Please plant yourself a nice big garden. The fruits and vegetables you are used to getting at the Supermarket will not be coming out of California this year or if we do manage to make a crop it's going to be so expensive it'll make your bank account weep! You'll need most of your hard earned cash to pay for your meat, milk, grain and eggs... those prices are going to at least double! Our family (and every other farmer) has had our water allotment cut to almost nothing. We aren't planting rice, corn, alfalfa, sunflowers, no melons, no beans, no cucumbers, no squash...all of our water will be given to our tree crops...hopefully they will survive (we planted new babies in the fall). Our son's main crop will be processing tomatoes, and he'll only plant 1/4 of the amount he planted last year. More than 3/4 of our land will lay fallow. Those of us that have farmed for a long while will most likely weather the drought and come out on the other side a bit worse for wear, but in a position to continue farming (when and if the rains come). Most of the new/young farmers will be destroyed. They are just starting out, stretched to their limits...no back up plan and no money saved for the bad times...it's the young folks I feel sorry for. Farmers are an aging commodity...we have so few young folks picking up the reins...and now this horrible drought. It is so sad. It will take years and years for the California farming community to recover from this devastating drought...if we ever do.
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| Fallow Unplanted Fields |
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| No Feed For Cattle---ANYWHERE |
I have a couple nice deep wells here on the "home piece"...thank goodness. My garden and orchard were set up to be very water-wise. I've always been aware California has a history of very dry years. The new fruit orchard looks good. I pulled out the old compost from the raised beds and replaced with nice "new" compost. I planted one of the beds to a "Winter" garden: chard, kale, lettuce, celery, beets, broccoli, cabbage, herbs and onions. I am transplanting leeks (12 plants), lettuce (6 plants), endive (6 plants), tomatoes (6 plants), tomatillos (6 plants), pimentos (6 plants), NewMex peppers (6 plants), rainbow chard (6 plants), and romaine lettuce (6 plants). That's 60 plants. I plant up a tray of 60 every 6 weeks...that way I always have something in the garden ready to eat...year round! I have several bins of potatoes planted for year round harvest, too. The holes in my cinder block raised beds are planted with onions, carrots, beets and lettuce...one plant per hole. They get nice and big, but stay sweet and juicy! My garden is used mainly for fresh eating. My canning produce comes from the local Summer farmers market I manage. I get really great deals from the vendors, saves me garden space and time. I don't know what the market will look like this year because of the drought. I do have my fingers crossed.
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| Garden Bed One...The Beginning |
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| Ready For Planting |
9 comments:
So sad!
Yep, you are so right. I am planning my garden now, in between crisis's and problems.
I have warned people in the grocery that they had better make some plans either to grow their own or use the farmer's market this year. All I get is the typical "deer in the headlight" look and "I 'm not worried". Usual response here.
Prayers and hugs to you this year.
I was thinking about this when we were watching the news reports about your drought... home gardens will become much more important now. Great post Lynda!
All the folks who say we're crazy to grow are own food because it's easier/cheaper/more convenient to buy at the grocery store, need to read this post!
I am so sorry to read this, I feel for both the older and the younger farmers, its going to be a very hard year indeed and even if you get the rains, it takes a number of years to fully recover some things.
I am so glad you are trying to get the word out, I can only hope that folks will listen and take action.
Great post! And thanks for the heads up ... I knew about the drought and figured it was going to be bad, but this is awful!
This year will be a wakeup call for many. Many of the produce farms in the Midwest were abandoned many years ago when vegetable growing shifted to California. Big mistake! If your soil has good organic content you should be able to get through this. Good luck! (See my blog again for a link on how I built the seed starting rack. Now he won't have any excuse.)
This is a sad situation that is hard on so many. You are wise to keep your garden going all year. Do you have any tips to share on transplanting lettuce. When I've tried it, it went into shock and took a long time to recover.
Well, I read this post earlier and thought I commented. I do have other questions--have things improved? What kind of seed germinating trays are those you use? They look sturdier than the cheap plastic tray, little greenhouses.
Linda,
I want to plant and can pimientos because I use lots. I have 4-and 2-oz jars, so I can have just the little bit I use at one time. I bought two pimiento plants one year. My friend begged me to give her one. I did. Then, both our pimiento plants died. I was growing mine in a 5 gallon bucket and she was growing hers in the ground. She can keep anything alive. I do pretty well in buckets. Do you have any idea what went wrong? What I can do better, differently? If you answer here, let me know in email. I am liable to forget for six months. What variety do you use. Thanks, Linda
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