DISCLAIMER: The video is just a quick scan from the back right corner of the property. The fence is where it stops and it starts about 20 yeards behind me.
What's goin on Hive! I just recently returned from a work trip attempting to find land. A close friend of mine has wanted to start a farm community and has asked me to be the first to join. The Virginia Hills seemed to be the place to go for the fertile land, navigable terrain, and natural resources already at our disposal from wild game to fresh water. The next few posts will be many pics and a few videos on what I saw during the trip at the pieces of land I consulted for.
The first day we showed up at our AirBnB and used the time to settle down before we started our overlook of the properties.
Here is the room I stayed in with my luggage and gear for the next week.
The view of the kitchen area from the living room.
We couldn't see the main road from our AirBnB because there was a line of trees in the way and also a couple bee boxes. You can see them if you follow the window divider on the left 3 quarters all the way up and to the immediate left. This time of year Virginia also had an exploding population of lady bugs. I took a picture of this independent explorer because it was so rare not to see them in clumps made up of no less than 30 lady bugs at a time.
This was the home that came with the first property. It was described as a party house built by the owner in order to host his get togethers at.
The pond that came with the house was said to contain catfish and bass inside. I did not see any fish in the pond but there was plenty sign that waterfowl had passed by which would give us meat and possibly eggs. It's a man made lake with a spring feeding into it, but I could not find a source of water other than a drainage path. The realtor came off as a man who did his research and knew his stuff so I am inclined to believe him more than question.
On the back end of the pond there was a drainage ditch used for the access water to flow into. It kept a constant trickle which resulted in a sort of semi bog environment where the ground stayed wet and sunk underfoot when approaching the dirt close to the drain. This provided a home for a few critters you normally wouldn't see in the middle of your backyard and a watering hole in the middle of an open area for prey animals to get a drink and keep an easy eye out for predators.
Here is the point where to access water trickles out starting the private strip of marshy ground.
Here's what an overlook of the waters exit point and the beginning of the wetlands of the first property.
Here if you look there is a hole and then a mound of dirt and mud the right of it. These are crawfish holes and mounds. The holes will go into the ground beneath the water table and the mound looks like a cow paddy more than it does any recognizable structure which is how you distinguish them from grub "towers"
I didn't realize my view finder was so off on my camera. This structure has a grub in it. More often than not it will be a Cicada grub. Other animals, mainly skunks, will see these and dig them up in order to devour the builders.
There was a fresh water stream that resided 50 yards within the property and ran parallel with the border of the backyard. From top to bottom of the last 3 pictures: raccoon, deer, and turkey prints all along the side of the backyard stream.
This sink used a water pump and filter in order to have running water from the stream right next to a steal bridge that allowed us to walk to the other side. I though the contraption was a sloosh box for mining for gold but I found out that it was a corn chopper.
Here are some random pictures showing different views of the property. The buildings are as followed in no particular order: The main house, the garage which held 5 cars and was built out to include an outdoor shower and an indoor area to put a fridge and cot, man-cabin at the bottom of the hill, and an outhouse with running water that included a sink and shower. The grilling areas with all the equipment would stay but they will be taking all the gear.
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