I'm slowing down

Mapping the property & other idle time reflections

For the first time in five years, I spent a week working on projects at the cabin by myself. The pace of work was distinctly slower and I enjoyed the solitude.

My only goals for this trip were to meet with the road guy, map the property and chip away at small projects. I was up there every morning for a week and it was delightful.

The Driveway Project

I’ve got some mixed news about the driveway project. First, the bad news: I thought it’d be a sure thing, but “my guy” is not able to do the job this year.

I had a great visit with him, walking through the property and discussing options. He had lots of great feedback on updates to the planned driveway. In the end, he doesn’t have room in the schedule and I didn’t even get a quote from him.

I got the sense from him the scale of this project was more than simple road-building. It requires some major excavation and drainage work, which is not really his speciality. I’ve got a list of other contractors to work with and am setting up meetings with them later this summer.

A future driveway. Maybe?

He did recommend that I also meet with the town about the needed permits and whatnot for the project. He gave me great advice on how to get it done and push through town bureaucracy.

The good news is that I was able to meet with the town during that week and walk the property again. I got the clearance to do the driveway project, if I can find a contractor to do it.

Exploring, Mapping and Naming

The week was still cool enough that I didn’t see a single tick out there. I took the time to walk in the woods and start building a map of the property in more detail.

While hiking, I use GaiaGPS to drop pins and label points of interest. I then have a map of where I found certain plants, mushrooms or springs. Pictures never quite do it justice, but I have a few interesting ones to share.

This is a double spring. The circles are both water being pushed out from the ground. It bubbles down into a large wet spot full of ferns and eventually drains into a gully.

The ferns would be a great spot to forage for fiddleheads in April one year.

Nearby is another spot I’ve named Hickory Spring because it’s a spring flowing out from the roots of a shagbark hickory tree. I have now found about five springs in total and that’s pretty exciting news! I hope they’re still flowing in August when I’m out there next.

A few flowing springs

This little adventure got me thinking about place names. When dropping a pin, I’d name it whatever was obvious - double spring, hickory spring, big gully. This is exactly how most of the names of our states, cities and towns were named by various Indigenous peoples. Some favorites include:

• Ohio – from Seneca ohi:yo’, "beautiful river"

• Wyoming – from the Munsee Delaware phrase xwé:wamənk, meaning "at the big river flat"

• Keuka Lake - Keuka means "canoe landing" or "lake with an elbow" in the Seneca language.

You can read more about the place names of New York here. I like that these names are woven into the land itself. I think it’s important to respect and acknowledge their origin and the First Nations peoples who named them. That’s what I’m thinking about when I walk in the woods.

Other Small Projects

I finally cleared some brush behind the cabin. I’ve wanted to do that for years, but never took the time to do a small project like that. It took me about an hour. Here’s some before and after shots.

Lastly, I just wandered around the property and trimmed some trees and mowed the grass. I really enjoyed spending time up there in the mornings by myself.

Projects Ahead

The next projects include, of course, the driveway. I’ll report back on that.

The floors sure need an update.

The main one ahead is replacing and re-enforcing the floors of the cabin, which are a patchwork of plywoods. I’ve hired my future-brother-in-law, who is a carpenter to help out with that one. It should be fun!

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