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The stream that is a major feature on my property, contributing
offerings of visual delights and opportunities of engagement all four-seasons of the year,
was not among the reasons why my husband and I purchased the parcel of land upon which we currently reside. The stream
was hardly present then. Gradually it emerged as Skip and I removed the multi millennial
accumulation of leaves, twigs, branches, trunks, silt, pebbles, and boulders
that choked the lateral depression running from high ground to low. Opening the channel funneled the rainwater and
cleared the clogged heads of springs that now contribute steady
trickles of cool, mineral-rich water that ultimately feeds into Sepasco Lake below.
As we worked, the elongated zone of amorphous dampness was
transformed into a crisp meandering bank that bordered flowing, crystalline
waters. The lugubrious and dull sameness of the disheveled terrain gradually
morphed into a vibrant setting where liquid, stone, soil, moss, bush, and trees
regained their individualities. They invited new populations of frogs, blue
gills, water beetles, wood thrushes, fox, coyotes, chipmunks, and salamanders to
engage with them in new functional alliances. Even age-old trees sprouted young branches and clothed them in fine new greenery. Year by year, in steady increments, vitality
and diversity replaced insipidness and sameness.
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