This summer I'm following the ETHAN Project online. A new challenge for every summer week for life with kids. This week is water. What this challenge means to me (daughter of a dryland farmer married to an irrigated farmer/cowman) is probably a little different than most following ETHAN project.
This summer for agriculture and now even non-farmers (in some locations) water is of the utmost importance. California and most of the west is DRY. Dryland crops don't look good, some irrigated farmers never got water or are loosing water earlier than normal. Other areas are drowning. Good 'ole Facebook shows me pics of corn dying of excess "dihydrogen monoxide" in the same feed as dry pastures and fields. We have a friend fighting fire in Alaska and fire is of huge concern in our state and its not even July.
We are spoiled and blessed to be in the Columbia Basin Reclamation Project. Thanks to the Columbia River we are still getting irrigation water as planned. And with temps in the triple digits we've got lots of water on - except on the hay fields that are now officially in second cutting.Needless to say our world revolves around water. The first and last project for Jeff every day is changing/checking/fixing water. Our kids get to spend time with dad in their irrigation boots and our yard certainly enjoys the benefits of multi-horse pumps.
Jeff sent me a video of tadpoles in a shrinking puddle (in a draw of an alfalfa field that was cut today). The little guys' house was quickly disappearing. So we headed over to play in the mud and try to move some tadpoles to the overflow pond at our house. Hey - I'll take some muddy kids in favor of the hopes of a few less bugs and being serenaded at night.
Nia was the funniest. She kept telling us every time she saw one. She even caught a few.
Life's pretty good when you are a kid chasing tadpoles in the alfalfa field!!
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