Is the Drought Over?

If you live here, you've seen the headlines. Here is today's in SFGate: "It's Over! Northern California officially out of drought!" And you read this and you think, "Wow, this is awesome news. We took a pounding this past week, but it was worth it. The Sierra is full of snowpack, the reservoirs are at their highest in 20 years, man, I feel terrible for the folks that live near in flood zones, but gosh - I can go back to washing my cars every week and watering any damn piece of lawn I want to, every day if I feel like it."

Well, that's what I imagine everyone is thinking, anyway. But read the story more closely, or dig into actual facts, and you'll see that it's not so clear. Parts of the state, north of us - yes, they're fine. But where we are? In the East Bay? Still not fine. Hard to believe, after the amount of water that fell this past week. At Poppy Corners, we were setting up emergency sandbags and shop-vac'ing the water from garage corners quite a bit. I know we're not alone (and oh, the poor people whose homes are completely flooded). But if you look at the official map of the US Drought Monitor, you'll see that things are not as perfect as the papers want you to believe.

Released today, January 12, 2017

Released today, January 12, 2017

The southern half of the state is still clearly in drought, parts of it desperately. Concerning, but what I really want to focus on is that band of yellow and peach around the East Bay. That's us, here in Walnut Creek. SO much better than last year, but still - the time for watering lawns and washing cars is clearly still not upon us. And I would suggest that they never will be. 

That's why headlines like today's make me nervous. Oh, it's great to celebrate what we've gotten, and feel relief; listen, I don't want to minimize the storm's totals or be a downer. But I truly believe we need a total mind shift in California. Instead of thinking about drought as something that we endure once in awhile (even if that 'once in awhile' is actually a span of years), we should be embracing the fact that drought is our natural state of being. A huge amount of this state evolved to be desert, for heaven's sake. Until we change the thinking, we're never going to learn to live differently. And though I know that there are people who disagree, scientists and water experts have insisted that we are going to need to learn to live differently. 

So headlines like the ones in the papers this morning aren't helping matters - they make us think it's ok to live as though drought never happened, giving a false sense of security and allowing permission to be wasteful. I know that no one wants to read bad news and no one wants to change behavior. I know I don't. I'd like to water my summer tomatoes like there's a never-ending supply. I'd like to take a long shower for once. I'd like to not have to save my cooking water to pour on plants outside. I'd prefer not to have to think about it every damn time I turn on the tap.

So I get it. I get the wishful thinking. But that's OLD thinking. Our current way of life in California is just not sustainable. The world may not be able to count on us for their salad greens or strawberries 365 days a year (I guess that's a topic for another rant). We might actually have to live like water is precious. So let's be part of the solution. Let's continue living frugally, at least where water is concerned. Let's rejoice in the precipitation that we got this past week, and still gear up for future drought. 

Making a Plan

While the rain just pours down outside, there's not much that can be done in the garden. The row covers are up and protecting the beds, the soil is soaking in as much moisture as it can, the plants that are growing are taking in all the available light (which isn't much), the bees are hunkered down deep into the middle of their hive and eating their stores of honey, and the chickens just dig themselves a nice hole in the dry sawdust to wait out the rain. I think we're all feeling the need for some sun; but in lieu of that, it's time to make a plan for the coming year. 

By now, I'm sure you've perused all the plant porn that has ended up in your mailbox; I imagine it's even more enticing for those of you whose gardens are covered in a deep layer of snow. I myself gave away all the old seed I had in the refrigerator and ordered everything new (except what I saved myself from last year), as the first step in my 2017 plan. It's good to order seed from a seed house you trust; if it's organic, even better (seeds that come from organic farms will do better than conventional in our own organic gardens, as they were raised to withstand our practices), and if it's local, well that's the best of all. I tend to order most of my vegetable seeds from Renee's Garden in Felton, CA. It's the closest seed I can find that is raised and collected right where they are located, in their test gardens. Another great CA source is Bountiful Gardens in Willets. Many seed houses sell seed from other gardens, so make sure you know the origin of what you're ordering. Two great sources from the middle of the country (and great selection - I confess I ordered from them, too) are Seed Savers Exchange and Baker Creek Seed Company. This year I also ordered some hybrid seeds (for disease resistance and production) from Johnny's Selected Seed.  They have both conventional and organic, hybrid and open pollinated. 

The greenhouse is ready, and I've started setting up a more elaborate seed-starting table; Tom will be building a lighting panel for that this weekend. 

All of this is to meet our 2017 goal. We've chatted a lot about our plan for the year and what we want to accomplish. The first thing we could both agree on was 

1) More Tomatoes.

That's an easy one. We're already out of everything I canned and only have one jar left of frozen sauce, as well as some cubes of frozen tomato paste. We use tomatoes all year round, and it would nice to have enough canned that we didn't have to buy any at the store. (And I mean we would buy canned, not fresh, in the winter and spring months - who wants to eat an out-of-season tomato? Yuck.) Our lack of canned tomato product might have something to do with our unseasonably cold August. I can't imagine that is going to happen again, but if it does, than the only answer is, plant more to begin with! That way we'll have more supply in July at least, and the potential for a huge harvest all summer long. We'll plant only a few cherry tomatoes, with the lion's share being paste and slicers. We want enough to can everything we need for the whole year, plus plenty to eat fresh, everyday.

After we decided that, we really started to see that we needed more product, period. More peppers (also all gone at this point, except for one lone bag of sliced green in the freezer), more cucumbers, more lettuces. More potatoes, more squash, more beans! More basil, more cilantro, more dill. In short, our true goal is to ramp up production. 

But we don't just want to continue planting as we have, and get iffy results. Some things are working perfectly: Our irrigation is dialed in. Our soil is perfect and getting better all the time. Though we have a smallish yard, we have all the room we need to grow what we need for a family of four with extra. The missing piece seems to be

2) Planting Efficiently.

This is really the overarching goal for 2017. Being more efficient all the way around. Figuring out how to have one crop in the ground, with another one in the greenhouse, ready to go in, and another one in the house, starting to sprout. Succession planting, but not the way I've been doing it, not just this hodgepodge of sowing. We really want to maximize our time and resources. 

So this is a perfect time to work all that out. You've been seeing the bits and pieces of it, with my planting schedules, the building of the greenhouse, the setting up of the light table. But it all started with some discussion and an idea: More Tomatoes. Which really meant, Planting Efficiently. 

Do you have a plan for your garden for 2017? Maybe it's to have more flowers for the native pollinators. Maybe it's to reduce the size of your lawn. Maybe it's to have enough apples to make and freeze applesauce. Maybe it's just to begin! No matter how far along you are in this homesteading journey, it's important to have a goal and a plan. I believe this is what guarantees success.

I often wonder....

 "Yes, officer, thanks for coming; you see, I just moved in to the house across the street, sir. And I went over to meet my new neighbor, just a friendly little gesture, you know, just to introduce myself and let them know we are here. And right off the bat, I felt like something was really strange. I mean, they call their house a name, sir, now what was it... poopy? oh yes, something to do with poppies, and that sort of raised a red flag for me right away, sir, if you know what I mean. And then, the woman that lives there took me around to show me what all the houses on our block looked like before they were all renovated, and honestly sir, I was truly frightened. There's this table all set up right by the front window for anyone walking by to see, and it looks like grow lights are going in. Listen, I'm all for legalizing marijuana, but I have young children, sir. Impressionable, you see. Oh she said it was for tomatoes, but you and I know the truth, don't we? And that growing table was just the beginning of the tour of horror. Imagine my surprise when I walked into the laundry room, the laundry room, sir - and saw raw meat hanging from the ceiling. Disgusting, right? I didn't care that it was covered with some sort of mesh cloth, I was freaked out, I mean, who has raw meat just hanging there? And (I have to whisper this, sir, I'm just that concerned), the meat was in the shape of a thigh. God's honest truth, officer. But it didn't stop there, oh no. Beans. Yes, beans. No, I'm not pulling your leg. All kinds of weird beans with creepy names like 'domingo rojo' and 'rio zape.' Who eats this stuff? You don't suppose they eat the beans with that thigh-shaped thing, do you? Heavens. No, I'm not done, you just keep that pad of paper out now. Write this down. Because in the garage? Let me tell you what I found in the garage. They have a refrigerator out there, and swear on my life, there were more hanging limbs in that fridge. Little hanging limbs, like baby arms? Oh, she said it was duck something or other... Prosecco? No that's not it, I know what THAT is and I could use a glass right now, I don't mind saying. Prosciutto, that's it, thanks officer. What in the world is that??? And the really upsetting thing, I mean my heart just about stopped I'm telling you, there was one huge swinging thing that looked just like a head! Something about a Tennessee Country Head! Oh officer, please, you must go and investigate. I'm ever so nervous just thinking about it. We have to live next to these people!!! God help us."

 

(Though I often wonder what the neighbors think of US - I know what I think of THEM! We're so lucky to have understanding (and long-suffering; please, let's be honest, I know I'm weird) folks nearby! Including our new neighbors who I know would never say any of this. :) We'll let you know when everything will be done and you can join us for pancetta (it'll be ready in two weeks!), duck prosciutto (a few months yet) or country ham (not for a year yet) - and I'll provide the beans too!)