Irrigation is Tech

That may not be grammatically correct but that's how we refer to key elements of something around here. When referring to those in modern English-ish language, at least.

And I think I just found what people found thousands of years ago.

A noob like me in modern times would still ask oneself if plants that we rely on should rely on us and our help. Would they survive without us messing with natural conditions?

Nope, not the plants we decided to plant where we decided to plant them so that we can have our preferred kind of crops and try to have a good yield as well. We were messing with them since the beginning so we must stick to supporting them until they are ready to be hunted down and eaten.




Today, I went with my grandfather to the garden where he and my grandmother still grow crops. It is not where they live, though. And this year, it has been extremely hard for them to visit and take care of the plants. They couldn't do it as regularly as before. And they are worried about that and I can see why.

The season is dry here most of the time. The wind is hot and dry. Wildfires are currently raging along the slopes of a mountain a hundred or so kilometers to the south-southwest.

Out mission was to take care of a few minor tasks, plus the minor task of irrigation. Which proved to me it's never minor at all.


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And it's hard to do it with a camera in your other hand. But still, I did some shooting before I switched my focus entirely on the tasks at hand.


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The water comes from a well. Underground water are generally rich around here. But after all, dry season is dry season. And the well replenishes its levels after some time. But were my grandparents able to be there daily, them plants would have been happier, believe me.


This kind of small cabbage for pickles looks relatively good, honestly...

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The previous shots were taken during my attempts to shower it.


But one of my favorite cultures, the Carrot Civilization, seems to be in decline. Drought has gotten half of their realm.

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Almost no survivors there with small exceptions such as this one above.

The rest is...

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...sad. I managed to pick about a handful or two small-sized but preserved carrots and save them from decay. But there was no time for all. And it was too late for them anyway.


Before water in the well ran low (literally), we were able to water some fruit trees, the vine on the picture below, the surviving green-leafed carrots, tomatoes, eggplants...and that's about it.

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Near the end of my visit, I tried liberating some potatoes from their dry doom and the weeds that strangled the place. Yesterday we had discussed the not-so successful potato crop and people older than me seemed to be disappointed by the size of what was left there and still not eaten by groundhogs, etc., anyway.

I said I actually respected baby potatoes a lot.

But...

...how about baby baby potatoes?


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All right, I did find a few kilos of good production. But this above showed me why potatoes need water in the first place.

Water is life.

Cheers!





Peace!

Manol

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Hi there, liked your post, but feel your pain, growing ones our food is hard work and it requires constant care. Without water, nothing grows. We use drip hoses, but they are fed from our pond so we don't tax the well.
It's so nice to hear you are taking care of your grand-parents garden while they are away. Family is everything and they are lucky to have you.
Peace to you and the family. Strive to be happy.

Thank you! I know there's lots to be improved but I must first learn how to and then I must find the time to do it. Still, the land requires some...babysitting or rather...gardensitting. Unless it's a mountain which takes care of itself.

Nice post! I like the shots you got of the water streaming through the air. Irrigation is seemingly simple but in fact much harder than it looks. And getting the water in the right amounts to the right places makes all the difference in the world.

I used to be a irrigation technician at a professional company. Have done industrial irrigation for tree farms, factories, state gardens, shopping malls and housing communities. Its never easy. But its vital.

I love that your grandparents are getting water from a natural well. Wells are tricky because of water pressure issues. They're getting it to work despite the difficulties with the weather and season and that tells me your grandparents have lots of experience and wisdom with this.

I'm glad you had a fun day with them harvesting what you could

Aye, my family has a lifetime of experience. I have half a lifetime of forgetting what it was like. But I guess my mindset is finally turning somewhat to getting back to it in a way.

It's great to know I can talk to you about such things. We're generally rich in water as a county here in Bulgaria. Underwater supplies are mostly good and there's lots of different mineral springs. So you can imagine some neglect and some waste as a result.

You can absolutely ask me anything whenever it comes up. I remember having the hardest time with this one well at a property our company had been called out to fix. It was a beautiful multi acre property on top of a mountain that over looked the city. It was a traditional Edo period japanese compound complete with enclosed verandas that lead from house to house and a giant koi pond with a waterfall. They had a well hidden away in a pine forest they had planted with footpaths and pagodas and the well was supposed to supply water for a good amount of the compound. Well the guy who put it in put a valve in backwards and it was initially a conundrum as to what was wrong with the system. Took us most of the day before we realized the valve to the pump was literally backwards. We never thought to check that because who would do such a thing we figured. The property was beautiful though. Will never forget it.

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