since this is California ... grass is the lifeblood. 

Drought can do what man can't, burning back and overgrazing things to the very edge of the stones. exposing the essence and the possibility. That was what was at this ranch the day we came here to give it life. A decade later.. and still in drought, we cherish the small things that make all the difference on a ranch. The small spring that can be coaxed slowly to trickle and build into a pond. The well that isn't a big producer but is reliable in the worst of drought that slowly fills the tanks and overflows to another small pond. The angle of the hills that produces late afternoon shade giving a breath of hope to a small meadow that appeared around the pond with its grass and willows. A gate that closes to protect the meadow letting the biome rest from grazing and aggrandize. 

 

And this years miracle? After 3 years of hard drought our small gift is a family of beavers who have moved into our creek.  The beavers came this year for the first time in our stewardship (10 years) and have built two dams. Those dams in turn have created the beginning of a retained watershed and hopefully a higher watertable. One pond stretches at least 200 feet backup into the creek on the meadow The other is a tentative beginning that is not yet 1 feet deep but holds promise. Gotta love Beavers... you don't have to pay them and they work around the clock. We are blessed to provide them the stretch of stream to call home.