The Sky Today in Journal
- May 14, 2019, 8:12 p.m.
- |
- Public
made me think of how f’d up the weather has been.
Little backstory.
I’m a small farmer. I became disenchanted with the whole deal in my 2nd or 3rd year, after yet another aridly dry summer that scorched the living grass into deathly oblivion and drove hay prices through the roof. Except this was the year that I decided to add cattle- and my hay bill was far in excess for any hope of surmounting. I was forced to sell my beloved milk cow, Molly Moo. It broke my heart, and it made me wonder if there was anything I could do about it.
The drought, I mean.
I started researching. I was humble enough to know that I knew absolutely nothing about it. So, I was open to anything. Nothing was too basic; nothing was too weird.
It’s odd how people can interrupt someone doing something in order to point out that it cannot be done. I’ve been changing the weather for over 2 years, at least in my microclimate, at most for the large part of my State. Curiously, I’ve never met anyone remotely interested in how to do it. Or why it works. Or even if there is any solid scientific theories behind how it’s done. Because, well, everyone knows it’s impossible.
I’m the first to admit that my n=1 experiment proves nothing. My observations are just that; anecdotal data. But it has been pretty effective anecdotal data.
I’ve not had to pay high prices for hay since. Actually, I have not bought hay at all except for the expected 3 winter months. My herd is 100% pasture and forage fed for 9 months of the year; something pretty much unheard of as far North as we are. I added back cows. The first year, my pastures exploded. There were so many bugs it was actually shocking. It seemed like a wave of insects flowed away as I walked through the pasture. And incidentally, NO mosquitoes, and NO flies. Butterflies, bees, dragonflies, damselflies, spiders, praying mantis, and all manner of crawling types. Birds of all kinds came around; snakes moved in; mice and things came; and the smell of cow manure left. The garden produces enormous yields that dwarf even my mentors efforts. We have zero mud. It’s astounding.
It rains within 24 hours after I move my pipes 100% of the time. Usually I aim for a good soaking rain once a week. I try for the beginning to the middle of the week. People like their weekends. Otherwise, the sky is an azure blue with infrequent discrete white puffy clouds.
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