Snow
I know most of you are suffering terrible heat and drought. Pretty hard to grow anything under such conditions let alone work the Earth under that Devil Sun.
And most of you who have been following and contributing to my series on gardening/farming have found innovative ways to overcome and prosper under these adverse conditions.
Last week we had a great OP regarding water supplies and how secure they are, with many of you describing water cisterns and tanks up to 2000 gallons, which seems adequate for most small gardens, but larger operations require either a larger storage capacity, or a sufficient recharge source.
But there is also a conservation approach that uses water more efficiently and can reduce your requirements for water in big and small ways.
One method is adding more than adequate organic materials to your soil to help hold more water and reduce evaporation and excessive drainage. Another is adding Biochar which does the same thing but also aids in the bio-diversity of your soil. Plus it acts as a carbon sink.
Personally, I'm experimenting with both and beginning to use the Ruth Stout method of heavy mulching that she had claimed relieved her of watering altogether. Ruth passed away in 1980 at the age of 96, but left an impressive literary trail documenting her experiences in gardening.
I'm just beginning my iteration of her work using first a heavy (5-6 inches) of straw cover over the summer months and 3-5 inches of leaves from treefall over the winter. This has been my first spring planting with this method.
I'd love to be able to say it's doing great, but I haven't a clue what's going on out there on the farm since I haven't been there since my knee replacement surgery and because of the bizarre amount of rain we have had here in the PNW.
Another record setting month of rain in May and June has already exceeded that record. Plus the snow.
A week from Summer and its still snowing on Mt Hood. Great for the water table but a chilly water sports summer with really cold water in every stream and river.
Anyway, with a couple of part sun/part cloudy days coming up I hope to get out there and see what's going on.
Will take pictures for next weeks installment of "Water, water everywhere".
The floor is open. How do you conserve water?
Comments
Hey earthling, is this a snow job?
Having lived most of my adult life on boats, I learned fresh water is very precious commodity.
It has bled-over to land living ie. short showers, collection barrels, re-use waste water, etc.
Most of the higher end yachts have water maker systems aboard which take seawater under
high pressure thru filters and membranes and produce potable water. Some use additional
sterilization with UV lights and O3 treatments. Some of the coastal homes also use these
systems (although much larger in scale).
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Hope the knee transplant is healing well and thanks for the OT!
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cheers!
Snow lie
Traveling and camping around the backcountry of the western states is a challenge, especially if you are 50 miles from anyone or anywhere. My mini motor home only has a 20 gallon water tank and I have to be careful as to the weight I haul.
Previous to that, I had a 6 acre ranch up in Bouquet Canyon, California at 4000 ft. elevation that had an underground stream flowing down the canyon. With just a 40 ft. well I had plenty of water in winter and spring, but had to ration it in summer and fall.
This was where I learned "Water is life".
And it's no secret ocean-going vessels are in a desert.
Thanks for the feedback.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Good morning...
Another way to minimize water use in the garden is drip irrigation. We had trouble with heads clogging and shifted to sprayer hoses turned downward in each bed. We use quick connect couplings which makes it a snap to water different beds.
We're having to water almost everyday. Every summer is different and require adapting to the prevailing conditions.
I love this clip of Ruth Stout planting in her garden. You may enjoy it if you've not seen it.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNU8IJzRHZk]
Thanks for the OT!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Great clip
Good backstory on Ruth's life. Never too late to start learning how to grow food.
I use soaker hoses turned facing down and a home built manifold to feed them.
Thanks for the clip.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
I checked out my brother's garden yesterday.
It has just burned up. He couldn't water it enough to keep up with this heat.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Bummer about that
Too bad we can't get crop insurance like to big boys.
Thanks for stopping in.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Many years ago in Texas I visited a complex for the
developmentally disabled. One feature was a huge greenhouse. One wall was like an enormous radiator with water trickling down. The other side had huge fans sucking air through—evaporative cooling. I remembered driving through the desert years before using wet towels to keep cool since our car had no air conditioning. I have wondered if there is a way to rig up something that uses evaporative cooling to keep crops cool wither than an enormous greenhouse.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
First off hopefully the knee is getting better!
Well we had quite the weather yesterday in these there parts, sirens were going off all
evening but luckily all we got was a much needed downpour and the "survivor garden" seems
to thrive on it.
Like you we had a boatload of rain in May and even June has had it's fair share. The temp's
have been somewhat extreme being either in the 50's or the 80's in May and either the
60's or 90's in June, with record heat expected over the next couple of days.
We did use straw in the garden and have 3 55 gallon drums with some supplemental buckets and
containers here and there. So far all is well and getting a good soaking rain every week could
see us through, fingers crossed.
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
That straw
should help hold the moisture in even with a weekly rain.
It's been my experience that excessive soil temperature is more deadly to plants than "frying" above ground foliage.
Knee is getting much better, thank you. Planning a family get together over the 4th of July weekend (50+ people) so I have a lot of work to do. Gonna need both these knees very soon.
Thanks for the post.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Snow melt plus lots of rain
Yellowstone is closed due to massive flooding and snow melting at the same time.
How sad to watch your lifetime of possessions just float away. I know some here have lost everything to fire and one recently. I have an excess of things I wouldn’t miss, but my photos are priceless to me.
Historic flooding in Yellowstone
How’s your knee doing? Hopefully it’s mending well!
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
I saw that on the news
Yellowstone is so beautiful, what a shame. That one road washout will impact this summer's tourist season, right when the Park needs the revenue the most.
Watch for Big Capital trying to move in and privatize.
Disaster Capitalism coming to your National Parks.
Knee is mending well, thanks for asking.
A little irony though, as soon as I get both knees done I've started seeing lawyer adverts on TV about defective implants.
Jeeze!
Thanks for stopping by.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Oh man…
Dammit! I hope that your knee isn’t involved in this. It’s another hidden monstrosity that people are not aware of. We’ve seen commercials for bad drugs going back how many decades and yet they are still on the market. But the medical device industry is just as corrupt as big pharma since they are owned by the same players. It’s what happens when congress allows themselves to be whores to big money and their lobbyists.
Just read how propecia for balding has given people suicidal ideation tendencies which the drug company has known since 2009. Quite a few people have done it and yet we’re just now hearing about it. Thanks Fauci and rot in hell soon. I wonder where he’s been lately?
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Yeah
I'm still waiting on my replacement Dream Machine C-PAP device found to have carcinogenic sound insulation from over a year ago.
I think Phillips is going to stiff us all.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Got lucky again with lake weed.
My football field sized garden is a short drive from a large lake. Last year a company that uses a machine to remove lake weeds from near the ends of docks asked if they could dump their debris. I pointed them to my compost pile and the brought 6-8 tandem axle trailer loads. This year they came back and brought around 20 loads!
The upside of lake weeds- no weed seeds that can sprout on dry land.
Makes unbelievable good compost.
If handled quickly- like within 2-4 days- can be awesome for a Ruth Stout style garden.
The downside- if not used quickly, or mixed with dry crunchy stuff quickly- 2-4 days- then it starts a fly infested stench. I used a lot around my tomatoes to mulch. I bring every single brown bag of leaves that I can fit in my car each trip to farm. Dump the bags in compost pile. Flatten bag and lay it on ground and put weeds or hay on top. Great weed block and building the soil for next year. With bags and compost I will not need to water all summer.
Wow, great free supply
of compostable feedstock. If they did that every year you could go into business producing compost for sale and do a great service in multiple ways, especially with the coming fertilizer shortages.
I'm trying to find out what Fish & Wildlife does with the Pike Minnow they pay bounty on.
Surely they don't send them to the landfill, would they? Stay tuned.
Thanks for sharing.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
@earthling1 Yes, I think this will
Yes, I think this will become an annual thing. If I understand Minnesota rules correctly, to make organic compost you need your pile to hit 140 degrees for 7 to 10 days. That heat cycle is considered a detoxifying and purification process. So I can add non organic to the pile and have a great and valued end product. The farmer that loans this land to me will allow me to use his bobcat to stir the pile which is IMMENSELY helpful too.
So far my garden is not for profit and meant to be an asset to my community. If there are any C99%ers that are in the Mpls/St Paul metro or Southside of metro let me know. I am happy to share in the harvest. I am growing more than I need. Most will go to charity and friends.
Find somebody around
who has a herd of llamas. Llama poop is great for composting, and llamas typically use a community poop pile- they all go the same place. When you take a herd to a new pasture, you take a can of their coffee beans and dump it where you want them to go, and the pile will start there. Easy to clean up, and damned near garden ready, though a little hot. Mix it in with your other compost and you'll be good to go... I'm sure that they'll be happy to have you take it off their hands.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Late but wanted to ...
wish you much improvement for your knees. Here, for water, we use drip irrigation and mulch. Have to be careful with the mulch as it hides slugs really, really well. But once the 'hot' part of the summer starts, the slugs are gone. Dunno if we'll get hot this year, like you, the rain is neverending.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so