Finding Contentment

Appeal to the city to use water

Because of a region-wide drought, our city has been on mandatory water restrictions for some time. Toward the end of the summer, we went to level three restrictions, which means no watering outside for any reason. These restrictions are expected to continue throughout the 2008 year.

So how does one grow a vegetable garden if they can't water it?

Today I e-mailed some city officials to ask them amend the ban so that it did not include vegetable gardens. I really didn't expect to hear anything back, but was surprised and elated that they have decided to research the subject and at least think about it.

Here is the letter I wrote followed by the response I received from the city manager. I have cut names down to just initials and have omitted or replaced my city's name for safety purposes. "Mr. M" refers to the Public Works (water) director.

Dear Mayor, City Councilmen, and Mr. M,

Every year many (of our city’s) families depend on vegetables gardens on their property to provide them with nutritious, and often organic, food. With the spring planting season fast approaching, my husband and I are greatly concerned. To our knowledge, current water restrictions do not allow residents to water any gardens, despite the fact that many people depend on them for food. Watering a large vegetable garden with buckets is not an option as it would take all day to do so.

Many families, including our own, depend on their vegetable gardens not only to provide nutritious food during the planting season, but throughout the year. Fresh vegetables can be preserved through drying, canning and freezing, providing nutritious, organic food for the entire year.

We completely understand the concern over our region's lack of water, and have been trying to conserve as much as possible. We have no intentions of watering any ornamental plants or flowers gardens, or our lawn.

But we do ask that the city look into amending its water restrictions to allow for the watering of vegetable gardens. Without vegetable gardens, many families will be forced to do without fresh vegetables this year. At the very least, they may be forced to buy vegetables that have been loaded down with chemicals and pesticides because they cannot grow their own organically. Having to buy vegetables instead of grow them could also place a financial hardship on many families.

Please consider allowing (our city's) residents to water vegetable gardens.

Thank you,

Barbara J.

Ms. J,

I think you raise an interesting argument and have framed it in a very compelling way.  I have asked Mr. Melton to look into this further and formulate a recommendation to me.  We also need to discuss it with our sister City because we are in this together with them and are trying to avoid citizen confusion by having different regulations for the two cities.  Once Mr. M has had a chance to examine your inquiry he will respond back to you.  Once Mr. M has researched the matter, I will also be soliciting additional input from our Mayor and City Council.

Thanks for raising the issue.

Mike L.

City Manager

My introduction to herbs

Another one of my goals for the new year (see sidebar) includes learning all about herbs. I want to learn how to grow them, and how to use them for medicinal, culinary and aromatherapy purposes. But the world of herbs is a very big world!

There is so much to learn. It’s going to take me years so I figured I better get started! I found that there are many online distance programs in which I could get a Master Herbalist degree in about three years, which sounds great. The problem is, they cost money – anywhere between $1,500 and $4,000. And that’s money we can’t afford right now.

I researched for days, and finally found one Web site that offers a couple of free courses for beginners. The courses are very short, and just barely touch on the topics. But they are free.

Learning Herbs offers a “Supermarket Herbalism” course that touches on a few medicinal remedies using items you can get at the grocery store. And if you sign up for their free electronic newsletter, you can take the “Home Remedy Secrets” course – which is a lot like “Supermarket Herbalism” but is a little more in depth.

The Web site itself also offers a plethora of information. It is put out by the Gallagher family. The Gallaghers homeschool their two children and are big believers in herbal remedies. They also offer a kit that comes with everything you need to make the herbal tinctures, teas and salves mentioned in the “Home Remedy Secrets” course.

The Ghallagher family

I realize I sound like a commercial, but when I find something really great I like to pass it on. It was great to find a site offering some kind of course for free, even if they aren't in-depth courses like you would find in a school. And I always love to support other homeschooling families!

I also ordered a board game they created called Wildcraft. On their Web site, I learned that “wildcrafting” refers to harvesting herbs and plants from the wild, as opposed to from a garden. The game was delivered right away and the kids and I spent a few hours Friday playing.

Our new Wildcraft game

It was educational, teaching both the kids and I the names of various herbs and on which ailments they can be effective. I also liked that the game wasn’t competitive at all. Everyone had to work together as a team to finish the game.

Alli, Justin and Adam use the Wildcraft game to learn about herbs.

Anyway, this was our first step in conquering our goal of learning all about herbs and how to use them. Prepare to hear a lot more in the coming months!

Pray for rain

Last year's garden.

Hubby and I are very concerned that we may not be able to plant a garden this spring. Our state is one of the many in the south that has been hit hard by a drought this year. And now, even in the middle of winter, we are under stage three water restrictions. That means that we cannot run water outside for any reason.

We have had droughts before but never any that were still this severe during the winter months. Unless something drastic happens we will be unable to plant a spring garden. What would be the point of planting if we can't water it? This means spending a lot more money at the grocery store for food.

The drought has become so bad that the North Carolina Baptist Association has sent out a missive to churches, dedicating Dec. 30 as "Pray for Rain Day."  Here's some of what the missive had to say:

Drought is no stranger to the people of God, but neither is God’s willingness to bring rain. Elijah, through faith and obedience, prayed for and believed in the miracle of God to bring rain to the dry land.

The extreme drought of 2007 has caused severe hardships, especially to our farmers. It could hasten the end of many multi-generational family farms. This is not a one-year dry spell. The drought has been building for the last several years and it is predicted to continue into 2008. It has caused severe crop devastation and it has led to the depletion of livestock inventories.

Hay production has been particularly hard hit. The shortage in North Carolina could be as high as 200,000+ tons. That equates to about 450,000 large round bales. While some livestock can be fed damaged corn and soybean forage, there is simply not enough of these substitutes to materially reduce the need for hay.

When farmers are forced to sell off their livestock, the market is flooded and the prices they receive plummet. We all feel the impact later in the grocery stores when the inevitable meat shortages occur, causing the price of meat to soar.

Hay is available in the Northeast and upper Midwest, but it is difficult to get it to North Carolina due to high transportation costs.  A large number of our Convention’s 4000 congregations are in rural areas.  When farmers are hurting, their ability to add to the economy of their communities is reduced significantly and everyone is affected. 

 I know there are states that are even worse than ours. Please take a moment and pray that God brings His much needed rain to our area.

Not grapes!

Here's two of the chickens in front a Bradford Pear that we planted about four years ago. It was just a twig really, about a foot long and skinnier (is that a word?) than a pencil. See how it has grown!

Now to what is growing on back fence:  If only it were grape vines! But no, one of the plants growing there is poison something (posion ivy, I think). I know this because although poison ivy or poison oak has never affected me, it does affect my husband and boys occasionally. My husband gets a case of it whenever he mows or weedeats down there!

The other thing growing is the most dominant, and is probably what everyone is mistaking for grape vines. It is kudzu, also known as "the scourge of the south." It grows EVERYWHERE around here. And once you plant it, you can't get rid of it. We have never planted it, but this fence is actually my neighbors (our properties back up to each other). Yes, they actually planted the stuff! Even though they planted in their yard, it constantly creeps over into ours. Mark has to weedeat it all the time! It doesn't even has anything else to grow on, it just creeps across the lawn until it reaches something 20 feet away. If left unchecked it covers the chicken coop, the young trees and will keep going into the house.

In our area, the city comes along every few weeks and sprays the kudzu on the side of the roads. I'm not one for spraying poison but if they don't do it, the kudzu covers the electric poles, etc. and creates a hazard.

If it wasn't so invasive, it could be a nice vine. Too bad it's not grapes!

Container gardening

Although we both help everywhere, usually Mark is the vegetable garden officianado and I am the one who prefers the flower gardens.

This year, I decided to try my hand at a couple of cotainer gardens. Not just planting single plants into containers, but finding several plants that look good together and grouping them in one container. It went well, and here is what I have after letting them grow for a few weeks.

I think I like the subtle tones of the one on top best. But they both worked out pretty well, and I'm thinking similar arrangements may make good gifts next spring.