Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

these storms also unprecedented

East Coast Storms: Residents Struggling As Power Outages Continue
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/02/east-coast-storms-residen_n_1644414.html


paul tradingpost@lobo.net


*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 7/2/2012 at 10:07 PM Tradingpost wrote:

>I read the whole article, Lynn. Hard to accept all the growing plants &
>trees u showed us are just dead & gone. As a grower myself I can't help
>but take it personally. But the ending part of that piece is what I must
>focus on now.
>
>Building resilience against drought. It goes with a discussion Barb & I
>had on the road to town this AM. Farmers & gardeners have struggled with
>adverse weather & climate forever, but now we have to learn to grow for
>climate change. Plan for weather we didn't plan for. Personally I see
>little hope for corporate field crop industrial agriculture, but small
>local growers for home or market can adopt many innovative strategies &
>workarounds. Not just for drought but storms, record heat, out-of-season
>cold & all the rest. And realize Eliot Coleman's 4-seasons book is just a
>starting point.
>
>It happens we've been doing some season stretching here with much earlier
>carrots, greens & tomatoes, & also using shade, quick succession, & water
>that's keeping many greens good thru this record heat when they've
>disappeared from the markets. I'm finding what works & what doesn't. Our
>French spinach in demand just won't germinate close to 100f. 3 mos ago the
>challenge was just the reverse. But the rule of thumb stays the same. Find
>ways to give food plants the conditions they need & nature does the rest.
>Easier said than done - of course. There just isn't much help out there
>along this line. & row covers are nonsense financially, & impractical when
>growing in tractor rows is inefficient & unsustainable.
>
>paul tradingpost@lobo.net
>
>*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
>
>On 7/2/2012 at 10:58 AM Lynn Montgomery wrote:
>
>>Dear Paul, It rained .03" here yesterday! I left a comment or 2 with this
>>article.
>>Regards, Lynn
>>
>>http://www.alternet.org/story/156100/as_farms_bite_the_dust,_%22megadrought%22_may_be_the_new_normal_in_the_southwest?page=1
>>
>>AlterNet / By Ari LeVaux
>> 11 COMMENTS
>>As Farms Bite the Dust, "Megadrought" May Be the New Normal in the
>>Southwest
>>My current perch in Placitas, New Mexico feels like a front-row seat to
>>the apocalypse.
>>July 1, 2012  |
>>
>>
>>Photo Credit: John Brawley/Creative Commons
>>In a dirt parking lot near Many Farms, Arizona, a Navajo farmer sold me a
>>mutton burrito. He hasn't used his tractor in two years, he told me, and
>>is cooking instead of farming because "there isn't any water." He pointed
>>east at the Chuska mountain range, which straddles the New Mexico border.
>>In a normal year, water coming off the mountains reaches his fields, he
>>said.
>>
>>But this might be the new normal for the American Southwest, writes
>>William deBuys in his new book, A Great Aridness. It was published late
>>last year, months after one of the Southwest's driest summers in recorded
>>history, during which fires of unprecedented size scorched hundreds of
>>thousands of acres of forest. This summer is worse than last; forest fires
>>have already broken last year's records. The rains haven't come, and
>>temperature records are falling like leaves from a dried-up tree. Springs,
>>wells and irrigation ditches are bone dry. Farms are withering. We've all
>>heard the gloomy scenarios of global warming: extreme weather, drought,
>>famine, breakdown of society, destruction of civilization.
>>
>>My current perch in Placitas, New Mexico feels like a front-row seat to
>>the apocalypse.
>>
>>Intuitive as the connection may seem, we don't know if the current drought
>>is a consequence of global warming, deBuys writes. Periodic, decades-long
>>droughts have been relatively common in the last few thousand years,
>>according to analysis of dried lake beds. Most of the area's famously
>>collapsed civilizations--Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde, the Galisteo
>>pueblos--are thought to have died out for lack of water in these extended
>>dry periods, which deBuys calls "megadroughts."
>>
>>By contrast, the last century's human population growth in the American
>>Southwest occurred during a relatively wet period in the climactic record.
>>We were due for another megadrought sooner or later, deBuys writes, which
>>could be expected to dramatically alter human settlement patterns in the
>>area. While this current heat may not be caused by global warming, he
>>writes, climate change could nonetheless trigger the next megadrought.
>>
>>In the Sandia Mountains above Placitas, last winter's snowpack was
>>relatively high. But the spring runoff never came, because the snow
>>evaporated straight into the air of the hottest spring on record.
>>
>>Lynn Montgomery has been farming in Placitas for more than 40 years. Like
>>many farmers in northern New Mexico, he irrigates his land with water from
>>an acequia, a type of canal system implemented by Spaniards, who'd adopted
>>the technique from the Moors. This year, for the second year in a row,
>>Montgomery's acequia has run dry. Last year summer rains came in time to
>>save his crops, but this year the rains haven't come. The ditch is dry.
>>His farm is dying.
>>
>>First to go were the young Italian prune trees. His more established pear
>>trees were next. Now, his decades-old grape vines are dropping their fruit
>>and clinging to their lives. The 30-year-old asparagus patch is toast, as
>>are the perennial herbs, garlic and strawberries, along with everything he
>>planted this spring. Even the weeds are dead.
>>
>>The farm was part of a thriving community in the '60s and '70s. Most of
>>the inhabitants drifted away, or ran away, or got dragged away by the
>>police. Montgomery was the last man standing. He sold the farm to the
>>local Pueblo Indian tribe, on the condition that they assume ownership
>>after his death, and spent the proceeds paying lawyers to enforce water
>>law around Placitas. He managed to stop several developments that would
>>have illegally taxed the fragile aquifer.
>>
>>Despite his successes, which included a victory at the New Mexico Supreme
>>Court, many wells were drilled, especially in the 1980s and 1990s,
>>dropping the water table to the point at which many springs in Placitas
>>began running dry, along with the acequias they feed. Montgomery's
>>neighbors, with the turn of a tap, can water their grass and wash their
>>cars thanks to the wells that killed the spring that feeds his acequia.
>>But it's only a matter of time, he told me, until they feel his pain.
>>
>>
>>"At that point all the bedroom community types will realize that the real
>>estate people have bamboozled them, and most of us too," he said,
>>referring to the Placitas real estate boom of the late 20th century.
>>Harold Trujillo is member of an acequia near Mora, New Mexico. All the
>>acequias in his Sangre de Cristo mountain valley, near the headwaters of
>>the Pecos River, are dry, he told me by phone. Before this year, the worst
>>he remembered was 2002, which, according to the Colorado state engineer's
>>office was the region's driest year in the last 300.
>>
>>"In 2002 there were natural ponds that never dried up. Cows could drink
>>out of them. Now those ponds are dry. People have been digging them deeper
>>with backhoes to get them to fill with water," Trujillo said.
>>
>>Tempers are getting short. Trujillo said he was verbally threatened last
>>weekend at Morphy Lake, the reservoir his acequia association helped
>>build.
>>
>>"We were opening Morphy Lake to get water in the river. These people
>>wanted us to open it more, so more water would flow into the river. But we
>>can't. We need to save some water for July and August, because we don't
>>know if it's going to rain or not."
>>
>>Even if the next megadrought has already begun, deBuys says, we wouldn't
>>know it yet. "The character of a drought becomes clear only
>>retrospectively." Either way, he suggests, our decisions for the future
>>should be the same.
>>
>>"Building resilience against drought into the region's water systems and
>>cultural practices would be a wise course, irrespective of the cause or
>>timing of the next emergency," he writes.
>>
>>To that end, Lynn Montgomery is scraping together the resources to re-tool
>>his farm to be more efficient with water. He's installed a holding tank,
>>in which he'll be able to store precious acequia flow in future years,
>>before it goes dry again. And he's switching from traditional flood
>>irrigation, the way it's always been done in Placitas, to more efficient
>>drip tape. It remains to be seen whether his adaptations, and his
>>resilience, will be enough to help him face the new normal.
>>
>>And here is what some of us are doing about it. I am a supervisor on our
>>local soil and water conservation district and this is my project.
>>http://sandovalsignpost.com/html/eco-beat.html
>>Free water available through New Water Projects Initiative
>>—Tony Hull
>>
>>If you’ve ever considered installing rainwater catchment systems and
>>making water-wise improvements to your property, you need to know about
>>our grant program and come to Placitas Water Day. We invite all residents
>>of Eastern Sandoval County to attend Placitas Water Day at the Placitas
>>Community Library (453 Hwy 165) on Saturday, July 21, at 2:00 p.m.
>>
>>Even in a dry summer, thousands of “free” and otherwise unavailable
>>gallons a year of water are available to a household. Harvested soft
>>rainwater is taken to catchments for use. Conservation may include
>>replacement of toilets and showerheads and washing machines with lower
>>consumption versions. Even grey water may be diverted from the washing
>>machine to trees and garden. There are many things we can do to make best
>>use of the water available to us as good citizens of the high desert. And
>>we are fortunate to have considerable local expertise both from residents
>>who are proficient in water harvesting, and from New Mexico Water
>>Collaborative (NMWC).
>>
>>While the first meeting is in Placitas, the intent of the Program is for
>>all of Eastern Sandoval County, and it applies equally to homes, schools,
>>businesses and government buildings. In collaboration with several people
>>in Placitas, NMWC—a nonprofit corporation—and our local Coronado Soil and
>>Water Conservation District will be seeking a grant in October for a
>>“Pilot Program” initially to help fund approximately ten households set-up
>>to harvest and conserve water.  We believe this is the best way to
>>demonstrate the effectiveness of these measures. Up to 99 percent of the
>>costs of setting up water catchment systems and home efficiency
>>improvements may come from this grant.
>>
>>Evaluating the effectiveness of the program is an essential step toward
>>future initiatives, so those who participate will be requested to provide
>>data and other support to NMWC and prospective harvesters and conservers.
>>There will be various criteria for selecting the Pilot
>>Households/Businesses etc., including diversity of construction methods
>>(everything from old adobe to most recent), location, and especially
>>motivation and willingness to help future stages of this project.
>>
>>The current and projected domestic water situation will be discussed.
>>Community input is encouraged. Hear the early vision of the Pilot Program,
>>the timeline for proposing this Pilot Program. For those who would like to
>>participate in the Pilot Program, we will also have application forms and
>>describe how they will be used.
>>
>>Remember, “El agua es la vida—water is life!”
>>
>>
>>“Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you.”
>>     Wendell Berry
>>
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