Rainy day projects

After a slow week, with plenty of rain, things are starting to look finished on our little piece of heaven in Montana.  We started the week with a holiday, which will inevitably slow things down, but the merciless rain didn't speed things up for the remainder of the week.  We did manage to get a grey water drain field set for the yurt, and tile around the perimeter to avoid water collecting under the yurt platform.  Some of our large rocks scavenged from the ground were set around my garden frost free water pump and other key areas where we needed to keep the freshly disrupted earth from oozing out of place in all of the rain.  With the conduit laid for electric and phone lines, the trenches were covered, and Tanner and I have been busy laying seed for native grasses to fill the empty space.  Our hopes are for the grass and other native plants to take over that space before thistles and other noxious weeds take up residency.

Yurt drain field

Frost free garden pump, with rocks below (rocks on the side will be used for retaining walls near the house)

Seeding the newly covered trench from the road

In the process of adding seed to our land, I have been doing my best to research native plants and decide which ones I want to add to our already lush landscape.  I was lucky enough to find a native plant nursery in West Glacier, and they come to my local farmer's market!  You can learn more here.  I am anxious to bounce ideas off of their wealth of knowledge, but in the meantime I am learning to identify many of the plants I'm seeing on my walks and throughout the property.

This plant, which hasn't quite bloomed, is called Mountain Lover, which is all too appropriate for Tanner and I

While the seeds are germinating, we decided that all of the rain and large trucks coming and going from our building site had made our road a mess, only to get worse in the coming months.  We decided to invest in some rock and take advantage of Jardy's schedule to get them all smoothed out for us.  As they say, a stitch in time saves nine, and we are hoping that this extra step now will save for a lot of grading and futzing in the driveway later on.
First off, we needed to lay down road fabric to give the rock a boundary of sorts in the very squishy mud.  This should keep the rock from forming deep ruts and potholes over time.  The dogs loved the fabric, even more than the dirt, which kept Tanner busy telling them to move!

Looking west up the new addition of driveway

Main driveway looking east, yurt platform on the left, home site straight ahead and on the left

Yurt platform, all staked out and ready for a dry day

Once all of the fabric was laid, the dump trucks began arriving with rock.

Jardy spreading out the new rock

Tanner cutting away excess fabric

Tanner and Buddy supervising the dump truck unload

Moose and I catching some sun

Walking down the new driveway

After a very long day, things looked great.  We couldn't be happier with how things are looking after initially breaking ground on our untouched wilderness.  I think that we have done well in disrupting the land as little as possible and conserving the nature that thrives here, thanks to hiring a great excavator and being mindful of the value of what lies therein.

yurt platform from driveway

Looking clean with fresh gravel

The sight of where we first broke ground. The existing driveway ended at a dugout in the hillside, now freshly filled and seeded alongside our new gravel.

Looking to the west

To learn more about Montana Native Plants: www.mtnativeplants.org
If you are in the area of Glacier Park or the Flathead Valley, buy your plants directly from:  www.windflowernativeplants.com
For an expert excavator call Rocky Mountain Excavating at (406) 261-4281
Buddy Approves!