Flooded out their first spring. Beauty
From devastation to devastating
W
hen Diana and Les Helm bought their dream home in 2011, they had no idea how their lives were about to change. They moved into their
home on a rural one-acre lot just 10 km from Lac la Biche that February. They were ecstatic! Finally, a yard with the potential to design and build their own garden, another long-time dream of theirs. That first spring Mother Nature hit them with a sucker
punch by flooding their acreage. When they realized their home was built on a low spot on the street, their dreams were swept away. "We had to park on the street and walk through our
neighbour's yard to get to our house. The driveway was gone and the water was 20 feet from the house," says Les. A road engineer, arborist and forester, Les immediately knew that they had a huge and expensive problem on their hands. More stress for the couple who had also just opened their own business, Silver Sage Enterprises Ltd., a consult- ing firm for companies using resources on Crown land. What happened next was unexpected. Clients, friends
and family gathered together to help Diana and Les. The project was gargantuan. First, they had to repair the flood- damaged land. "The backyard had logs in the fill that were rotting. Our clients just jumped on board donating their time and resources. With their help we hauled out 62 loads of dirt and replaced it with 62 loads of good clean fill," says Diana with awe. Thankfully Les had the knowledge base to deal with
their flooding problem. They built trenches with sumps and piping that would hold enough water in the surround-
8 • Early Spring 2015 Making the dream a reality.
localgardener.net Grandchildren Jackson and Marley (playing in fountain) love
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