May Rain Data

Since I do "weird times" rain data, I am actually finished with the data for May. [Basically I take my reading each day between noon and 1pm when we are taking a lunch break from school, rather than midnight to midnight (although I reluctantly admit that I am awake at midnight more often than I should be and then pay for it with a slow start the next morning)].

Anyway, here's my data so far:
May - 2.1 inches
March, April, May cumulative - 12.8 inches
(I only began in March)
Average rainfall March - May for RTP - 10.3 inches
Rainfall March - May 2008 for RTP - not yet available from USGS

Rainfall Data

April total = 6.41 inches!! Woohooo!!
March and April cummulative = 10.71 inches
Since the average annual rainfall for our area is about 43 inches, that means we have received 1/4 of our average in only two months. The drought effects will continue to be seen for years to come but for now we really need to be thankful for what we have received recently.

D is still working on clearing the stumps, smoothing bumps and hills and gullies to smooth out the farm getting it ready for ground cover planting. We are trying to determine whether to use bermuda or centipede grass along with the summer clover. So far there does not seem to be much difference between the two (we found a great website comparing warm season grass characteristics) so price may be the determining factor.

Rainfall Data

I have set up a spreadsheet to collect our rainfall data for the farm. From it I can track rainfall for each day, the monthly cumulative and (eventually) annual cumulative. I will use the spreadsheet to record when/how much/where we irrigate and can graph any of the information from there as well. Sometimes you just gotta love technology!!
Total for month of March: 4.3 inches - Praise the Lord!!
April - 2.8 inches so far - another real Praise to the Lord!

Placing "the" order

Tomorrow I will confirm with both of our suppliers the exact quantity, variety and size of each tree that we plan to plant next winter. We have "finalized" our layout (again!) but of course we will revise it if we cannot get the exact number of each variety that we want because we really feel like it is more important to get the good quality of trees as long as we can get almost all of the varieties in the quantities we want. The local farm supply place is scheduled to come and lime (1.5 tons per acre) tomorrow and then D will begin discing it in before we plant ground cover. I am still researching exactly what type of cover we need to plant at this time of year (usually you would plant it in the fall).

Tonight it is supposed to be down to about 30* so I spent a little time this evening covering the fruit trees with sheets. It looks so funny to look out and see two rows of sheets swaying in the cold north wind!! We will see tomorrow how much damage has been done. I didn't cover the blueberry bushes because they are still so small that I was considering plucking the blooms off for one more year anyway, to help advance the growth of the branches.

There is a possibility of some slight showers overnight but no further rain in sight for the rest of the week. Once the fields are limed it really would be good for it not to rain until we get them disced and sowed with some cover.

Back on the roller coaster

Well, here it is. Another "loop" on the ride. Just as I posted a little over a week ago that we were going ahead another few things went awry. We had rain - lots of it- at the end of the week and so of course the land graders weren't able to come as planned. In addition, since we had not made a firm order and paid our supplier in Texas (not knowing when or if we would be ready), he has now sold out of all but one of the varieties that we wanted during a big conference last weekend. The graders are supposed to come this weekend but the weather forecast is calling for rain again (which we do need but why can't it rain during the week?!) and the farm supply for our lime is now into spring farming season and will be backed up for days or weeks. So again we reverse our reversal of our reversal .... whatever, we are not going to plant this year. It's just too far into the "iffy" window of spring and we really want to do it the right way, not necessarily the fast way, so (for today) it is (almost) sure that we will not have any trees in the ground before next winter.
In the meantime I am looking into the possibility of some specialized crop farming this spring/summer and will keep you updated with that. Also, we will be placing a "very firm" order including down payment on our trees that we want to be sure to get late next fall/early winter, both from Texas and locally. In the meantime, it is nice to get rain to relieve this drought and refill ponds and lakes and I cannot be sad about almost anything in the beautiful springtime!
(Photos by Russ and Matt Creech)

RAIN!!!

Over 1.2 inches last night. Unfortunately some very strong winds, lightning, etc. but thankfully we did not have the trees in the ground yet to be uprooted or damaged so we are just very, very thankful for another rain. We are now nearing "normal" range for rainfall for the past month and are praying that we have seen the worst of the drought over.

Update

Rained twice so far this week - about 1/10th on Sun night and about 4/10ths Tues night/Wed morning. More rain projected later this week - Praise the Lord! The drought continues but if we can get some more rain more consistently it might break the trend. Burn Ban is still on (since 2/13). No news from relatives about possibility of leasing land to plant trees on so tonight we decided to pray for 3 days about planting in the next few weeks. If the burn ban continues and we do not get an enthusiastic agreement to lease the land we will stop trying to make it happen this year and resign ourselves to the fact that no trees will be planted until next winter. It is very discouraging, especially to D and along with continued layoffs and demotions at his work, so please pray that we will persevere and also that we will have wisdom both in decisions and their timing.

Rain, beautiful, wonderful rain!!!

Today we have had rain. Not a "spit" as my Pop used to say, not a sprinkle, but real, genuine rain. For the first time since.... well, I don't even know when it's rained like this last! Months and months for sure. So we are praying hard that since this rain is slow and steady (and statewide!!) that Gov. Easley will lift the burn ban Monday morning. It has been a long, long drought and I am sure that it will take a long, long time to recover but there is temporary relief tonight anyway. Praise the Creator who has a purpose for all things, even droughts.