Hasty Brook from the Sky

Aerial view of Hasty Brook

Our purchase of ten additional acres is complete! Last winter we looked in to the county tax records to find out who owned the ten acre parcel to out south and wrote the owners asking if they were interested in selling. We receive a reply in a week stating that they were eager to sell. Part of the reason we wanted that land was that we were hoping it would give us enough room for a building site for a cabin. There is a county set-back requirement of 150 feet from the creek and as you can see, Hasty Brook curves around quite a bit making the set-back a difficulty.

Our land is the top half of this 40 acre section.

We are headed up to Hasty Brook Wednesday evening through the weekend. On Friday we will be meeting with a septic designer who will make a recommendation on where (if) we can put in a septic system. In the above photo you can see that the creek bisects the property and we have no road access to the land east of the creek. The area inside the loop of the creek in the northwest part of the photo is where we currently have our road and clearing for the camper. This is where we would like to build. Since that loop falls within the 150 foot set-back area we will have to apply for a variance. A variance hearing requires lots of paper work and no small amount of money- all with no guarantees. I'm trying not to be discouraged. Please wish us luck!

I'm anxious to see what's blooming up there. Hopefully I'll be able to get some more pictures of the ferns, trees and wildflowers and continue with my project of cataloging the flora of Hasty Brook. I'll bring along a bag of birdseed to fill the empty feeders. I've taken the feeders down the last few times we've visited because of the bear damage but it doesn't seem to take the birds long to find the buffet once the feeders are refilled and hung! We'll most likely spend one afternoon in Duluth- my favorite city. The kids always look forward to a trip to a store called The Electric Fetus. They are an independent music store that carries an incredible variety of music plus some clothes and accessories that my kids really like. I bought my last favorite CD by Emmylou Harris there. So I hope the weather is nice so we can get some work done and do some relaxing too. We'll have extra chairs around the bonfire and I make pretty good s'mores. The cooler will be stocked- Malibu Rum and OJ, iced tea, Irish whiskey. We've even been known to make fruit smoothies! So if you're in the neighborhood, stop over!