The time when you really appreciate being a homesteader
I am not talking about when the apocalypse comes. Todays talk is about something as simple as a drought or maybe changing weather in general.
Many of you around the world are starting to see the effects of many factors that cause the change in our recent weather. For our homestead it means many extremes in a short time. Records break one by one and they have been recorded in our country for a long time. We get more extreme downpours, more extreme frosts, more late frosts (like last july) and right now heat records with temperatures far above average.
the dryer part of our property, this needs the woodchip treatment
It has a tremendous effect already. Last year we also had a heatwave that caused many trees to die. We also had restrictions on water use and experienced low water pressure. Our country is protected by dykes that cannot handle dry conditions so they were kept wet and monitored very closely. We live under the sea level.
Our corner of the world takes a bit hit, not just rising sea levels, also think of the salt that penetrated deeper into the land and groundwater. Soil life and plants do not like salt.
Just yesterday another exotic tick was discovered and many not native mosquitos are also bringing in disease. It all has to do with the warmer weather. Our country is used to having a long cold period in winter which cancels out anything exotic. Since this period has nearly completely disappeared many bugs now love these lands with plenty of shallow water to reproduce and tons of humans and animals crammed together to feed from.
That’s one side of the story.
The other main thing we are facing right now is the failing of crops. Fruits fail by late frosts or extreme hot dry spells like right now. Hay is tough so prices rise like mad. Last year we had a nationwide shortage of hay, I expect that might be true this year also. Our whole food system is getting a whack.
Dry ditch, it's supposed to come up till the fence. You can't see the depth but once full I could drown in it. Plants quickly take over and have taken the last moisture, soon it'll look like autumn.
I am supposed to be surrounded by water yet every ditch is dry. There are many concerns regarding the supply of our drinking water. I know this because I worked in there a bit. Yet the public is been kept unaware and everyone still believes it will all work out. Apparently even if everything out there dies by the drought water still appears like magic.
Let me just say this.
I am glad to have my own water source.
I am glad I have a woodburning stove (I want a woodcook stove too but first need to finish the house renovations… many more years I’m afraid)
I am glad to have my own food, fresh, frozen and canned.
The national news just came in with a report (we are not at the peak temp of the day yet)
The weatherman calls it surreal.
This is what I mean people... exactly this.
We are at the peak now: 113F
Are you making any changes in your practices because of changing conditions? I would not know how to respond.
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Yes, I start earlier when it's stil cool to do most of the chores. My doe does not get milked, since I share the milk with her baby it is easy for me to skip a few days. I do not want to burden her body with producing the extra milk.
I also go out several times a day to provide cold water and also wet the area were the animals are resting in the shade. The evaporation helps them to cool down, some animals get shallow baths to swim or relax in but not all animals like it. I try to mist the turkeys with a simple spray bottle since they do not seem to be smart enough to cool themselfs down.
Don't feed anything like corn. There is a lot of heat that is being produced in the body as the animals digest it. So each animal gets a little less feed then normal and earlier then normal so they don't have to endure heat stress during the day. I put my foodscraps in the fridge so I can treat the pigs and chickens to nice cold cucumber peels. The next feeding will be in the evening when temperatures drop.
Wet cold tiles or towels can also be provided for rabbits and chickens. But I'm no expert in dealing with heat.
The weather here in New England has been becoming increasingly bizarre since 2002. We see odd changes nearly daily. I also am very glad we have a wood stove, and our own food stored.