"The world is too much with us; late and soon,Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—Little we see in Nature that is ours. . ."
William Wordsworth, 1802
There is too much to write about.
***The indictments and photo evidence.***Trump's denials.
***The GOP response attacking the prosecution, but not saying they think Trump is innocent.
***The Supreme Court decision on Alabama gerrymandering.
***Canadian smoke.
***NBA finals.
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| Boxes not just stored. Hidden. |
I am going to step back and write about farming.
First off, let's recognize that farming isn't nature. Foraging is living in nature. Agriculture changes nature, and the effort to do that created created civilization. Like farmers along the Tigris, Euphrates, Nile, and Yellow Rivers, I am dealing with irrigation problems. I am not seeing nature, and the world is too much with me.
This is a happy field. It is hard to see, but there are drips coming straight down every two feet, creating a round wet spot. The drips sparkle in the sun and show up on this photo as little white spots.
Theoretically, it is easy. Twist a dial at the control station for a block of grapes and that section of the vineyard starts dripping. There aren't grapes planted yet. This is dress rehearsal. I am trying to find out the points of failure. It also does a current purpose. The wet spots make it easier to prepare for planting by pre-digging the holes the plants will go in. The wet softens the soil.
This is a good hole, in preparation for planting next week:
This is a row of holes:
A rule of thumb of irrigation -- and probably generally about life in general -- is that you cannot just turn irrigation on and see it is running and then count on it working. You have to check it. You must walk around and see if there are any surprises. Leaks. Kinked lines. Failed parts. Plugged parts. Mis-aimed sprays. Stuff happens.
I got a blowout of one of the lines. Modern underground irrigation systems are made of plastic, not galvanized steel pipes. Many of the fittings are pressure fittings. You stick them together and they lock into place. I don't trust them but that is how things are designed. To paraphrase Rumsfeld, you fight irrigation problems with the equipment you have, not the equipment you might want to have.
This happened. A blowout of a pressure fitting. Water was spurting out of the ground.
In the soft loamy pumice soil of my farm it washed out the dirt above it and created this hole. I had to scoop out the water to get to the bottom of it.
The hole is about 18 inches across and three feet deep. The pipe came loose from the green fitting with the round hole visible near the center of the pool of water in the bottom.
This part failed. Or perhaps the installation wasn't quite right. Something went wrong:
Dealing with it down a hole at arms length wasn't easy, but we got it fixed. Then, an hour later, a part just like it, but above ground, failed in the same way. Another blowout, but this time with water spraying above ground.
So I am going back out to the farm to try to deal with this now. I will conclude with the point of view of a farmer. Appreciate the food you buy. Food is hard to make.
5 comments:
Yes, get that wine made so I can deal with the news.
It’s true – Trump’s criminality and lack of remorse are beyond words, especially when the evidence speaks for itself. About all I can say is:
Lock him up! Lock him up!
Sorry Peter, but I’m more interested in the 37 indictments and if judge Cannon will corrupt the whole thing. For me it’s hard for Trump to amaze me with his criminality, but once again he has. Asking his lawyer’s wouldn’t it be better if the documents didn’t exist- hint, hint, his attempts to get his lawyers to break the law for him. No wonder he goes through so many of them. Advice to lawyers- DON’T REPRESENT HIM.
Law of diminishing returns? I’m curious, Peter, why you buried your pipes so deep?
Most my irrigation lines, historically, were dug by the Armstrong Method, and are 1/2 to one foot below grade. But the rest I dug with a rented backhoe, which made it too easy to go deeper; they’re all 18” to 24” down there.
I thought deeper was better. Less chance of freezing. Well, I’ve never had one freeze, but I have had things like (among other things) someone driving over bubblers and sprayers, resulting in me fighting thru two feet of boulders clay soil, often filled with sturdy roots. By hand, obviously.
Hope you don’t have to do anymore three foot deep repairs!
Good. Reflecting on my own brief experience farming, something breaks everyday. Farmers have to be plumbers, welders, carpenters, and must anticipate breakdowns as well. They seem to spend more time fixing things than they do plowing, planting, cultivating, and harvesting. Still, if you keep a positive attitude, it's a rewarding and relaxing lifestyle. Especially compared to politics, where ya can't fix stupid.
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