Fox Haven Journal

Beau September 17th, 2007

   This morning I thought I had a nice picture of the sun coming up.  A little hound dog came running across the viewfinder as I took the picture. He likes to spend his morning running hither and yon, with his nose-to-the-ground most of the time.

     Pablo had me thinking about pond and lake dams.  I don’t know much about engineering them, or why they are constructed in various ways. Wider would seem to be better…   But I wandered around this morning, and thought I’d get a larger perspective.  I came to the conclusion that I truly cannot imagine trying to manually cut grass on a dam that is much steeper than this.  If it doesn’t wear you out completely, then you risk brief periods of starving the machine’s engine of oil.  I use a DR Brush Mower, and while it handles our dam slope okay (still wants to roll over), it sometimes coughs and sputters and is a real bear to maneuver.  The lightest machine you can find with enough horsepower and cutting strength would be ideal.  There are also some really cool machines that will cut up to 34 degree slopes, but kind of pricey unless you have enough work for it over time.  A hand-held brush cutter also works pretty good, but takes a while.  And by the way, good cleated boots or soccer cleats are really helpful!   I think my real solution is for the day we finally have some goats.  I’m just going to stake a couple out in the middle of the dam and let them at it. :)

If you’re building a farm pond or small lake, a wider dam and shallower engineered slope may make it much easier to maintain over time.

• Landscapes , Rural Living
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