Things have been rolling along at the ranch. Fall is slowly
setting in as the days get shorter. We're still harvesting tomatos
and eggplant although the plants are slowing down with the reduced
sunlight exposure. We have learned some lessons this year in the
garden. Trying to grow vegetables in the existing raised beds has
been a futile endeavor. The beds are so choked up with root
systems from the surrounding native flora that the vegetables are
getting starved for nutrients. About the only vegetable that has
thrived in the raised beds has been peas (not my favorite). On the
other hand, eggplants and green beans have thrived in some black
fabric bags that some friends gave to us for planting. I found
that the soil temperature was noticably warmer in the bags than in
the raised beds...perhaps the black color was absorbing heat from
the sun. Additionally surrounding root systems are not able to
penetrate the fabric so the vegetables do not have to compete for
food. Of course, the plants in the green house have been thriving.
Enough about the garden.
Due to the ongoing drought, we're starting to feel the pinch for
water. The water table has dropped to a point where our current
well is not recovering sufficiently to provide water for the
household. Luckily I had a 2500 gallon tank installed shortly
after we moved in, so we have plenty of water stored up. Talking
to our well guy, we learned others in the area are also having dry
wells. There is a second shallow well that provides water for the
garden so he had that plumbed to the tank as well. We do have to
exercise caution with our water consumption, but we're managing.
Digging through some of the old paperwork the previous owners had
provided, we discovered that there are two more wells on the
property that we are exploring tapping into. One, drilled to 140
feet, had poor recovery so it was cased for possible future use
(probably also buried since we have not been able to locate the
well head yet). The other well, which is in the far back side of
the property, is a bit of a hike to get to since a landslide many
years ago blocked a portion of the road to that side of the
property. I hiked back there and located the well head. I opened
the cap and to my surprise water was visible approx. 6 feet below
the ground surface. The previous owner's notes (dated 1991)
indicated that this well had abundant water which is encouraging.
Let us see how this pans out. It has been an educational
experience and I have seen parts of the property that I had not
seen previously. I'll take some pics next time I am back there.
I am still enjoying learning of the uses of the Raspberry Pi Zero.
I have been pleasantly surprised by the power and functionality of
this $5 computer. Thus far, I have managed to get my $10 SDR
(Software Defined Radio) dongle to work with the Pi. The next step
is to erect an antenna to pull in some signals. Since we are
surrounded by hills and redwoods, pulling in any terrestrial
signals is a challenge although I have picked up the National
Weather Service as well as KZYX in Philo. Once I have a decent
antenna up, I should be able to pull in more. Stay tuned. :-)
Beyond the on going water saga, there is not much alse happening
that is noteworthy.
