Check the Spring Tank

When it’s a drought, we monitor our water usage more closely than when it isn’t so dry outside. When it gets like this, before I do anything that uses a lot of water, like washing clothes, I take a hike to check the spring tank.

Right now, it’s been so long since it rained, I can’t remember the last time the ground got wet. Cattle ponds are going dry, the creek here is nearly dry, and Felkins dry, too, except for a few shallow puddles now.

I’ve been too busy with other life challenges to get painting time in, and some physical labor is always good at a time like this. So I decided to go see what the water tank volume looked like.

Hiking Up the Mountain

I haven’t been getting a lot of exercise lately, so this time the hike was far more strenuous than it should have been. When the sound of my heartbeat got too loud in my ears, I stop for a break. And when I stop for breaks, I look around for things of interest to see.

We have bears here, although we rarely see one, even on the game cameras. Most often, what we see is evidence that a bear has been there. This rock has been recently turned over from its resting place. The rock is too large for most other animals to turn, so it’s most likely because a bear looked underneath it for food. They eat almost anything – grubs, insects, ant larvae, and probably seeds, mushrooms, small snakes and salamanders, too.

Of course, at this time of year, the leaves are the thing most people are seeing. And there is some nice color changing going on, in spite of the drought. I was afraid all of the leaves would just dry up and fall off brown, but some are turning. The maples are brilliant red, sassafras and sumac, too. Beeches are just beginning to turn yellow, and the hornbeams are still green.

Time to get moving up the mountain again, but no worries, I’ll be taking a break again shortly. I’m not in a rush to get to the spring tank, anyway. I’m enjoying my time in the woods away from the never-ending list of things to do at home.

Flowers, Herbs, & Shrooms

As someone who values locally foraged medicinal plants, I’m always on the watch for those. This is one that makes it to my shelf of herbs. American Dittany, also called rock mint, is a lot like wild oregano in properties. I use it sparingly to give an extra boost to the beebalm that I grow in my garden. I haven’t had any luck transplanting or growing these in my garden, but I keep trying. I think it likes to be neglected more than my garden ordinarily is. The places it grows naturally are very rocky, and very dry during summer and fall.

It has another little feature that makes me want to grow this one in my garden, too. During the first hard freezes, the stems make very nice frost flowers! They are just barely dropping their seeds by the time it starts freezing, so they offer tiny pollinators a food source until the very end of season, too. I love the smell of their crushed leaves.

The asters are pretty and are one of the other few flowers left in late fall. I have no idea what the mushrooms are but thought they were interesting. And the whiteleaf mountain mint smells wonderful, but doesn’t taste that good to me. But it is a savior if being chased by deer flies. Just crush it around your neck and exposed flesh, and the deerflies leave. It’s also ordinarily an excellent pollinator plant, but for whatever reason, this year I had very few pollinators visiting the ones in my garden.

Finally, the Spring Tank

Yeah, I finally made it the rest of the way up there to look at the tank. It’s rare that I do anything in a hurry, even if it’s not because I’m stopping to catch my breath. I just like looking around when I’m outside, so that slows me down a lot anyway.

When I got to the tank, I found the small lid to relieve pressure or vacuum was missing. It had been broken off somehow. I found it on the ground, with claw marks to offer a clue as to the culprit. Probably a bear.

But at least the input line was intact. Since hubs smeared axle grease on the line, the bear has not bothered it at all. You can see where it still likes to chew the overflow line, though.

And the tank was full! Yay! This is a big relief. Now I can wash all the clothes I feel like washing. Unless the water stops flowing into it, we won’t ever use the whole 1500 gallons before it refills. It does run dry if someone forgets the hose on, or we spring a leak, though.

YouTube Video

I made a video of this hike to the spring tank, well, it’s closer to a slide show.

https://youtu.be/vfrDI911YvU

Let me know what kind of escapes you’re known for! Hiking up the mountain is mine, lol.