As the Northern Hemisphere heads into Fall, down here on the Farmlet, Spring is heating up.
And drying everything out.
The weird, early dry weather seemed to increasingly creep into conversations no matter where we went in recent days. People would comment on how nice the clear, sunny days were, and then follow up with something like, “I hope we get some rain soon.”
It’s somewhat ominous that the lack of rain is pervading the collective consciousness around here this early in the season. The dairy farmers in the area were starting to twitch a bit.
Thankfully, this morning, the heavens opened up and we have received a decent soaking. The rain has continued, on and off, throughout the day, and has been very heavy at times. Water tables are rising, streams are flowing and tanks are topping up.
Our spring sourced, gravity fed water supply should be ok as it is now, but we want to overbuild our “infrastructure” to ensure that we will have more than ample capacity to irrigate our garden and water our stock. There is a small area, at the base of a very steep part of our pasture, that becomes quite boggy when it rains. As soon as we can afford it, Becky and I want to hire an earth mover to construct a dam/pond in this area. With a little assistance from us, this naturally occurring bog would make a beautiful pond based microclimate while providing a bit of water insurance for the Farmlet.