Hidden paradise where the deer sleep

This corner of the yard didn't look so unique at first.
(Click any photo to enlarge as desired)

Yesterday Gordon discovered a hidden road just over the edge of Valhalla's front yard, some 200 yards or so from the house. He'd been scouting around to see where another pond could eventually be constructed (one that could be used not only for ducks and fish but also in case of fire) and decided to explore the ravine just beyond the tree line.

It was apparent that nobody has used the hidden
 road for many years. It's doubled as a natural
drainage system for dozens of acres around the
house - water that could be diverted to a new pond.

Then he found the abandoned interior road below. He followed it down for a city block or two and found where it flattened out by a creek, where a big doe suddenly burst out of nowhere and ran right in front of him before disappearing. Then he heard a buck snorting and stomping somewhere nearby across the creek before the buck ran off. Since he was wearing shorts he didn't want to walk through the tall grass full of ticks to cross over, so he returned to the house to tell me what he'd seen.

Flattened out grass shows where deer have slept.
There's no doubt they feel very safe down here.

So this morning while it was cool we both went back down the old road leading to the creek. For some odd reason the cats, Vixen and Joker, decided to come hiking with us. When we reached the creek we saw the first of many places where deer have been sleeping. It's a beautiful little area, extremely quiet and peaceful. Since it's in fact very close to the house it might be the site of a micro-cabin some day, if the drainage issues were resolved.

The creek is still running despite this summer's long drought, an indication that it will rise considerably with rushing waters and probably become impassible on foot during the winter months. There's countless numbers of trees of all sizes everywhere however, including right by the creek, so cutting down a few to build a sturdy foot bridge shouldn't be a problem. 

Vixen crossing the creek to show how low the water is right now, although that will change in the fall.

More flattened grass probably used by several deer.

We were surprised to then find several acres of meadows across the creek and it was obvious that dozens of deer have been frequenting the area for years. Game trails criss-crossed into the trees while freshly flattened patches of tall grasses tell the story of recently slumbering deer. And the little piles of deer poop scattered here and there were definitely fresh.

The cats crossing the first small meadow.

Due to the proximity of not only fresh water and the house, this first small meadow by the creek might be the perfect future location for a small animal barn for sheep, goats, and poultry. It would be necessary to fence off the creek and have a foot bridge suitable for use by both people and animals, yet it wouldn't be difficult to get building materials and run electricity down the old hidden road. 

Old animal fence with rotting posts.

We weren't the only ones to have this idea since at the back of that small meadow we found the remains of a very old fence that had once been used to corral farm animals. The posts were rotten and most of the fence wires were laying on the ground covered with grasses.

The second meadow, larger than the first and
potentially could be good for small animal grazing.

And just beyond the rotted fence: a second, much larger meadow with perhaps a couple thousand cattails growing from the marshy ground. But the smaller meadow hadn't shown signs of water saturation or drainage issues, and this larger meadow is on higher ground. 

So where was the water coming from?

Gordon discovers the old well behind a metal fence
just above the second meadow

Gordon found it, and solved a mystery at the same time. There is an old farmhouse located below Valhalla's largest pasture. For safety reasons that old farmhouse will eventually have to be removed since it's falling down and perhaps the only things holding the roof up are masses of wasps nests. 

Then we'd heard there was an very old artisan well somewhere behind the farmhouse... but we never could find it, and nobody has been able to tell exactly where it is. 

So now we know.

The lost well isn't lost anymore. It will need to be cleaned up and restored, but what a great find!

The hand-built well has clearly been abandoned for many, many years and is attached to broken pipes as well as hoses that have simply rotted away. Water has been dripping down the hill to where the cattails are growing probably for decades. It needs to be cleaned, restored, and have its water tested - but what a find! Once the old farmhouse is removed, the remaining site would be perfect for building two or three straw bale or cob cabins that would then have access to their very own well. 

Glimpse of the old farmhouse beyond the trees
as seen from the fence in front of the well

We'll be thinking about what to do about our discoveries from this morning and invite any comments or input. The three most obvious options would include:

Vixen and Joker following us through the grass.
They kept pace and hiked with us all the way to
the well, impressive for two cats who we
thought could never be tamed.

A. Plant feed plots and scatter around some corn to encourage the deer to continue to frequent the meadows. The problem with this idea is they would be about 100 yards from where the raised beds for vegetables will be.

B. Set up a small animal barn in the first meadow past the creek, run electricity down to it from the house, fix the fences, bring in some goats and sheep, and set up food plots for the deer away from the area (and much farther away from the planned vegetable gardens).

C. Wait until the rest of the Valhalla property can be thoroughly surveyed this fall and winter before making any decisions. The truth is, we haven't seen a single square foot of the northwestern 80 acres since it's too overgrown to get into, and dozens more remain mysterious and unexplored. It may be best to wait until the first Valhallans arrive to scout out all areas of the property after the trees lose their leaves. At that point it will be much easier to see what Valhalla has to work with.

If you have any suggestions or ideas on this subject, either email us at valhalla.mailbox@gmail.com or leave your comments here.

Our IRS application for nonprofit status is being processed, 
yet you can still donate to help Valhalla today!

Tear down that wall! Structural improvements begin

Part of one bedroom wall being torn down. The
blue tape on the floor marks the placement
of the new office walls.

Yesterday the first structural improvements in the house began with tearing out one of the master bedroom walls to access a hallway walk-in closet, and then building two new walls to form a new (albeit small) office area. The alternative would have been to use one of the smaller bedrooms as an office, yet doing so would have reduced precious space that should be reserved for beds. That wasn't really a viable option so building a new office makes more sense.

Keith Hurst installing a new wall for the office
while his brother Hal looks on. 

This essential preparatory work before the first Soldiers and war zone civilian workers is being performed by Keith Hurst, a Viet Nam veteran and Marion County native, with help from Charles Jefferson. The two of them have already proven to be prompt, organized, and well prepared with all necessary tools and equipment. And they are extremely motivated to help transform the Valhalla vision into a reality!

A wild turtle trapped by the sunken living room.
We let him go after giving him a pile of lettuce;
a very interesting guest who was happy to leave! 

Once the office is completed it will be necessary to raise the sunken living room, since it is currently a safety hazard, to bring it flush with the other floors in the house. Sunken living rooms were trendy in the 1970s when the house was originally built, yet several people have accidently stumbled off the 6" high ledge already. It would be a navigational nightmare for those in wheelchairs or with prosthetics so it will be fixed in the coming weeks.

Gordon figured out that if the new refrigerator
couldn't fit through the kitchen door then anyone in
a wheelchair would be stuck outside too!

While most Valhallans will not have any major
physical disabilities it will still be important to have
the capacity to accommodate those who do.

Other essential projects to prepare the house for future Valhallans include widening several narrow doorways to 36", converting an existing bathroom into an easy-access wet room with safety rails and related features, replacing the hazardous wood burning stove pipe with an insulated fire-safe chimney, and upgrading the kitchen to facilitate food preparation for large numbers of people. While Soldiers and war zone civilian workers will be taking on many construction projects here at Valhalla in the future, existing safety hazards and accessibility issues will be resolved in the coming weeks.

Valhalla cats Vixen and Joker aren't very excited by structural upgrade projects. They just don't care.

Our IRS application for nonprofit status is being processed, 
yet you can still donate to help Valhalla today!

Warrior Police book sales to help finance Valhalla

After three years of research, interviews with approximately 1,000 Soldiers, and embeds in both Iraq and Afghanistan, the book Warrior Police published by St. Martin's Press will finally be in bookstores on September 13th, 2011.

Written by Valhalla Founders Gordon Cucullu and Chris Fontana, all profits from the book will be donated to the Valhalla Project to help with initial operations costs while larger fund raising programs can be developed and implemented. The book itself, as described by the publisher below, brings readers into the lives and work of contemporary military police:

America has been at war on several fronts since the 9/11 attack. While public attention has focused on Marines, conventional Army units, and Special Operations Forces, a lion’s share of the war-fighting has been done, under media radar, by Military Police units. These squad and platoon-sized units patrol dangerous urban streets, build up local police units to improve neighborhood stability, and conduct civic action missions. On many occasions they have rushed into a vicious firefight to come to the assistance of infantry units in desperate straits. They keep villages Taliban-free, monitor balloting sites, and interdict drug shipments. In detention centers at Camp Bucha, Iraq, Bagram, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo, Cuba they guard some of the most dangerous terrorists in history.

The story is told by the soldiers themselves, recounting what they have seen and experienced, along with historical context and first-hand field observations by the author team who were provided with unique inside access. Warrior Police takes readers into the bloody streets of Iraq, the dangerous back-country of Afghanistan, and wherever our Military Police are needed.

It was during two separate embeds with military police units in Afghanistan during 2010 that the Valhalla Project was originally conceived. By purchasing this exciting new book you will help to build a permanent and much needed retreat for some of the men and women who have risked everything in the defense of freedom worldwide. Click here to find it on Amazon.com and place your order today!

Warrior Police authors and Valhalla founders Gordon Cucullu (left) and
Chris Fontana (right) taking a break outside Kandahar, Afghanistan

Our IRS application for nonprofit status is being processed, 
yet you can still donate to help Valhalla today!

First Visit by the Lombardos and our first Social

We had the first of what we hope will be many visits from Valhalla board member Lt. Colonel Tom Lombardo and his wife, Melissa, this weekend. Having made the three hour drive from Fort Leonard Wood where Tom commands the 701st MP Battalion (White Tigers), their initial reaction was similar to ours. "Wow, what a beautiful piece of land. And so quiet."

Even though we have only one hummingbird feeder working, the little guys were active and buzz-bombing each other for a place at the trough. A neighboring cow mooed, protesting the heat from a pond across the fence, and hidden in the foliage of the forest a woodpecker tapped out a Morse message looking for insects.

We made a tour of the property in their Expedition, stopping frequently to check ponds, fields, and streams. Near the large pond, Melissa spotted the abandoned wild turkey nest we had seen weeks before with six fresh eggs in it. "Look for jeep tracks in the grass," we advised, and she found it promptly. All eggs appear to have hatched, and we heard a turkey wings beating in the nearby woodline as we walked down a trail to the second pond.

We discussed the future projects to clean up and expand the ponds and use the accumulated water to service the various livestock we intend to acquire.

Later we were joined by Vern and Joyce Meents and Dianna Marquis. Vern and Dianna are the Rock Chair Realty team who, along with their broker Kenneth Jefferson, screened dozens of properties before we came to Marion County and identified what we were eventually to purchase as a possible candidate.

We had our first "social" at Valhalla, with pita bread, cold cuts, tuna salad, a stupendous five-bean dish that Dianna brought, and topped it with home-made walnut raisin pie.

In many ways the Lombardo's visit was symbolic of what we hope to achieve. A partnership of community and military sharing the goal of assisting Soldiers re-adjust to civilian life in a stress-free, positive work environment.

Now that Tom and Missy have had boots on the ground they are able to suggest the kinds of ideas and innovations that will make Valhalla a stronger place.

From left to right: Vern Meents (Rocking Chair Realty), Melissa and Tom Lombardo, Dianna Marquis (Rocking Chair Realty) and Valhalla Project Founders Gordon and Chris Cucullu.

Our IRS application for nonprofit status is being processed, 
yet you can still donate to help Valhalla today!

Forestry and Pond Projects

Mike Parkinson from the Soil
Conservation Service (SCS) taking
the first of many soil samples on
the Valhalla property

Been an exciting week at the Valhalla Project. On Tuesday we met with Forestry Service experts to discuss methods of protecting the house and eventual barns from wildfires. While thorough evaluation of the more heavily forested sections of the property will wait till late fall, when leaves are down and much of the undergrowth dormant, we can begin selective thinning of some of the dying or dangerous trees close to the house fairly quickly.

This will open the immediate area for more sunlight and grass growth while enhancing a savannah, park-like atmosphere.

On Friday representatives from Soil Conservation Service (SCS) came for a visit gsvand we drove out into the pastures and fields. Our main pond is bone-dry now, primarily because of being heavily overgrown with aquatic plants like cattails and bank plants that literally suck the pond dry. We're making plans to clean out the overgrowth and deepen and expand the pond.

This pond will be cleaned out, enlarged and fenced
off while a watering tank will be installed for livestock

A secondary pond still holds water and has been agreed to be our first major project. We will arrange, with assistance from the SCS, for this second pond to be deepened and expanded to almost twice it's current surface. By placing a holding tank at the bottom of the pond dam we will be able to tap the fairly constant temperature water for watering stock (that we plan to acquire) and even limited irrigation.

A holding pond within the dam itself will be less subject to summer heat and winter cold, and a series of buried water lines feeding off it will give us the option of using highly focused rotational grazing very effectively in the future.

Additionally, an existing stream will be fenced off to exclude livestock, thereby keeping the water cleaner and freer flowing, while still being available through a "ram pump" or solar pumps to fill water troughs for livestock.

All in all a win-win situation. We hope to begin serious work within two weeks.

While Valhalla doesn't have it's own livestock yet, one of the neighbors grazes his cattle on the property in exchange for mowing the pastures and keeping an eye on things until we are ready to
do so. The heat wave is hard on the cattle even though there is adequate water available; now the challenge will be to improve water quality in the creeks, clean and expand the ponds, and install
fencing and watering systems.

Our IRS application for nonprofit status is being processed, 
yet you can still donate to help Valhalla today!