Admittedly, just about everyone in California prays for rain at some point, we just hope that it doesn't come all at once. When the ground has been so consistently dry, a hard rain can swell the rivers and culverts, sweep away large debris, topple old trees whose roots can't hang on to the ground, and make small lakes where the course of drainage gets stopped. There was a lot of damage and some local tragedies of the January 2023 storm, and although Broken Branch was not unaffected, we count ourselves lucky.
During the January storms, we had almost 4.5" of rain in two days. With this much water, we learned a few things...
The mud is no joke...this was just the beginning of the vehicles that got stuck.
We have a seasonal lake - Lake Branch, right in our entryway!
Our creek can sometimes be a river.
A storm can bring uncommon visitors. It's not the best picture, but a bald eagle was hanging out on the high point.
Kids will always love mud. I think we all already knew that, but she had a great time.
Of the damages, we lost both our well pumps, some fencing, a couple wood tables, but all in all, these can fixed. The storm also perfectly illustrated where NOT to plant, NOT to build, and washed all the leaves and deadfall of the last few years away, leaving a bright white sandy creek with new courses, beaches, and wash outs. The land was transformed, and we're thankful we get to witness it's new face.
Next up, this weekend, we get to pick up our trees from Trees of Antiquity! They are an amazing family run farm offering many heirloom varieties of bare root fruit trees. Let the planting begin!
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