Stumbeled on a short video of our 2018. A year of extreme amounts of snow to extreme heat and drought.
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A friend went on a senseless driving tour of western Canada at Christmas. He reports there are geese at Calgary, and no snow through much of the southern prairies. Not looking great for soil moisture for the next crop year if there’s not enough snow.
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Most of our snow evaporated last spring and with the summer drought we’re left with all time low levels of groundwater and lots of dry wells. Even if we get normal amounts of rain/snow it’ll take years before we’re back to normal.
We’ve always had a net export of grain. This year we’re importing. Prices of hay are all time high even though most farmers reduced their lifestock to a minimum.
I read an article resently there’s a way braking down cellulose to carbs for human stomaches. Wood for food. That would be something 
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Here we were similar, it was reasonably wet in the spring, first cut of hay was good, but then drought, and hot. Hardly any second cut. Cattle farmers are short of hay. A round bale of hay roughly doubled in price. A few years of this pattern and farmers will be despondent.
Eating cellulose. Sounds like an Easter island survival strategy with better technology… 
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The same here.
We went very early long historic without rain from early May though nearly the end of August.
Rains in September, Oct, Nov and now Dec have all been below normal.
The lower down ground has drained out so that our seasonal drainage ditch “creek” did not surface ground recharge enough to flow until late Dec. Now gone no-flow again from just a few days cool/cold and no-new raining.
The deep earth is absorbing; trying to recharge from the previous 10 months of lacking.
2-3 years of this and even the deep, deep Public water wells would go lacking too from progressive depleted water tables.
Practice home-use water recycling. Now.
Better now, than later when all are lacking looking for scape-goats. Will not be a good time to be visibly greener still squandering capricious amounts of personal water usages.
S.U.
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Cape town, South Africa was famously approaching zero day (zero water day) last April. I understand they got some rain after a 3 year drought, but they were also able to cut water use in half to buy more time. I imagine most of that was from flushing toilets half as often. We use a LOT of water domestically. On the other hand, I suspect city people don’t know how drought or lack of water can bring agriculture to an end. They think their frozen peas come from a factory… 
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Someone online was bragging last spring how they where in Cape town and got by on some crazy small amount of water as proof that we wouldn’t need more water in the future. They didn’t like it when I asked what percentage of their food was raised on that water and what percentage was imported from the USA? Fact is we export an insane amount of wheat and corn to the entire world and most of it is grown from water we are pumping out of aquifers which are not refilling at the rate we are pumping them.
Lucky for me I have excess hay for sale rain isn’t a problem here but drying hay is becoming harder.
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I’ve been working on this crazy idea of frog ponds. We like our super markets feed by super farms. All the land tends to be read or used as one continues plot. In my area of the world I can not see that. I see dry spots here and there and lookie there is a wet spot.
The plan that I started was to make the wet spots into what I call a frog pond, I have one so far. Yes, frogs and salamanders love this (me to). I have room for one below this first frog pond. So the spillage from pond one would feed pond number two. I also have other places for these frog ponds.
Maybe some trees to slow evaporation and produce leaf compost. This pond grows a lot of water plants and sediment that would be normally lost. The plan is to harvest some of this pond sediment to make my own soil for raised bed gardens. However these water plants can be poisonous to land plants so the pond sediment would need to be composted along with grass, weeds and leaf matter.
I think I will copy this and repost it on the ACFC topic thread.
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Has been wet here this year. Muddy all the time. Good year for field crops, I think. Farmers got all planted eventually, and harvested, eventually. Snowing today. This too subject to change without notice. I don’t water my lawn. I do water my animals. I think Jeff’s frog pond is a great idea. Also makes a good watering hole for wildlife. My land, being a former swamp, is all flat and well drained for farming. The terrain here is criss-crossed with deep drainage ditches. One is on my property taxes perpetually (the Bracht Ditch). There is a checkerboard of drain tile everywhere farming is or has been done. I have a well and septic system. Water in / Water out. Water tests OK, time to do that again.
Boat ride, anyone? Has a 6 cyl inline Chevy, carbureted, Hmmm…
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Enjoying winter time with kids in a warm, wood stove heated kichen, making pumpkin puree and soup. Suddenly, l found out something interasting. This pot has a bump right on the center of its bottom. When heated on the cast iron plate, it becomes a Stirling engine
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Self stirring pot keeps from burning!
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I have done that before,melting snow on the wood stove. I pointed out to the girlfriend how it’s a Stirling. 
…But how do you calculate the efficiency of the cycle?
Also, it’s a self starting Stirling, a rare thing… .
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Do any of ya’ll snow people ever get a big air boat (“fan boat” to some) like we use in the shallow gator swamps and ride around in the pastures on snow and ice?
Also, for any of ya’ll keeping up with our work in Congo. They just had elections there and everyone is hoping it will not turn violent as they have never had a peaceful change of government. But the reports from our friends on the ground there seem pretty scary. The current party in power lost badly, but many seem to believe that the second place party was declared the winner after several week’s delay in the counting. It is widely believed that the actual winner was left out of the count, etc…because the current gov’t took money from Chinese companies/gov’t.? for timber/mining rights to declare the other guy the winner. Who knows what the truth is, and I am not trying to start a debate on the subject here. I am just concerned for the situation there and thought some might want to know what’s happening. The guy who supposedly won has taken it to court, so likely any violent reaction won’t occur until after the outcome of that. I think the US sent some troops to a neighboring country (Gabon) to evacuate Americans if need be. Everyone I know there is kind of holding their breath waiting for the violence to start…or not start as it may happen. I sure hope they can escape that outcome. They have been through so much already…
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Mike LaRose told me that, in the past, people in New England States would buy old private airplanes and remove the wings to drive around with. Oh, skies replaced the wheels.
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Not boats, but most people replace their bicycles with kick-sleds during winter.
Some even try speed records using steam power
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Our local Rescue Squad has an air boat for rescues on water/ ice/ snow. TomC
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Holey-moley! I think the helmet is a great idea! Can I try it next? 
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Billy, I will be praying and watching for a peaceful resolution of this situation in the DR Congo, For the sake of the wonderful people and the rest of the continent, which has had more than their share of demonic attacks in modern history. 
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too cool!..
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That is a new method of DOW!!!TomC
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