The most limiting factor up here is water. We have a sweeping view of the Pacific Ocean, but up here on the ridge it is dry. There are no springs or wells. Nearly everyone up here pumps water up from one of the nearby creeks. They have five to ten thousand gallons of storage, and most people use that amount in a matter of days. They are completely dependent on the creeks continuing to flow.
We get our water from rain catchment. We have fifty-two thousand gallons of storage, but if it doesn't rain, we won't fill those tanks. This past year, we had to buy a five hundred gallon water trailer, which we have filled up at friends' houses.
We have become experts at bathing using minimal amounts of water. Bucket baths and turning on the shower only to get wet before soaping and then again to rinse off are a matter of course. We reuse our greywater from sinks and bathtub to water the orchard. We irrigate our gardens and orchards, which grow food for us, but we certainly don't have lawns or flower gardens. We are aware of every bit of water that we use. We value every bit.
Those of us who have grown up in the States have an interesting relationship with water. For the most part, we take it as a given that we will always be able to turn on the tap and use as much water as we want. We are surrounded by green lawns and golf courses. Water runs in the gutters every evening when automatic sprinklers water those green lawns. Cars are washed on a weekly basis. The teenage years are associated with hour-long showers. We flush the toilet every time we pee. Most of us rarely consider the amount of water it takes to grow the food we eat, and think even less of what it takes to grow feed for the animals we eat. We don't think at all about the water used in manufacturing.
Maybe this is starting to change, as the drought in California worsens. I am certainly seeing more stories in the media about the drought, water conservation, overdrawing of aquifers and communities running out of water.
2014-09-17
the view from the rancho
