Ruisseau

The babbling brook speaks for itself...

... gently down the stream -- merrily, merrily, merrily ...

So we had a veritable marshland in the front meadow. One evening, after discussion over...

...it was agreed that we divert the water to an outlying municipal ditch. The excavation, placement, and arrangement of this ruisseau (streambead) has been an intense focus of our efforts this last week.

After identifying the grade of the land, the digging in the muck began...

We placed some rocks and planted assorted grasses strategically along the stream's edge. We plan to add some water-loving flowers alongside within the coming months, once things progress. We also lined the entire ruisseau with stones found on the property...

It rained on and off during the project, which proved serendipitous. We are quite pleased with the burble and chatter of the stream.

Cleo, weep for us.

Upon entry to the grounds of Chateau Acorn, one is greeted by the marshlands...

We decided to make the area more accessible by creating a streambed to divert water from flooding the meadow. (More on this project in coming posts.)

In the meantime, our first attack on this swampland was to plant a weeping willow which would be amenable to the site and have a predisposition to wet. Mssr. Acorn and I digging and planting...

As with many things at Chateau Acorn, there is a penchant towards anthropomorphism. We look forward to many long years ahead of weeping and sighing boughs...

Her name is Cleo.