Thursday, July 19, 2012

Photo Dairy of a Drought

These pics were taken this am, several weeks into the worst Central Illinois drought we have seen in over 40 years.  Over the past few weeks we have watered plants and containers less and less, triaging what MUST be watered (like the veggie garden) and letting less important plants ones fight their  own battles. I have not yet givien up on the Secret Garden as the area is small and in return gives me great pleasure.

 If you have any extra rain in your world please send it our way. I will cover all postage and handling and throw in some Porterhouse Steaks for your trouble.



The sweet corn patch. Replanted x 3.
The third time was not a charm

Lilac bush bites the dust


With very little in the pastures to eat cows gossip about
the poor conditions at the water cooler. Don't worry,
they are getting supplemented with lots of hay


Mud Holes for pigs dry out as
soon as they are filled

Frequent showers for everyone!






Dropped one of my flip flops down here.
Hopefully didn't hit anyone in the head in China





To end on a brighter note, at least
the Queen Annes Lace is thriving.




14 comments:

  1. Looks like a disaster. Strange that the sunflowers are looking so healthy whilst the maize looks so sad. One would have expected it to be the other way round.

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  2. I wish you had gotten our rain last night. 2.7" by the rain gauge in the garden. I hope to get down there soon if the cows are still giving milk.

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  3. These are such sad pictures -- you have my heartfelt sympathy -- I only wish I could send you some of our rain. Best of luck keeping your secret garden going...

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  4. Like Doug, I wish you could have had half of our rain - we've had about 6 month's worth in one. You call that plant 'Queen Anne Lace'? We call it 'Cow Parsley'.

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  5. Even our Queen Ann's Lace is dead. Bad, bad, bad year.

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  6. Gak. And I thought it looked bad here on the MO\KS line, but I think you've got it worse still. Awful year and disastrous for farmers. My garden has pretty much burnt up as well despite constant watering.

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  7. It figures the weeds would survive...your Queen Anne's lace is what we call Wild Carrot.

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  8. Horrible. I am truly sorry to see that. We are all in deep doo doo this year, and food prices are going to skyrocket. Wonder if the earth is trying to tell us something?

    We got a lot of rain on Sunday, and by Tuesday it was dry as dust again. Today it is raining again. We'll see how long it lasts.

    Will go out with an envelope and catch you some. Actually, maybe I will use a flat-rate box. I think you need more than an envelope's worth.

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  9. Thanks all for the comments. So sad to know I am not alone. A very bad summer will mean a very bad winter in food prices. Now 12 hrs after posting this blog the morning sky is overcast. The air is cool and we are holdong our breath. Rain? End of the world? Either would be a great relief.

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  10. we have lots of rain here in Ireland and I wish we could send you some - wettest summer in a long time and so many farmers have all their stock in and no silage cut yet this year. We have our cows in by night.
    Not sure which is worse - too much or too little?
    On a brighter note, lovely to see all your bottles of honey xx

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  11. Too dry for me! Wow I feel bad whining about the rain we've had here!

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  12. Has been our worst hay season in years. All our 1st cutting has been rained on. We definitely aren't droughting here in the Pacific NW. Wish I could send you some.

    But I must say, your humor and outlook are humorous and refreshing.

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  13. Hugs, Donna, hugs. If I could pack up some rain--it, and me, would be coming your way...mostly because I miss you guys! HUGS to everyone!! Maybe there's a market for Queen Anne's lace?

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  14. We too are in a drought. We were lucky to get hay arranged for winter. Our hay guy will have enough for him and us only. None of my friends have found any yet. What will feed prices be? Pretty scary look into fall. So sorry the drought is your way also.

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