our worst drought ever..

well we are having a really bad drought here, it is well into two years now..and it is bad.

my  large pond has two areas that still have water ..the deepest areas..but the rest of it is either mud or bone dry.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=26835&id=1846485863&l=fa4540627d


this weekend Joel took the tractor with the brushog on it and he brushhogged down about 3/4 of the cattails in the shallow area of the pond (leaving some yes, and some have birds nests still in them so he was careful).

then he went and put the backblade on the tractor and went back down into the pond and backbladed and scooped out some of the not so level areas of the pond..humpy areas left by the backhoe last year.

he made 3 large roads across the base of the pond..bone dry there..and took that dirt out and filled some of the non level areas in the field with it..

we are planning on renting a backhoe over the labor day weekend and digginig the shallowest areas of the pond much much much deeper..probably anotehr 4 to 6 feet deeper than they are now..the deep areas have never gone completely dry..so we figure this will be helpful to maintain the pond life, having most of the pond a lot deeper..so this will be a 3 day weekend dig..can't want to have that done..we have an island in the middle so i walked out there and cut down some dying alder trees off of the island and hauled the brush out..also mowed around the far side of our pond that we didn't have access to.

so now that area is a shady part of lawn so that we can sit there and enjoy the pond (when it actually has water in it)

the two areas that still have water are still in good shape..the fish and frogs are fine and the water lilies are still in full bloom..wierd to have most of the pond so dry you can walk in fip flops on bare ground..and the rest full of water and life..but it will be nice to have it deeper next yer..hate to say it but i'm  praying for a lot of rain and snow..basically water to come AFTER Labor day weekend..to fill it up after we get it dug deeper..and yes he'll be careful not to disturb the already deep wet areas..we'll leave like a dam of clay between them so those areas don't drain into thenewly  dug areas..

We are also suffering from lack of water.  Our summer has been unusually hot and very,very dry.It hasnt rained in our area since mid may! this is not normal! we are in the east of Finland in the main lake area,close to Russia which has been sitting in a high for months now (they have been suffering with intense heat,no rain and forest fires).  As you watch the weather forcast rain clouds either come up from the south or west but just before they reach us they doge around us! aggg...
Our wells are down to around half a meter, so lucky for us because we live close to the lake we can collect water for the animals and vegetables. the temp has been hovering between 27oc and 37oc!!! now thats hot!
Our poor sheep! luckily they are mostly in forest,but its even hot in there now.

We are now planning  on ways to store rainwater, a water tower behind the barn( its in the shade so its perfect), we have an old concrete tank under the barn we can also use,also we are gointo build a couple of swales on the crest of our veggie hill. From now on its going to be rainwater for the washing machine and shower.

The veggies have suffered from lack of water and the intense heat,our grain crops are just about ok, the yeild will be lower than normal but thats not a problem for us. We got one good cut of hay but the second cut was almost none existant!
We are just hoping that we do get rain in the autumn and that winter doesnt come early! its a challenge at times!

well our well is still producing..my son thinks that the two areas that are holding water in the pond are probably where our water table is now..which would be down about 2' from where it usually is..so we are in a generally high water table area..thank God..as our trees are still alive..with their deep roots..but some of the trees like the aspens and even lilac bushes have "crispy" leaves..we do really need some rain.

this is our second year of drought..we do get some rain, but just not enough..

i want rain but really  now hope that it is just enough to  keep things going until after Labor Day weekend (2 1/2 weeks from today) cause that is a 3 day weekend for my son and we are going to rent the backhoe that weekend cause we can get 3 days for the price of one..and we always look for a bargain.

once that pond has been redug deeper, hopefully it will fill in from the water table??? but if not..LET IT RAIN..we generally have really rainy autums here, but last year it wasn't the case..it was dry and hardly any snow all winter long..so we need rain and snow this fall and winter..and i hate to hope for snow..but if we don't get it, we'll start losing trees.



I have been seeing Russian fires on our news here, but also the awful flooding south of you all in Pakistan, India etc..so they are getting YOUR rain..just like the south of our state has gotten the rain we needed and they got flooded, also Iowa got flooded here too as well as some other states..

it needs to be more balanced over the entire area rather than all in one or two spots !!

As you watch the weather forcast rain clouds either come up from the south or west but just before they reach us they doge around us! aggg...

I live in Canada on the west shore of Lake Superior. The weather has been doing the same thing here too while 100 miles away there is record rainfall.

The veggies have suffered from lack of water and the intense heat

Yes. Here too. My peas and and beans are all varieties for short, cool growing seasons. They haven't liked the heat this summer at all. Although I've never had such success growing peppers!

On a different topic, there are many Finnish people that live around here. I've never visited Finland but I always figured the climate and landscape must be very similar for so many Fins to like it here.  Thank you for introducing us to the sauna!

a tiny little bit of rain today..and cooler..i actually put on a sweater this morning. I hate to say that i hope that we don't get a LOT of rain before we finish  digging out the pond in 2 weeks.,but we need it so bad

British Columbia has had worse than usual wildfires in the timberlands and though temperate with nice days ( a few hot ones as is usual in summer) but we also have had very little rain so far since about May.  This year more than ever I am looking at how vulnerable we are if our wells run dry and November through April we are usually deluged with ample rain we should be conserving. I live on a hill top with a gentle grade and I am thinking a few fingerling ponds Sepp Holzer style would be a smarter way to go , that would call for use of a machine so won't happen this year.  Also roof rainwater collection and storage is really needed in spring , we go through unbelievable amounts of water in summer, even trying to be cognizant and careful with our usage here,  I think I need to be looking at saving tens of thousands of gallons rather than the paltry  750 gallons I am now at .  Our grey water has a seperate system that does drain towards our pergolas and veggie garden,  so that is working a bit in my favour, still amazing how dependant we are on the very thing we are trying to drain away from flooding in winter.
Brenda, your garden  pictures still look like a beautiful oasis !

thanks Synergy

i still hope that we can really dig the pond area deeper..i know it would hold water better having it deeper and it wouldn't evaoprate away as quickly as the shallower areas do now (2 to 3' deep evaporates a lot faster than 5 to 7 ' deep areas do)..also we would love to put in a slow flowing well..flowing wells are very common in our area...with our low water table..and a slow flowing well would replace any evaopration problems..and the drainoff would go back into our wetlands areas (which are very dried out right now..used to be a swamp and now it is mostly dry..even the alders are dying).

2 year drought has really been hard on us here.

we did get a little rain overnight...hopefully it didn't get too much water in the pond as in two weeks we plan on the backhoe to dig the pond deeper..after that is done let the fall monsoons start in full strength !!!