Or maybe more than 40 years.
It just keeps getting wetter. Another 2 inches the past week and only a little drying over the weekend. Now this week begins with clouds and threat of more rain.
This photo from 07 shows how bad it was then. None of that water was there in 89 when I started farming the land. This photo shows only a small portion of a slough that stretches over a half a mile long.
It might seem strange to complain about too much water in dryland Sask. but this year that is what we are doing. There are parts of that canola field that are now inaccessible. The quarter originally had 125 cultivated acres on it. This spring I was barely able to seed 90 acres. It has been gradually losing acres due to the ever-expanding sloughs that have nowhere to go except into the next slough.
Water is now running in off the neighbour's field. Nobody's fault, just gravity and natural drainage. Unfortunately this farm has no outlet for the water so it will continue to build up unless our weather patterns change back to dry.
Sask harvest statistics state we are about 13% complete. Normally at this date we would be more like 35% finished.
On the positive side, no worries of field fires, too wet for grasshoppers, can't think of much else at this point.
I'll tell you my mental problem. When it is raining I think it will rain forever. This was not so bad earlier in my life as I tended think that when it was sunny it would be sunny forever.
ReplyDeleteNow when it is sunny, I still expect rain.
Which is a long way around saying I sure hope your weather patterns change. The cost of fuel and fertilizer make it very hard to absorb the loss of a whole crop year.
Good luck!
I guess it does no good to question "why." We actually NEED some rain in my area, while there's flooding going on elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteBudde, its not bothering me too much yet. We are all in the same boat here (pun intended). Sometimes it is good to have older machinery that is all paid for and no worries of upcoming bank payments..
ReplyDeleteGorges, I just found another positive side to all the water here. All I need is a "sea doo" as seen in this video. Apparently it was shot a ways east down the highway from me this summer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tfQFw3UCTA