The Old Folks Home

[tntchix]

We have a driven point well for the house and a sandpoint well for manual backup. And, of course rainbarrels at the corners of every building. We also have a solar snowmelt system for water for the chickens in the wintertime.
The potato farmer down the road totally screwed up the water table. Besides, he pumps so many chemicals on the ground we didn't trust our water anymore because we aren't positive of the direction of the flow above filter layer. He draws most of his water from a "deep" well drilled hundreds of feet down into an aquifer (one of only a handful in the entire state). You would not believe it, if you don't see it, how much water and chemicals it's takes to produce a commercially grown potato. We won't eat em'. We grow our own.

yikes

Wells that have been good for 100 years are going dry here.

The cost for re drilling or drilling a well is over $100,000.00 and there is a long waiting list too.

The news last night said that California needs more than a trillion gallons to make up for the water lost in the drought.

I gotta say California's drought is breaking my heart.

I am finally off to the philippines tonight

we are have unseasonal weather also.

A cat 4 typhoon was due to make landfall on Sat not long after I arrive. Now its been downgraded to a cat 3 and has slowed down enough to get me into Manila and out safely.

safe travels my friend

 

[chickadoodles]

That's one scary ugly typhoon.

x2

 

[Puddin Fluff]

I am finally off to the philippines tonight

we are have unseasonal weather also.

A cat 4 typhoon was due to make landfall on Sat not long after I arrive. Now its been downgraded to a cat 3 and has slowed down enough to get me into Manila and out safely.

Safe travels and safe family!

 

[ronott1]

I gotta say California's drought is breaking my heart.

California is a huge food producer--expect the drought to also break you budget.

This year I will be letting the grass in the back yard die. We already have double flush toilettes and water reducing ends on the faucets.

 

[ozexpat]

we will be ok. the storm slowing down was a relief as i was waorried I would be stuck in Manila

 

[ozexpat]

California has to review its agricultural practices. farmers have been shifting from perrenial food crops to orchards

It takes a gallon of water to produce 1 almond!

A gallon of almond milk takes 80 gallons of water to produce.

But thats ok. because its "healthy"

 

[ronott1]

California has to review its agricultural practices. farmers have been shifting from perrenial food crops to orchards

It takes a gallon of water to produce 1 almond!

A gallon of almond milk takes 80 gallons of water to produce.

But thats ok. because its "healthy"

Up here we have a lot of rice--moving from Rice and then using some of the new irrigation methods would save a lot of water. There is a new way of watering Annual plants like tomatoes that is like drip. It is a mat with holes that goes in the ground at root level. water is then delivered directly to the roots. Ingenious! I do not know if rice can use this system, but if so it would get rid of the swamps used now to grow rice.

If California gave up Almonds, then we would have no Almonds in the US. Almost 100% of them are grown here. They are doing better with irrigation though.

 

[ozexpat]

I just think that perhaps we need to admit that California cannot support the amount of agricuture we have.

Sure, the general population wastes an incredible amount of water but still. We should be aiming for surplus, not deficit

 

[vehve]

I keep thinking solar powered desalination plants, but if that were really an affordable option, the middle east would be a lot greener, and a lot more peaceful.

 

[bamadude]

Oz: Safe travel vibes headed ur way....
Besides the legbars what other eggs will you be taking?