It’s raining right now on the farm — the first time in 53 days by our count. Not enough to stop irrigating by any means, but we probably can skip our evening pump run tonight.
In other happy water news: we received an estimate from the new driller today and it’s much lower than we had expected based on high diesel prices, etc. Quite a reasonable bid, and it includes all the components we now know are important for our site. This is certainly just the beginning of this new well process, but it’s a good start.
Hey Farmers,
I’m glad things are looking up, if only a little. Yesterday when I woke up to rain on the window I thought of you guys and how maybe it would lighten your load just a tad. That thought made me smile and rather than wishing for another in a series of warm summer days, I enjoyed the cool breezes and misty day too.
I know that set backs like this hit you two hardest, and we’re just marginally involved, so I thank you for being so open and honest about the good stuff and the bad stuff you’re dealing with. And of course, if we can ever help out, let us know!
God always provides!!
I’m so glad that there is some good news on the well front. I’m hoping everything goes smoothly and in a timely manner so you both don’t have to worry quite so much.
So glad to hear this good news!
Hey, have you guys heard of dowsing? Before you drill your new well will you use a dowser to select the site? These are usually older folks who learned the skill from family members. The family we used had been dowsing wells for at least three generations. They are skilled at selecting good producing sites based on decades of experience drilling for water, if you can find a good one, its worth it, so look around and ask some local old timers if they can recommend someone. For this reason too, it may be a good idea to ask around for reputable skilled longstanding drilling companies and wait for the service to insure a quality outcome. Sometimes the place you think is ideal for your well site may not be the best in terms of production, depth, soil/subsoil types, recharge etc. There are good books at the library about well drilling to check into while you wait, with good info on topography and the associated liklihood of the slope and drainage of your property in site selection having impact on your well capacity and quality. There will probably be good information regarding your particular surface conditions as well. It is also useful to review the public well records of your neighbors for insight into your local area. The dowsing rod and a scandinavian grandfather together located our well, which for our location was miraculously highly productive. We are in a dry area a mile from surface water and were able to get a 120′ deep well in shale that tested at 50 GPM, and by Montana law we are only allowed to pump 35 GPM. We were hoping for 18 GPM at 200′ as the best possible outcome. This well is more productive by leaps and bounds than our neighbors, except those that live on the creek. So, in our experience, it pays to use a dowser, and ours didn’t charge, since he owns the co. that then drilled our well, and it was loads of fun to talk with him and watch him at his work.