Sunday, December 10, 2006

Thank Goodness for the River!

Over the summer we were sent a letter by a local land trust stating that our property was located within the boundaries of the Kinnickinnic River watershed. The land trust is putting together a project that they hope will reduce the pollutants that run off into the river.

That's cool, but what does that mean? That means that if I agree, they will substantially help fund turning my front yard into a garden.

Wait, let me think about this... HELL YEAH!!

They haven't pinned down a specific amount, but they alluded to the upper hundreds and possibly into 4 digit amounts, depending how critical the researchers have found our particular property to be - and how much we want to spend ourselves. We are supposed to meet with them next week to go over the agreement, so I will know more then.

The really lucky thing is that I have been concentrating my gardening on our back yard and have pretty much left the front yard alone. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with the space. We were actually going to start work up there next year on the tea patio using all those bricks that we got from the chimney. Now someone will actually help us pay for that!

Thank goodness for the river!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG! Where near the Cities do you live?
Cuz I grew up on a farm south of Eau Claire, WI... just off I-94 between Eau Claire and Black River Falls. We go back there every summer... I LOVE the Mississippi River, the Cities, LaCrosse, the bluffs!

Unknown said...

How cool! Be sure to find out what kinds of restrictions come with the money, though, too. They may not matter in the end, but I guess I'm just a little leery of someone telling me what I can and cannot plant. (Stubborn girl.)

Sylvana said...

Linda, the Kinnickinnic should be a dead give away.

Blackswamp Girl, I appreciate your weariness. They already went over some of the restrictions with us. We have to leave the garden in place for at least 7 years, we do have a list of plants that we have to include but we can pick out what we want and include a few plants that are not on the list as well, it has to be sunken, ad it has to be in our front yard. I'm not too picky about the garden in the front. I'm actually a little relieved that someone is going to help us with it. I've seen some of their projects and they look really nice. Besides, I have my apprx 2500 sqft garden in the back to plant what ever I want!

OldRoses said...

Sylvana, that is such exciting news! What's on the plant list? What are you going to plant?

Sylvana said...

OldRoses, I'm not sure yet what is on the list. We will get that when we meet with the project manager. We got the call to set up an appointment, but I haven't called back yet because I have been so busy with other things. Soon, though, I will have all sorts of details to share!

Sylvana said...

Tani, I STILL have not caught up with the guy in charge of the project, so I don't know exactly what they are going to do for us. I'm hoping that I can meet with him next week, though.

Happy Holidays to you too!