I am SO ANGRY with myself

Posted by Rosie

With no rain to speak of for weeks now, the rainwater tanks are mostly empty so yesterday I disconnected the hosepipe from the well to the garden tanks and started to fill up the tanks by the pigs. It takes a while for the well to pump up the water so I decided to pop off and do some little job or other in the meantime ......... 5 hours later and I had an empty well but 4 very happy pigs who now have a lot of mud to dig and wallow in.

And it gets worse - when I disconnected the hose from the garden I didn't check where the other end was and I managed to syphon out the entire contents of one tank. To say I am angry with myself is such an understatement. I am FURIOUS.

So now, until we get rain to fill the well again we are on emergency water-saving measures. In other words washing up and bathwater are being tipped into plastic jerry cans which I wheelbarrow across to water the veg patch. And it needs it - seedlings that have germinated are just sitting there and others haven't even germinated despite being watered in at sowing time. I am hardly cropping anything and the freezer/stores are all but empty of veg as we ate more over the winter when the snow and cold killed off so many of my overwintering crops.

For the local farmers it is even worse. The grass just isn't growing meaning there is less for the animals to eat now and less for a hay crop for later. They have just planted their maize but without rain it will only sporadically germinate and that will mean less silage for winter. It may be lovely to see the sunshine but it is making it a difficult year.

I will however end on a positive note - Matilda's ducklings hatched yesterday. I have seen at least 7 but will hopefully get a better look later and a photo. And Hilda's are due today :-)