The Drought Sept. 4th. (by Mary) We visited the farm a week before our vacation to Ireland, and it was pretty depressing while passing through mostly dry, brown roadsides and many ruined unirrigated fields. Now, five weeks later, Larry, Perry, and I made the trip for two days over the holiday weekend. The earth is now beyond dry. It is parched. Cracked. You walk in thick dust. All the pastures are dead except for the toughest of weeds. The watering holes are dried up. And to make matters worse, there is no rain in the forecast. No use planting winter wheat if it can't come up. A farmer friend said that even the cows are depressed. Our little place has one of the most important requirements - water. So our gardens and orchards haven't been affected other than by the extreme summer heat. There are even benefits such as no mowing and fewer bugs. A mosquito or chigger bite is becoming a memory. Nevertheless, just looking out over the land is sad, and you start wondering what rain looks like, and the words, "dust bowl" pass through your mind. |  A survivor |
We took our favorite dirt road as the sun was setting over the hills. No need to worry about it being muddy, but rather about the thick dust grabbing our tires like thick gravel.
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The field beside our lane. Nothing left for the horse and sheep. | The house yard. |
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There are cracks in the foreground, and you can see where we are watering the cottonwood trees. | There is a thick layer of dust everywhere. |
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Our lower pasture. | The field adjacent to our land: Corn, stalks and all have been chopped and hauled off. A few rows were left for the insurance adjuster. |
On a different note!
 First we cleaned up the tree & berry beds and then Larry, Perry, & Todd continued clearing junk and limbs from behind the garage they razed this summer. It is looking good! |  Larry ran the chipper/shredder and Todd and I applied it to our variety orchard. We are experimenting to see if we can keep the weeds down this way. |
We are thankful for a good supply of water and Todd & Nancy's field garden produced well. Larry & Perry are digging potatoes, and Todd, Nancy, & Erin are picking green beans.
Erin & her new horse, Dakota! Her childhood horse, Zip, is retired in Elkhorn.
