Six Reasons Hill Giant Farm Needs Rain

We hate to be too "farmerish" by dedicating a whole post to why we need rain, but the simple fact is, we do. Badly. Here is a list of ten reasons why Hill Giant Farm could use some rain. Some of these might be obvious to you, but others we're hoping will shed some light onto how a farm (and things on a farm) work. 

1. Our garden is in really bad shape because of the drought. The tomatoes and pepper plants have died, the peas, beans, beets, lettuce etc. are growing much slower and the potato beetles are thriving because of the dry conditions. We'd water the garden except for reason 2. 

2. When your water comes from a well, or a spring (as in our case) you begin to think and care a lot about the aquifer that feeds it. There is a limited amount of water in the underground aquifer. As it rains, the water taken out of the aquifer is replaced. When it doesn't rain....well, you begin to run short on water. We're ok so far, but the other day we noticed that our water pressure is dropping. So, we've implemented water saving measures; all animals get watered daily (obviously, as this is essential), we try and eat foods that require limited water to prepare, we either do a load of laundry or have a shower/hair wash each day, and we only flush when absolutely necessary. Needless to say, in this kind of situation, watering a 100x50 food garden is out of the question. 

3. Pasture doesn't replenish itself when it doesn't rain. As the sheep graze down one area of the pasture we move them to another, or they move themselves. Under normal circumstances, this allows the mowed down area to grow back and replenish itself. At the moment, all we have where the sheep have already eaten is weeds and dead grass. Not very encouraging. This will mean we'll have to cut more hay. See reason 4.

4. Without a substantial amount of rain, we will not be able to do a second cut of hay. Typically farmers in Ontario try and cut hay in June/July and late August/early Sept. in order to have enough for the winter. This depends on how well the hay field replenishes itself after the first cutting. At the moment we have enough hay cut for this winter, provided we can pasture the sheep until mid Oct., which depends on reason 3. 

5. Grain requires rain in order to properly form. At the moment we have a beautiful field of oats and barley growing nicely in one of our back fields. However, they are at a standstill. The stalks have grown and the heads have formed, now we just need the seeds to form and solidify within the heads. This, no surprise, requires rain. Our grain crop is very important to us as it will form the second leg of a 2 leg feeding program for the sheep this winter. 

6. Dry ground negatively affects the electrification of our fence. We use electric fence on field perimeters to keep the sheep where we want them. We aren't 100% sure how this works, but as the ground around the ground wire on the electric fence gets drier, the fence loses power and is much less effective. This evening M watered the ground wire for 5 minutes in order to increase the fences effectiveness. That's right, she watered the fence :)

There are no doubt many people who would welcome some rain. What are your reasons for wanting rain? Tell us in the comments section. We'd love to hear from you.