Drought

Ravenlost · #1 07/03/05, 02:21 PM

Our weather situation can be summed up in one word - DRY. Everything is dying, the ponds are drying up and we're starting to worry about losing trees. (We planted 33 acres of hardwoods in January.)

I just checked rainfall totals and it's scary! For the month of June our average is 4.93 inches. We got 1.04 inches and that was the average in town. We didn't get much of that rain. Average temp for June is 87. We hit 100 (record high is 104).

I know that May and April weren't much better since they're reporting on the news that we're already 10 inches short of the yearly average. I just wish I could find a website where I could check it month by month. That way I could worry some more!

I did find this! http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html

Jaclynne · #2 07/03/05, 02:38 PM

I'm right up there in the middle of an extreme drought area in NE Texas.

We did get showers the last 2 days. Not enough to help, but they will keep the fireworks from setting everything on fire, I hope!

Halo

Nax · #3 07/03/05, 04:01 PM

Same problem by me. Due to limited time and having a well, I've given up on the trees that I planted last Fall and am concentrating on keeping my market garden watered, as that is my summer income. We've not had a decent rain since April, and the sprinklers and drip hoses have been going in my garden for between 18-24 hours a day since mid-May.

Raspberries are just starting to ripen. Beans are starting to form. I'm hoping that I've pushed enough water to them.

I'm definately looking into another well and an irrigation system.

Ann-NWIowa · #4 07/03/05, 06:59 PM

So seldom do we see a happy medium. A week ago we got 11" in two days on top of already saturated ground. Half the town was flooded. And its rained several times since including this a.m. and more predicted for tonight. Sure wish I could send our excess your way. Its so painful to watch your hard work and expensive plantings dry up and die...and to watch them go under water.

almostthere · #5 07/03/05, 07:29 PM

Its pretty dry here in southern INd. Ive been watering the yard every day the last couple of weeks. I let the kids play in the hose, soaking the yard only to have it completely dry by evening. Thats when I decided maybe I need to water more.

So hopefully for tomorrow night the yard isnt too dry and we dont have any fires. It wont be a problem to set off the fireworks in the street(dead end and only 3 houses on the block) but I'd rather be in the yard using the metal plates and the burn barrell.

mightybooboo · #6 07/03/05, 08:02 PM

Our drought broke this year.Our lakes are close to full.Hope its over for a while.

BooBoo

Cindy in PA · #7 07/04/05, 07:39 AM

We are dry here too. Haven't had a good rain since the beginning of April, just a few downpours to run off. For two years prior we were very wet. The grass is actually crunchy like it would be AFTER a long hot summer in August. The strawberries were nothing the rasberries so-so and the garden is standing still despite me watering it from time to time. The new neighbors are watering their grass nightly behind us at the two houses. I worry about our well since the addition of these mansions. Farmer's soybeans are really small, but the weeds are big!! 90s expected again this week with only a few chances of thunderstorms. Is fall here yet?

Sparticle · #8 07/04/05, 08:01 AM

I drove into town for some parts the other day and I passed acre after acre after acre of burnt up crops. Almost made me cry. The are all surrounding this one house and I know they must belong to those people. I felt so bad for them! I want to borrow a camera and go take a picture of it because it's just so sad.

unclejae · #9 07/04/05, 08:03 AM

Ann, I would take half of what you are getting. We are in east central Iowa and we are very dry. I was "racing the rain" to get the hay baled yesterday only to get a coulpe of drops. Watched the storm all morning come across the state on the Weather Channel and could see it to the west. Still nothing. Last night it rained and we got a whole .10". About a week ago we got .08". Other than that we have had no rain for a couple weeks. Several counties and towns have burn bans right now. It is supposed to rain today, but nothing more for the next week or so.

RandB · #10 07/04/05, 11:17 AM

Here in NJ it has been pretty dry too, the last few months. It is actually somewhat of a relief, since the last 2 years were extremely wet. We are on low, flat ground, and it seems like we had 2 years of constant mud. It is nice to actually have some dry, hard ground to walk on again, esp. for the livestock. The water table is very high here, so nobody is having well problems so far, and our pastures are quite green. Around here they grow a lot of veg. crops, and the farmers actually prefer a dry year to the wetness we have had, they say they can always irrigate, but there is nothing they can do when it is too wet.

Hope those of you that need it, will get some rain soon !!

tnborn · #11 07/04/05, 11:24 AM

Rave, we are dry in tn also. My corn tassled without any corn

and everything is brown. I am not able to have fireworks tonight becasue I would set the world on fire, so to speak. This is just the beginning of July. We still have august to endure.
tnborn

mamajohnson · #12 07/04/05, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by quntmphscs

I drove into town for some parts the other day and I passed acre after acre after acre of burnt up crops. Almost made me cry. The are all surrounding this one house and I know they must belong to those people. I felt so bad for them! I want to borrow a camera and go take a picture of it because it's just so sad.

You know the drought is bad when the poison ivy dies..... and it is !
All the crops here are burned up, Our 1/2 acre of corn was gone long ago, tomaotes and beans struggling, we gave up on the garden, and are putting what water we have on our little 8 tree fruit orchard. Our spring fed creek usually runs 20+ gallons per min. The other day DH looked at it when we went to get water for the orchard and estimated it is running 1 gallon per min. Now, that is scarry!!!! Looking at the drought map link that was posted, my area of Texas is in the dark red, extreme drought area.
Our church runs a fireworks warehouse to pay our bank loan every year, avg. sales $100,000+ during the 4th of July. With all the burn bans and such, we have barely reached $50,000 so far. Very bad, everyone is afraid to shoot the fireworks. Keep praying for the rain! We have been nonstop - and God Blessed us with 2 days of good rain. Not enough to break the drought, but enough to give us a little break from hauling water from our disappearing creek...

BeckyW · #13 07/04/05, 11:33 AM

During your dry time that you aren't able to spend gardening, may I suggest you do a bit of research on grey water systems. While it won't help 33 acres except on a very large scale (whole cities are watered with greywater in CA), it is invaluable in droughts. We went through rationed water meters in southern CA (with $10,000 fines for exceeding) about 15 years ago. Greywater is what kept our citrus trees and gardens alive. There are great books on amazon. Our low-tech system was designed by the same guy who did the city of Santa Barbara, I think the first city/county to install. I can't say enough good things about greywater.
Not sure what the cycle is but drought seems to be a problem just about everywhere this year.
BW

Ravenlost · #14 07/04/05, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tnborn

Rave, we are dry in tn also. My corn tassled without any corn

and everything is brown. I am not able to have fireworks tonight becasue I would set the world on fire, so to speak. This is just the beginning of July. We still have august to endure.
tnborn

The corn fields around here did the exact same thing...and are now dying. Hubby talked to a fellow this morning who is going to start haying one of our fields. He said there's already a hay shortage so they're cutting anything they can...and don't expect to get a Fall cutting. We need to get hay for the horses NOW...and lots of it if we can find it.

Thank goodness we have a huge barnloft, but I sure do dread hauling hay in this heat.

MelissaW · #15 07/05/05, 05:52 AM

So sorry for those of you losing crops and trees.

We are in the early stages of draught here too. The corn is starting to curl up and get skinny looking for lack of a better description. The "city" family was out for a visit this weekend and when I caught the kids(and a couple of grown ups) playing with the hose like there was no end to water I about lost it.

Mrs_stuart · #16 07/05/05, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ravenlost

The corn fields around here did the exact same thing...and are now dying. Hubby talked to a fellow this morning who is going to start haying one of our fields. He said there's already a hay shortage so they're cutting anything they can...and don't expect to get a Fall cutting. We need to get hay for the horses NOW...and lots of it if we can find it.

Thank goodness we have a huge barnloft, but I sure do dread hauling hay in this heat.

That is the same where i am here in MO...hay is going to be hard to come by this winter...they are cutting what they can but there isnt much at all... We have already been trying to get some so that we might have it for our goats.

The only thing that has saved my garden so far is the fact that i have been saving my "gray" water from the laundry and baths...and piping it out to my garden but then again, that isnt too hard when you only have 1 acre...i feel for everyone whos crops are all dried up.

Belinda

Snowdancer · #17 07/05/05, 09:39 AM

WooHoo!!!! We had rain last night!! Almost 2" in Memphis, how did you fare Ravenlost??

I could almost hear the grass & trees letting out a sigh of relief!

We're still almost 9" below the average but hey we got rain!!!!

Shahbazin · #18 07/05/05, 09:52 AM

Hope some of you dry folks get some rain soon! We just had a major drought here in s. CA break this last winter; of course, we had more rain than in the last 150 yrs, so that caused its own problems.... thought I'd post this from a sheep list, an Australian's view of drought:

Quote:

In NSW we consider a drought as normal - its when it rains that upsets the
normal way of life. Any drought under 5 years is simply a dry spell.

The sign of a good drought is when the mature cows run and take shelter from
rain because they have no idea of what is happening.

The sign of a good drought is when you have a shower and you catch the cold
"hot" water in a bucket and run and put it back in the tank

The sign of a good drought is when your 8 year old child comes running into
the house terrified because the sky is falling.

The sign of a good drought is when you see farmers naked in the house
paddock soaping themselves up in the light rain.

The sign of a good drought is when you put the pump down the well to its
normal dept and discover that it is 3 foot under water because the deep
ground has cracked and opened up more aquifers filling the well with over
salty water.

The sign of a good drought is when you walk thro the house garden filled
with dead flowers and you really don't give a dam.

The sign of a good drought is when you don't check the weather forecasts any
more.

The sign of a good drought is when visitors come to visit and bring their
own water.

Grandmotherbear · #19 07/05/05, 10:02 AM

I really wish I could send y'all some of our excessive FL rain...Took the grandchildren horseback riding on Sat, the trail rider had to meet us at US 98 because Arbuckle Creek was in flood stage and too deep on their road and half their property for anything except swamp buggies...

Ravenlost · #20 07/05/05, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KY Guest

WooHoo!!!! We had rain last night!! Almost 2" in Memphis, how did you fare Ravenlost??

I could almost hear the grass & trees letting out a sigh of relief!

We're still almost 9" below the average but hey we got rain!!!!

We didn't get anywhere close to what y'all got in Memphis, but it did rain! Probably not enough to make much difference, but enough to make my hubby run out in the back yard and dance in it...in his "tightie whities" no less!