A stormy Winter, to be sure.

A second snow storm after already getting 3 feet of snow. — *A second snow storm after already getting 3 feet of snow + a ton of rain, allowing new snow to stick to ice for a gorgeous display.*

We’ve had some serious challenges on our property over the last few years. After getting through a wildfire in 2020, the loss of habitat has drawn numerous critters to our tiny oasis, resulting in many trees and plants eaten by squirrels, rats and rabbits, (or, argh, pulled down by gophers), as well as the ponds foraged and wrecked by raccoons, which has harkened the arrival of more than enough rattlesnakes.

One of three trees down after a storm. — *One of our burned snag trees keels over from wind and rain.*

This 2022-2023 Winter season has been no fun. We’ve had to evacuate three times due to serious inches of rain forecast for the burned hills. And very sadly, we have slowly been losing a few of our last trees – as most had been burned and were really struggling. With a numerous storms, inches of rain and some serious single-line gale force winds, they were not able to stand against it all, so a great deal of ‘back to the drawing board’ has to happen.

A large burned Sycamore finally succumbs. — *A burned but surviving Sycamore finally succumbed to the winds.*

After all of that, we got over 3 feet of snow. Then rain, then more snow, which caused us to be snowed in for two weeks. Very luckily, we are close enough to a main road to meet friends with supplies. Now we await a second ArkStorm of rain to come this week…

So this Spring, I have plans for about 50 baby trees. I need to rebuild major wind-break and continue to plant trees that can stand our climate, hold against the critters, and grow fast and steadily.

I am also using many of the branches to downed trees as shade systems for the large pond, but as the ground is completely soaked, I’m unable to keep my posts holding until things dry out.