Sunset Nature Preserve
History

The following is a chronological history of our Cannon Falls property. There are many events we did not record in this list. Among them are many attempts at apple orchards and grape arbors. We have never had the best of luck with these since the deer and rabbits seem to eat all we can plant.

1978 26 acre property purchased for $18,600. $2000 down and a contract for deed (8 years) at 7% interest.
1979 The old corn field is plowed into the ground and returned to nature. The field is seeded with primarily grass and sweet clover.
1980 The once dead prairie begins to show new growth as it turns from brown to a sea of green.
1980 A Bulldozer creates a path up the hillside and develops an upper campground.
1981 In the early days the kids enjoyed driving the garden tractor through the field.
1983 Through acts of child slave labor several thousand walnuts were collected from the neighborhood trees. They were in turn planted in the sandy soil of the front field. Today more than 30 of these trees stand over 10 feet tall.
1982 With dreams of someday having electricity and water we decided it was neccessary to build a shelter. A gazebo was built in the upper campground to serve as a permanent bug-free place to camp.
1986 Three pine trees, each a foot tall, are planted at the entrance of property. They grew very slowly the first few years and then entered a growth spurt after we fertilized the surrounding soil.
4-7-1990 We accidently set fire to the lower field, and nearly burned down the forest.
6-20-1990 Water had been a dream for long enough. We began drilling for water in the field and put down a cement slab to be the future location of the storage shed.
8-24-1991 With water a reality we brought back the original bulldozer to develop Turtle pond. Even though the size of the project was enormous we completed the project in about a week working part time.
1993 3 years later the storage shed finally reaches completion.
1993 A building permit was acquired and we installed electricity in the storage shed to build a house.
1994 Muskrats moved in to Turtle Pond. They've eaten all the cattails in the water.
1995 One fine spring morning a beer drinking, deck building party evolved. Several people joined efforts and helped build a floating deck for Turtle pond.
1996 Developed Minnow Sluice and Iris Pool to feed Mosquito Marsh located under the power lines. Approximately every 10 years the power company comes by and poisons areas that threaten the electric lines. We are hoping that by placing a marsh under the poles this will prevent shrubs from growing up, and in turn stop the utility companies from poisoning our field.
1997 After being fed up with the input water system, I decided it was time for a change. After spending many hours designing, I came up with a floating water fountain in the center of turtle pond. It has taken many of my summer weekends building this 8' by 8' floating platform. My appreciation to Chad, Jill and Jason for their help in building. Still not completed, the fountain now floats and dispences water. It is my intention to determine which plants to plant in containers on this platform before next year. I suspect that the fountain will not be ornate until 1999 when the plants have had a chance to grow.
04/08/97 Everything is frozen. Temperature has been below freezing for a few days - we are breaking cold records.
04/25/97 Baby turtles have been spotted for the first time. The turtles are breeding.

Jason, Aaron and I enjoyed the day. Temperature was in lower 60's. I planted 500 blazing star bulbs, about 100 Purple Loco Weed, and many more seeds. One frog was heard all day.

Aaron brought, planted, and watered about 20 little cedar trees. These seedlings must only be one year old.

We all enjoyed a nice campfire.
05/10/97 Jason, Aaron, and I planted 25 nut trees today. It was a beautiful day. Jason caught an American toad and a garden snake. We planted 5 butternut, 5 shagbark hickory, 5 hazelbert, 5 butternut X heartnut and 5 bur oak.
05/13/97 Jason installed 'Death-Star-1' by himself. I was on vacation. This is the name given by Craig Shub when we installed this quad-city bee hive the first time last year. Essentially, Jason installed four bee hives in one large box. A design of my own intended to preserve heat. Last year we errored and never let the four queens free, and all four hives died before we realized what had happened.
05/17/97 Jason, Aaron and I met here today. The wild plum are blooming for the first time this year. I think they are are about a week behind this year. They are fragrant and always the first thing to bloom every year. It was a beautiful sunny day about 70 degrees. Pat and Larry Esser dropped by for a visit. Jason and Aaron watered all the new nut and cedar trees. American toads are singing loudly.
05/25/97 It was a cold rainy, cloudy weekend. I came to visit with Jason, Jeremy and Craig. Pat and Larry dropped by. The weather was bad. Everything is behind this year. I saw my first blooming here today.
1998 This was the summer I created what I call "Vine Pool". Essentially, it is a cement pool 8' by 8' by 4' deep. It is enclosed within a large wooden frame whose purpose is to contain vines. It is my hope that the entire pool be covered with vines in the future. River Grape if necessary. The pool of water flows in from an underground pipe and flows out through a channel into Minnow Sluice. This project has taken most of the summer and I suspect it will occupy much of my time next summer in order to complete.
1998 I also spent two days in late October creating a small garden area near Iris Pool. This new small garden is about 400 square feet and I call it the "Three Purples". I planted Blazing Star, Purple Locoweed, and an unknow purple Aster that blooms with large flowers in late September when all other flowers are gone. I did intersperse some orange Butterfly Weed for contrast in color. I also, included Wild Iris and Sweet Flag along the wet soil by the water's edge.,