What has the drought we are having taught you?

[churchmouse]

I spent a lot of time this spring adding to our garden's irrigation system. Added a second rain barrel and more line to cover the rest of the garden.

It has been sitting dry for over a month. We've had to run the hose out there to keep the garden going.

I'm one dry well away from a personal SHTF. So, we've looked at conserving better. My wife and I are also prepping for the spike in food prices sure to come. I'll put back anything from the garden that we don't eat immediately (I would usually take some to work to share).

I'm still grumbling about how much I spent on my lawn over the spring. I'll be starting over this fall (assuming we get rain by then). At least I haven't had to cut the grass for over a month.

No better conditions here in Speedway. The garden has yielded some nice meals so far but the water bill reflects how much care it has required in this brutal heat wave.

 

[longbarrel]

Get rain barrels for the garden. Alot of them...

Unfortunately, they do not work without rain.

 

[bwframe]

Listening to RadioReference. Monroe County, Indiana (IN) Live Police, Fire, and EMS Scanners on RadioReference.com
Right now two separate field fires near Bloomington.

 

[Clay]

1) I like the fact I dont have to mow the grass.

2) I love the fact I live on basically unlimited water supply (well over a very large aquifer), and don't need to worry about my well drying up.

3) im not looking forward to the increase in prices that are coming.

 

[buckstopshere]

Plant spinach earlier in the year. Ours burned up this week

 

[threefiftyfour]

damn neighborhood rabbits ate my garden, except for the tomatoes, but they are very slow this year.

 

[Kmcinnes]

Makes you realize how fragile things really are!

 

[Double T]

Sadly, our "garden" is two tomato plants. I think we can water them easy enough.

 

[djl02]

How much wildlife lives behind the house. Deer,squirrels,coons and rabbits. Ive been looseing 4 to 5 ears of corn a night. I hate to kill animals I am not gonna eat,but they are really starting to tic me off. I set up a alarm around the garden with spider wire and a car alarm connected to a limit switch and a car battery. Took care of the deer problem,but coons are now going town on the corn.
Its been so dry the beans are pretty well gone, Last year we got 150 quarts of beans out of 5 rolls. This year I planted 7 rolls and They came up fine but it hasnt rained enough and there bout gone and we only got 21 qts. Drought sucks. Pumpkins and wateermelons are the best crop I'll have this year. Tomatos have been coming on strong since last week too. First one had blossom rot though.
Watering with a sprinkle helps but its not the same as rain.

 

[smccabe17]

Plant spinach earlier in the year. Ours burned up this week

Plant Swiss Chard instead. About the same flavor but produces all summer and into winter. Very hardy and good for you. I have tons of it and just laughs at the sun.

 

[smccabe17]

I am not sure if all cities do this or not, but get a meter for your outside water faucets so you are not charged sewage.

We are looking at building a home next year, and we are going to have a 300 gal rain barrel system hooked up to the drain pipes. We are going to use a metal roof so if we HAVE to we can filter it for drinking water without all the asphalt.

We have talked about a well, but I don't know. I like having the backup.

 

[OkieGirl]

Learned that water is harder to come by than anything else.

The neighborhood ponds that would offer a filterable water source in a SHTF scenario don't have enough to sustain every man, woman, and child living thru this drought. Rain barrel has been dry for over a month, garden doesn't like city water, and if there were no AC available (power outage) we don't have enough shade to cool the family if we had to head outdoors... I haven't even begun to think thru the cost of living bump that comes when crops are scarce and food supply is low...

 

[longbow]

Found out why the water trough for the horses is dropping so fast. It all makes sense, since I have seen all the clues the last three days.

Crows and flying down and drinking the water in twos and threes.

 

[churchmouse]

We have a through the wall A/C unit in the addition that is the family room. It uses the condensate as a cooling medium for the condenser so there is a tray full of condensed water in the unit. We have seen a zillion wasps and bees hovering around the garden and thought it was the plants that attracted them but I was watching them (bees etc) yesterday and they are lining up on the edge of the A/C unit and taking turns drinking the water. they hover around in a holding pattern and when a spot clears off they take turns landing on the edge, putting their tails up, heads down and getting a drink. They do not bother use when we are in the garden and it is an endless procession of flying critters looking for water. Amazing.

 

[Rob52pars]

We have a deep well and we live just minutes from the kankakee river, so water isn't the problem. And our garden is doing just fine because of it.
I'm thinking of driving a manual (hand pump) well for when no fuel is left for the genny after SHTF.

 

[88GT]

Found out why the water trough for the horses is dropping so fast. It all makes sense, since I have seen all the clues the last three days.

Crows and flying down and drinking the water in twos and threes.

The birds have been using the dog's water dish as a water source. Of course, we don't keep him outside, but it gets water from the overflow of the sprinkler.

 

[DadOfFour]

I've learned that my well, which has never had a problem before is almost tapped out.

I've learned that my sump pump that has run 15mins out of every hour for the past four years, hasn't run for almost a month.

I've learned that just telling my kids, "If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down" doesn't work, I've had to disconnect the flush levers on all the toilets.

I've remembered how much I despise the laundromat and the people that go there.

 

[Muddy Fork]

I've been saying for the last four weeks that I'm getting 10 years of experience in one year. Holding water is the biggest thing. I'm glad I built two ponds and several swells to cutch hold all the water on my hill. Now I'm buying a 1500 gal tank to pumping water from the biggest pond to the top of the hill to gravity feed water to the garden and livestock. I also need to plant more shade and wind blocking trees.

 

[shannonneumann]

Collecting rainwater has become almost an obsession. I actually left work early and ran home on one of the rare days of rain this year so that I could finish setting up an additional rain barrel before the rain came. And that it makes me sad when we do get rain and the barrels get full, knowing that there is rainwater that I can't collect.

 

[Bucky623]

I have been able to find the septic tanks and lines leading from them by looking at the grass growth or lack thereof. A rectangle of dead grass tells me where the septic tanks are and green weeds in a strait line indicate an underground tile. I have taken pictures and measurements for future reference.