I’ve visited Kinross Creek several times since spring. Each passing month reveals a new chapter in the annual cycle of the little creek and the natural world around it.

— In April, the creek was gushing with spring run-off. Reaching a cliff downstream, it cascaded into a bigger stream feeding Minden Lake. In the surrounding forest, a hard pack of snow, criss-crossed with deer tracks, continued to melt after the long winter.

— In May, the creek ran strong as trilliums and wild leeks popped up around it. The plants were getting a brief moment in the sunshine before the hardwood forest spread its leafy canopy. The forest filled with the song of returning migratory birds, after their winter in the south.

— In June, Kinross creek was still burbling nicely. With about 50 stones gathered from an abandoned farm field nearby, I built my first one-rock-high check dam. It would direct and slow the water flow into an expanded small pond downstream.

— In July, the creek was slowing to a trickle. This afforded the chance to create a semicircle of stone, enlarging a natural pond — a stone smile in the forest. We’ll call this one Ali’s Pond after our oldest daughter, an adventurer now living half-way around the world in New Zealand.

These small so-called “check” dams are permaculture techniques often used in more arid areas to preserve water run-off. Permaculture may sound virtuous, but the best reward for me is mucking about with stone, augmenting the little creek in this watershed.

I was back at the creek just once in August. From our cottage, it looks tantalizingly close — near a hydro tower west of us. (In the photo below, you can see a second tower at left in the distance — that one is near Kinross Creek.)

In reality, it is a trek to get there. Once you leave the road, there is some bushwhacking through forest and a reasonably steep climb.

I discovered that the creek had partially filled my new pond, but barely flowed below it. To reinforce and shape the two check dams, I foraged for smaller stone in the stream bed to fill gaps in them.

Then I went on a treasure hunt. Years ago, the people who farmed this area moved stone off their fields into rough rows or piles. In my trips to Kinross Creek, I’ve stumbled upon several caches of nice stone. When I find a new cache, I know I can return to mine it later.

My August trip yielded about 25 more larger stones for the next pond downstream. That will be Colleen’s Pond, after our youngest.

Two months after the longest day of the year, the nights were longer, cooler and heavier with dew.

With some more rain, I expect the creek will start to run steadily again in fall.