The Dam Project

We have this wonderful gift on our property in the Dominican Republic...two streams by our house. The one is to the north, the other to the west. The western stream is seasonal and only flows when the rainfall is consistent. We can hear it from our bedroom window ever so slightly we as the northern stream flows all year round and is almost always audible from the house. When we bought this property, we did not know we had these streams. Hence, on clearing the underbrush and cutting steps into the steep slope, we made this wonderful discovery and they come together on our property.

For a year I have been looking at these streams and thinking of a swimming hole. There is a lot of rocks, stones, gravel and sedimentation in the streams. There are some large flat rocks just below their junction and many an hour was spent sitting on them looking up the rivers and down stream. We built a stone "patio" just above the junction and put in a wooden bench and table. Unfortunately the table got stolen and till we figure out better security, it will be bear. We did clear the slope of brush to the east of the western stream down to the northern stream as we discovered lots of wild shade coffee trees, palms, bananas and orange trees. We planted more coffee trees, a local species of "birds of paradise" and impatience. Everything is flowering and starting to bear fruit, except for the bananas as its too shady. Also growing wild are passion fruit vines reaching into the canopy. The canopy is almost 100 foot high and creates very dense shade.

The streams have been talking to me in their gurgled way.