While we complain about the mud, rain and snow….

[sumi]

South Africa is praying for it: https://globalnews.ca/news/4000809/cape-town-restricts-residents-to-50l-of-water-a-day/

I've been talking to friends and relatives back in my former home country and the situation is getting desperate down there. And not just in Cape Town. My old home town apparently has enough water left to last "less than a year". About 80% of the residents of that town and region is employed in agriculture and much of the businesses in town relies on it directly or indirectly. If water shortages forces those farms to shut down…

Much as the wet weather and mud annoys most of us this time of the year, seeing the opposite side of things made me stop and think over the last few days.

 

[Beekissed]

That's advisable for most things that seem to annoy us about the weather....yeah, no one likes severe cold, but if you have a warm house, warm clothes, even a warm car in which to drive, you are blessed.

It's good to keep things in perspective in that manner and helps to keep one from grumbling all the way through the winter months. Many around the world are suffering from the elements due to homelessness, war, extreme poverty, and any number of things that deprive them of shelter, clothing, clean water and food...while we grumble about having to go out in the cold, snow or wet to feed some animals, go to work, clear the drive, etc.

We are so very blessed.

 

[NH Homesteader]

I read this yesterday and was going to ask you about it. It was shocking to read, and so scary. Water is one thing that's taken for granted. And it so shouldn't be.

 

[sumi]

I was shocked too, when I heard about CT being in so much trouble. My home town didn't surprise me much, we had shortages and restrictions there before, though not as severe as the current one. CT though? They used to get so much rain there. It's a beautiful, green part of the country. Mild climate.

The Irish love talking about the weather and frequent rain here. When I tell them prior to moving here, we had not a drop of rain for 7 MONTHS on our farm and the area, they are speechless. 7 DAYS with no rain here is unheard off lol They often ask me what I think of the weather here and I often say to them much as the rain annoys me at times, I try not to complain too much, because I know what it's like to have none.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

That's awful...

 

[Calista]

I was shocked too, when I heard about CT being in so much trouble. My home town didn't surprise me much, we had shortages and restrictions there before, though not as severe as the current one. CT though? They used to get so much rain there. It's a beautiful, green part of the country. Mild climate.

The Irish love talking about the weather and frequent rain here. When I tell them prior to moving here, we had not a drop of rain for 7 MONTHS on our farm and the area, they are speechless. 7 DAYS with no rain here is unheard off lol They often ask me what I think of the weather here and I often say to them much as the rain annoys me at times, I try not to complain too much, because I know what it's like to have none.

As a lifelong Pacific Northwesterner, I've listened to countless jokes and jeers about the "endless" rain and gray clouds and how we residents are probably suicidal during the long winters and would move to sunny climes like Arizona or California if we only had brains enough to do so. Yeah, well, it's always been my contention that you can't have green forests, clean rivers, and recreational lakes without lots of rain and I have been blessed by never feeling "under the weather" here -- I LOVE the rains.

So it was a shock when the Drought Monitor showed 77% of Washington was in drought last year -- holy cow! The takeaway for me is NEVER take your water supplies for granted. And yes, Sumi, I would never have guessed Ireland would ever have droughts or water restrictions, either.

 

[baymule]

We had a severe drought in Texas in 2011. I watched sadly as 100 year old trees died. Pastures can come back in a season, but the trees?

 

[Beekissed]

That's one reason I never water the gardens here. We live on a well and it's a good one, has never run low even in the worst of droughts we've had here...but why set up a gardening system wherein one has to water in order for the plants to survive? Mulch to preserve moisture is always a good idea, but so is forcing the plants early on to develop deeper root systems.

It only stands to reason, if the garden needs watered, conserving water should be a foregone conclusion. Starting out plants that develop shallow roots because you've watered them doesn't prepare them for mining for water and nutrients later when it can get even more dry.

 

[Hinotori]

I grew up on the dry side of the Cascades. Watering was needed to grow anything but we generally didn't waste water. Yes as kids we'd play in sprinklers, but that was running to water something. I remember playing in the irrigation ditch in the summer.

As the new technology has come, all my farming family members have adopted it. Melons and such are plastic mulched and on drip irrigation. Only alfalfa has pipes with spinklers still and the sprinklers they use now spray down in a circle instead of the old oscillating type so there is less evaporation. Wheat is still the same as it's a dry land crop. It's sown in fall so it starts growing when there is rain and ripens in the summer when it's dry. No watering needed. Just working with nature.

Mom can't really appreciate exactly how much rain we get over on this side. I had to explain that during December we got the same amount that they get in a year. So she'll talk about how heavy and long it rained there to get .25 inch and tell her on the days we get 2 inches and ducks are swimming in the front lawn.