My Hobby Farm-Water

WATER

Bringing Life To The Land

Preparations for an underground tank

Preparing fine gravel bases before placement of water storage tanks

Hand watering a thirsty tropical bamboo

Nothing is more pleasing than to watch a gentle soaking rain cool and cleanse plants after a hot dry spell. Rain invigorates plants more than any form of irrigation, cleaning plant leaves of dust, pollution, insect secretions and chemical residues.

Water For Soil And Plants

In some cases the type of crops grown may need to change to accommodate problems affecting water quality. Should the available water be saline bore water, salt tolerant crops may be needed. Strategies I plan to carry out on my hobby farm relating to water for soil and plants include:

Improving the level of organic matter in the soil. Organic matter (dead plant and animal material) acts like a sponge and helps retain moisture in the soil.

Maintaining a green mulch or a thin layer of plant growth above the soil. Even though grass and weeds use up some moisture, they add fertility to the soil in the form of organic matter when mowed, and they help to keep the soil surface cool. This allows the roots of crops to grow closer to the soil surface where the soil is generally more fertile.

Select a range of crops that have a low summer water requirement. I plan to experiment with crops such as the Pomegranate, Pistachio nut, Carob bean trees, Figs and Date palms. These require much less summer irrigation than most crops and can generally tolerate more saline water.

Water System In Hobby Farm

In the long term I hope to use the energy from sunlight and wind in order to desalinate salty bore water. As technologies become more efficient, small scale “hobby farm” sized systems for water purification should become available at an affordable price.

Strategies I plan to carry out on my hobby farm relating to water system include:

Develop a set of drainage contours so that rainwater can be collected after big downpours. This water can then be pumped into storage tanks.

Use forms of irrigation that release water close to the crop’s roots and minimize wastage. Drip irrigation systems do this well. They will also reduce weed growth between crop rows as little water will be released in these places.

A Timeless Water Passage On Farming

Volumes have been written about the impact of water on mankind throughout history. For this article I would like to present a passage by the famous Greek writer Ilias Venezis as he recounts his childhood experiences growing up in Western Turkey. This timeless passage brings home to me the essence of water in the lives of so many throughout the world.

In my life on the soil of the Kimindenia I learned to read in the eyes of the grown people round me their ceaseless anxiety for the weather, the rain and the wind. It was most apparent in spring, the season of the harvest, and autumn. Each evening grandfather would consult the clouds which sailed over the Kimindenia, and the stars as they came out in the night sky. He would lean out of the window and watch the sky steadfastly and solemnly, concentrating his whole being while everyone inside waited breathlessly. Enriched by the sacred humble lessons of experience learned by his ancestors, simple men of the soil, this knowledge mingled in his blood and arose awake and living, as he pondered over the motion of the clouds, the light of the stars and the stirrings of the wind.

It was as though there was a mysterious voice in the wind, the clouds, and the stars which none of us heard, because only he had the privilege of hearing it.

When his converse with the night was finished, he drew his head inside and turned to us. Then the eyes of my grandmother and mother widened, and anxiety flicked in their moist depths.

He would merely say:

We will have rain before tomorrow evening.’

Or, quite simply:

‘No, it’s dry weather, we won’t have rain!’

Then, according to the season, whither the rain would help or destroy the crops, the women’s eyes would fill with peace or with silent grief.

Source; ILIAS VENEZIS "AEOLIA” 1943
Translation by E. D. Scott-Kilvert

My Hobby Farm

My Rural Experiences

Buying A Hobby Farm

Why Buy A Hobby Farm

Farm Challenges

Starting An Enterprise

A Specialist Enterprise