Fighting The Drought
Rain has become somewhat of a myth. A fascination left to the history books. The makings of exciting stories passed around the campfire. I knew that Suffolk was one of the driest counties in the UK but I don’t think I’d actually comprehended what that meant!
Here on the farm, we’re battling the drought with small, resilient steps. We have no water on the farm. The well that supplied the farm is, sadly, on the parcel that was sold off when my grandfather died. It means that other than two natural ponds - which are now completely empty - there’s no running water whatsoever! When the ponds were full, I used the fantastic solar unit from Future Pump to draw water across to the sprinklers on the market garden. Now, alas, it relies on water from home!
The once full pond …
is now completely dry
Unfortunately we have no truck, nor trailer and though I love the idea of filling and then transporting IBC’s to the farm, we have no means to actually do this. For my birthday I was given a fantastic camping water trug on a roller. My neighbour gave me another she was throwing out. And those, combined with 5L bottles reused from campsite guests, mean we can move about 150L per carload to the farm.
It’s rather inefficient, but needs must!
There are MANY trips with water bottles
Of course, when it comes to water, the animals are the priority. During the spring and autumn, I find the goats and sheep don’t drink a lot. They draw a lot of moisture from the grass and forage they eat. But at this time of year they require vast amounts of cold, fresh water to stay cool. So when it comes to the garden - aside from the seedlings, the plants have to pretty much fend for themselves.
It sounds a bit brutal, but actually, once plants are established and have pushed their roots into the ground, they can be pretty drought tolerant. If you water little and often, it encourages roots to move down into the water table too. Some things, of course, can’t be helped - greens such as chard and lettuce have gone to seed; they just cannot cope with the heat. And all my vegetables would grow larger and more lushly if provided more moisture!
The crops, such as these cornflowers, have to fend for themselves once established.
We have two solutions to this issue; mains water or a borehole. Now we have electricity on site, we’ve decided on the latter because not only will it free us in the long term from water bills, but in this day and age, I really think it’s worthwhile being as self-sustaining as possible. The problem we’re currently encountering, however, is that no one wants to come and give us a quote! You’d think people would be clamouring to come out; after all, it’s a fair whack of money. But no, not one company we’ve contacted have come out! It’s rather frustrating but we will try and get it done by 2023; meaning that the growing season next year will be SO much easier!
Sometimes I wonder how anyone gets by with farming. For start-ups like us, when you don’t have the infrastructure, it’s incredibly difficult. But there-in lies the challenge; which is fun too!