We can exchange nosiness. I know nothing about the desert and want to soak in every bit of knowledge that I can find... the drought, loss of trees, etc. is happening where we are now in NC, not in the desert. Here there has been pretty much no rain for the last nine months. Only one serious downpour, a residual from one of the hurricanes that went through the gulf. That rain put out the forest fires that came within a half mile of our farm so, I'll be eternally grateful for that. According to the forest rangers, it had to soak at least 9" into the ground in order to put out the fires. Immediately after that rain, the trees in our woods started to fall and I don't mean the little ones.It was the great oaks that were falling. We have a neighbor that we jokingly refer to as 'he who knows all' who told us that it was because it had been so dry that the roots of the trees were no longer working properly and the sudden, heavy rain washed them lose and they fell. You never know if he's telling you something accurate but the trees sure did come down and no one else has an explanation.
When we first moved here, putting up fence posts was a serious challenge. If you dug a 3' hole and stopped to sip on your coffee, the hole would fill with water. That demanded some creativity and the altered fence posts worked out pretty well. There's a clay sand mixture about 18" under the ground, then a whole layer of peat which fascinates me but I can't explain it and below that, clay and something called sandstone.
This year, I moved some of those fences and the water is gone. Our farm sits on an aquifer or it did up until this year.The local farmers thing that we've had one bad season and everything will return to what it was, next year. I talked to one 83 year old who said that it hasn't been this dry since 1930. I believe we are looking global warming in the eye and that this year's weather is a peek at what's to come. Either of us could be wrong.
So.... I don't know anything about desert life. According to the weather stats, it's cooler there than here. I'm a transplanted Yankee that knows mountains. I loved the wilderness look of the desert place and the fact that the off the grid features were already in place. I think that I can be doing more to reduce energy consumption than recycling and using low energy light bulbs. I'm not a techie so there's a lot that I don't understand about creating an off the grid living space. This one seemed to be the only place that gave me room for the horses and an already viable system. The different plants and animal life fascinate me, too.
Clarissa
Janoahsh <janoahsh@alaska.net> wrote:
Please forgive my nosiness',I know what you mean about loosing trees. We lost about 99% of our Old Growth Spruce. Climate change and spruce bark beetles.I've been hearing about the aquifers dropping hundreds of feet in the mid west, thus my concern when I saw pictures of the area. I love the deserts. You are indeed fortunate to find such a haven.Janosh
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Subject: RE: [papercreters] Hi Newbie to the group... some insights?
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Clarissa
"He who holds, must first have discovered.
He who has discovered, must first have sought..."
~tale of y Chadee
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