from Chris
We get a lot of great blue herons that visit Stevenson Ridge’s ponds, but recently, we had a visit from a bird we’ve not seen nearly so often: a great egret.
Egrets are actually pretty common, but in all honesty, none of us could remember the last time we’d seen one at the Ridge.
Egrets are closely related to herons and have the same tall, thin build. They prowl the shallows in search of small fish—although in this …
from Kellyn
On Tuesday, May 7, 2019, we spotted a few new arrivals on the property. We stood by our pond and watched as Mother and Father Goose led 5 goslings to the water. That makes today about as close to their one-month birthday as we can pinpoint!
Since then, our goslings have grown so much! They are busy following Mom and Dad around the pond, feasting on seeds and grass, and just being the cutest little things ever. We …
from Chris
The first faint blush of fall has crept into the leaves at the Ridge. We’re getting a few random yellow leaves blowing into the pond from the surrounding forest, but the trees directly around the pond are all still full green—except, that is, for a single small blush of dark crimson. See if you can spot it!
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from Chris
Madeliza wrote last month about the great blue heron we’ve had along the pond’s edge this summer and fall. I had the chance today to watch him as he considered accommodations at the Riddick House.
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from Madeliza
For the past few days, we’ve been hosting a great blue heron in our pond! I get so excited every time the heron visits us because he’s such a beautiful and graceful sight.
I’ve tried a bunch of times to go out to the pond and snap a picture, but I haven’t had much luck. This past weekend, though, right before a wedding ceremony was about to begin, I received a text message from the wedding coordinator letting …
from Chris
A dusting of overnight snow earlier this week revealed a visitor to the pond who might have otherwise remained invisible: a fox.
Foxes are inherently curious, and the trail of footprints clearly illustrated that curiosity. The footprints wove from one object on the ice to another–the fox taking a moment to check out each and every little thing out there. There were pieces of bark from a tree limb that had fallen, chunks of ice we’d chopped out …
from Chris
As I’d mentioned last week, I tried my hand this spring at raising some ducks for Stevenson Ridge’s pond. We’ve had a few questions about the ducks since then, so let me take you back in time to Tuesday, May 23, when the ducks first arrived. I received a call from the post office at 4:30 a.m., inviting me to come on down and pick up my ducklings. They arrived in a box smaller than a shoebox.
I …
from Chris
We have a new house at Stevenson Ridge. It sits pondside between the Log Home and the Riddick House. We call it the Duck House—because it houses ten new ducks we’ve bought to the pond.
I decided to try my hand at being a “gentleman farmer” the spring. As an adolescent, I used to raise chickens, and I’ve always wanted to have a few again someday. Well, the time still isn’t right, but I did think a few …
For last weekend’s bridal open house, our wedding coordinators decorated our pergola with a giant dreamcatcher. Accented with gorgeous fresh flowers and bright strips of multicolored cloth, the pergola stood in oasis-like contrast to the leafless landscape.
We added a few chairs to evoke a wedding setting, although during actual ceremonies, for big weddings we’ve set out as many as 216 chairs! Our pond-side pergola always makes for a lovely ceremony setting.
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from Chris
We had our first snowfall of 2017 today….
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