Monday morning, as I watered the fruit trees with cistern water, I felt a sudden drop in pressure. As instructed under such a circumstances, I hurried to the cistern and turned off the pump. Mike checked, and sure enough! The water level is low and the pump is sitting high. So, that’s it for the cistern water until we get a good rain – or maybe several good rains – and then I probably won’t be watering any more anyway.
The pond is another indicator of water level, and it’s really low. The cattails are taking over, especially in the old part. It’s disappointing because we had hoped to have a nice pond. Mike put a lot of effort into it. Some of the other ponds in the area are nearly dry.
Apparently rain is in the forecast for this next weekend, which may alter Mike’s plans to hunt. It’s opening chukar season in Idaho. But then, I think the game bird season has probably been altered anyway by heat and wildfires. The guys have discovered that many of their favorite places are burned.
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| Just one Rome apple tree that split apart |
The country fruit is poor this year. Some years the pears are a normal size, but this year they are itty-bitty. A bunch blew off in the windstorm last week, and the deer will probably find them soon.
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| Mike munches a Rome apple |
The apples are small, too, as well as wormy and mealy. The plums, or Italian prunes, are better, but the plum preserves I made years ago were a hard sell.
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| Italian prunes above Stove Creek |
Mike and I headed down the road on the 4-wheeler last Saturday, just to get out of the yard, see some sights, and also pick up a little trash. “Elderberry Alley” is a lost cause. The bushes are dead or struggling.
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| Elderberry bushes above Stove Creek |
Other elderberries we have
checked are not juicy, but fortunately, I still have two quarts of juice from
last year. I thought it was silly to save that juice, but now I’m glad I did. I
also have serviceberry juice, so there will be jelly when I get to it. It’s the
jar lids that might be the problem, though I have some old ones. I’m really not
afraid to use them. There’s always the freezer if they don’t seal. KW
4 comments:
It's been rainy here for the last couple of days. I'm glad to have gotten some gardening done during the week. Of course, I prefer a sunny day, but the rain did motivate me to finish a crochet project that was on my to-do list, so that's good.
Because of various happenings here I got absolutely no fruit from my usual sources this year. Hope my stash lasts until next year! I'll probably be rationing it out. :( (But it's not like I'll starve!)
Hallie, is the sloth for Little Guy finished now?
Chris -- It was an unusual year for sure, and they say this is going to become the norm. We're going to have to learn to cope. We can always buy some apples.
Yep! The sloth is done! Now to get the workers out of my house, clean, setup the bassinet, connect the washer/dryer and wash some more of his new clothes. No sweat.
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