Water

Growing up in Australia I think I have a better appreciation of the importance of water than many who grew up in wetter and greener climes. Water was also very important to Louis who had live for a while in Arizona. There are three working ponds on the farm and 5 in need of repair. There are two wells that are covered and not currently in use.

The repair of the ponds is a long term project. One project in the near future is to get pumps put in the wells so we can use the water. Getting water to the animals over the winter was a frustrating chore as most of the time we had to fill buckets in the bathroom and carry them to the barn. This is not sustainable in the long term and was barely adequate this year.

For the last week I have been getting water from the 'twin' watering troughs below Snake Pond. Aunt Sandy has been keeping the algae cleared off the top but leaf matter has built up a lot from the bottom. These troughs are closest to the house and barns and we hope to keep the lambs near them rotationally grazing. I thought I'd just use a metal rake to scope out the muck. Good theory. But it is very difficult to scope out and the water quality has deteriorated quite a bit.