Water woes continue

(CSA Newsletter: Main Season Week 4)

Meet this week’s vegetables:

This weekend we finally accepted the true status of our irrigation well: not functional. I mentioned last week that we had had the pump installer out again to adjust a few things, hoping to keep sand and other small particles from coming up.

Sadly, the well is worse off than before. The pressure has increased dramatically and more sand and other particles are coming up than ever before. We tried running different irrigation set-ups three times last week with no success. The pressure was so great that our risers were popping out of the irrigation line and sand clogged the heads that stayed put.

I was impressed with how calmly we reacted to our realization (two years ago, this would have been cause for a ‘freak out’), considering how dire the situation could be for the season. No irrigation water means no plants. Period. We have no room for compromise on this issue during the valley’s seasonal summer droughts (which we’re entering now).

Fortunately, we have our surface water to fall back on. So, on Saturday morning, we reinstalled our little Honda pump at the slough and fired it up. There was one tense moment when it didn’t start (the delay was the same you’d experience with any small engine left unused for a season) — but it did start, and it did work, and we were very, very, very grateful. We did a little ‘thank you’ dance under the Linden tree that grows over our diversion point and sighed with relief.

In fact, we’re more grateful for the slough set-up than we ever have been before. The water is free of small clogging particles; and the pump is working more reliably than the well has at any point this spring. The pressure is even and constant, and the water supply is sufficient for now.

We’ve made some efficiency upgrades in our irrigation set-up this year, independent of water source — our sprinklers are slightly lower flow and we have a ‘solid set’ (sprinklers that stay in place rather than needing to be moved each time we used them in a new position). So now we can easily run three lines and move water quickly and painlessly.

All in all, we’re in a much better irrigation situation than last year, even with returning to the slough pump. So, while this certainly feels like a ‘step back,’ it isn’t all the way back to last year’s frustrating and tiring irrigation system.

However, the major problem with the slough remains: it only recharges in the winter, so it is a finite source of water. Last year, we didn’t quite run out by the end of the season, but we had to be very conservative with water in August and September. This summer has yet to reveal it’s weather trends, so we have no idea whether we can hold out again until the rain returns, or whether we’ll end up without irrigation halfway through a blazing hot August.

To that end, we’re continuing to work on well solutions and strategies. In discussions with a well driller, we’ve finally come to understand what is inherently wrong with the well. It was never ‘developed’ at the bottom and the basic design (steel casing to the bottom with no perforations) creates a huge draw on the sandy/gravelly layer it ends in. It’s essentially a giant straw, sucking up everything through a small open hole with no screens or filter packs. We need to reduce the velocity of water moving at the bottom without decreasing the overall volume of water in order to achieve our goal of clean, high volume flow.

This is an achievable goal, fortunately — we just need to find a well driller who has the time to come out and spend a few days finishing the job. Because we’re at the beginning of the irrigation season (and I’m sure we’re not the only people in this situation) that could take awhile. In the meantime, we’ve spent a lot of money on a well that does not work at the moment (literally ‘throwing money down a hole’).

To make the well somewhat useful, we’re considering other short-term solutions such as replacing the current large pump with a much smaller one in order to reduce the volume and hopefully the velocity at the bottom of the well. We’d end up with much less useable water than we aimed for (and paid for), but we’d hopefully have at least 10 gallons per minute or so that we could use to either supplement the slough or limp along with if the slough does run dry. At this point, any water is better than no water.

Irrigation water is such a crucial component of the farm, that we feel like other long-term goals need to be deferred until we can finally get this figured out in a ‘permanent’ manner.

We’re just glad that we didn’t dramatically increase our operation this year based on the belief that we had a working well. We know we can manage ok with our current sized plantings and the slough, but we couldn’t do any more.

We’ll also be approaching some of our upcoming plantings differently now that we fully realize our water situation. Because of limited water and a cold season, we’ve decided to forgo the large sweet corn planting we were planning for the year. We’re so sorry to not have corn for you this year, but we can’t justify dedicating a huge amount of space and water to something that doesn’t produce much (sweet corn is a very inefficient crop). Someday, we’ll have lots of sweet corn — this just isn’t the year.

This has certainly been a challenging spring; but, even with the record cold weather and continued water problems, we feel optimistic about the rest of the season. For now, we have a reliable, clean, easy to use irrigation water source. The sun is out and temperatures have warmed up. And, we feel more confident with some aspects of the farm than ever before.

Our upgraded infrastructure systems are working mostly as planned — the improved wash station continues to keep us happy on harvest days; the Drängen has sped up planting (and made it comfortable); the new greenhouse has produced tends of thousands of beautiful, healthy transplants; and our latest upgrade, the new delivery truck, has dramatically eased the task of bringing the fruits of labor to town.

So far the new truck (an Isuzu NPR with a 12’ box) has been fabulous. Besides being useful, we feel like the new truck is a symbol of our continued movement towards being more professional farmers.

As we commented earlier this year, our goal for 2008 wasn’t to get any bigger — instead, we wanted to get better at doing what we do. To that end, we’ve focused on all the infrastructure improvements listed above, as well as some of our record-keeping systems and field prep methods. Even though the changes won’t necessarily lead to a dramatic increase in produce volumes, they’ve created huge changes in the day-to-day work on the farm. Hopefully, you’ve seen some of the changes manifested in your CSA experience as well — through continued increased vegetable quality and more engaged, happy looking farmers at the pick-up site.

It’s an ongoing process, one that will probably continue for the next few years as we figure out the best solutions for every aspect of running a professional, small-scale vegetable farm. But, once again, we are deeply grateful that we made that choice this year, because all of our other improvements allow us to better cope with the current water crisis. The calm with which we addressed the situation is a product of continued refinement in our farm management skills. Good food, strong coffee, and yoga also help.

Since we’re feeling grateful, I once again want to thank all of you for helping us make this farm possible. It is a great comfort to know that we can openly share our difficulties with you, our community of eaters, and receive understanding and support.

And, of course, the season is progressing, bringing new delicious delights. Even though they’re later than we anticipated, we hope that you enjoy some of the exciting new items in this week’s share: sugar snap peas and broccoli!

Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla

Winter gardening workshop
Saturday, May 21, 2 – 4 pm ~ free!
Carnegie Room, Mac Public Library

Farm Open House
Sunday, May 22, 1 – 4 pm

Come on out to see your vegetables growing! We’ll have lemonade and lots of delicious sunshine for you to enjoy, as well as the company of your community. You’ll be free to wander the fields on your own, or we’ll be offering farmer-guided tours starting at the top of each hour.

Directions to farm: From McMinnville, take Hwy-18 headed east. Turn RIGHT onto Lafayette Hwy (past where HWY-18 narrows to one land). Stay on Lafayette Hwy until you see signs for ‘Hauer of the Dauen’ winery, which will direct you to Fairview Rd. Turn LEFT onto Fairview Rd and stay on for several miles (it will jog a few times). Stay on Fairview as it crosses Hwy-221/Wallace Rd, at which point Fairview turns into Grand Island Rd. Take Grand Island Rd down over the bridge onto the island. At the first rural intersection (uncontrolled, but you’ll see table grape vines on your left and cherry trees on your right), turn RIGHT onto SE Upper Island Rd. Our driveway is the first on your LEFT. We share the driveway with our neighbor so our property is actually the SECOND on the left (i.e. our property will be to your RIGHT once you’re in the driveway). Stay on the right hand gravel side of the driveway, and you’ll be on our property. You can park in front of our red pole barn, the greenhouses or behind our cedar house.

Please respect our close neighbor’s privacy, supervise children closely and keep dogs on a leash at all times. See you there!