Ground water and Drought

   Well the oat hay has been cut, baled and stacked. not bad. Almost sixty tons off of twenty five acres. Now we will find out if prices are as good as folks have been saying.

   Elsewhere on the farm- the cotton sure has been loving the warm weather. Soon it will be time for the first irrigation. Timing is everything. If we water too soon, the plants will all go to stalk. If we water too late, we stress the pants and lose yield. This is just another example of why I will not relax about the cotton until the last row is picked and the last bale ginned off.

   I am a little concerned about what I am hearing from Sacramento. There is legislation brewing about restricting groundwater. It seems they noticed that our ground water is getting over drafted. OF COURSE IT IS! THAT IS WHY WE NEED SURFACE WATER. This is an old problem. We put in the irrigation systems so we would not over draft the ground water any more.

   Groundwater is the back up supply for dry years.

   One thing, if the want to talk about ground water restrictions here in the Valley then San Francisco's water from Hetch Hetchy in Yosemite National Park should be on the table. It is fundamentally unfair to take water from our watershed and then tell us to manage our groundwater better.
   For those of you who do not know, San Francisco draws over a quarter of a million acre feet from a reservoir made from the Yosemite Valley's twin sister. The fight to save the Hetch Hetchy Valley broke John Muir's heart a hundred years ago. He died shortly after he and the Sierra Club lost the fight to protect the valley.

   Yes, there is a limited amount of groundwater and we are drawing it down faster than it is being replenished. But, I find it ironic that Sacramento and the environmental community realize this the same year they cut off our surface water supplies.

OK, enough gripping.

Happy Memorial Day everyone. Please take a moment to remember and honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom as you spend time with friends and family. We live in a most amazing country and we wouldn't be here except for them.