Here In California Part I - My backyard, agriculture, drought, and consequences

Recently my daughter and I moved down from the mountainous area east of San Diego, California to the small foothill town of Lakeside. It is not far from an escarpment called El Capitan, which is a spectacular rock formation that rises straight up like a sentinel forbidding passage into the rugged mountains behind it. The huge and wildly tumbled rock formations around it tell a story of a violent geological past when great earthquakes shook the land and tweaked the sediments that formed the rocks up on end so that the seams of level strata now go up and down in unlikely directions.

We found a two-bedroom cottage to rent that is one of two rental houses on 25 acres that were leveled off from the almost vertical terrain around it. It is on an upward winding road through a rock strewn canyon, and has the blessings of easy access to the conveniences of the city yet retains a rural aspect. From our kitchen windows we have a breathtaking view of mountains immediately in back of pines, oaks, and other kinds of trees, both native and fruit trees. In our back yard a rock-strewn arroyo leaps down the mountain right past our little grove of pine trees and our chicken coop. (We have about a dozen noisy chickens and roosters.)

The weather is much different down here from that in the mountains. We notice an increase in humidity and how our skin doesn’t get as dry as it did. We lived in high desert conditions for six years just east of a pass on Interstate 8 at an altitude of about 4,000 feet. The dividing ridge to the east usually stopped most rain from reaching us. It was high desert there with lots of cactus and little grass. Except for trees planted by ranchers, about the only trees that grow up there are coastal live oaks and cottonwoods that grow only in depressions where ground water is closest to the surface. Drought is the way of life up there. Every ranch has its own well and water storage tanks half the size of some buildings are required by law in case of wildfires. There are almost more rocks than ground cover up there, but still wildfires occur - usually started by lightning. Fires rage in San Diego’s back-country almost every year during the hottest and driest seasons.

The last bad wildfire in the area two years ago was started by friction caused by slack electric wires. San Diego Gas and Electric Company was blamed and now is trying to get permission to have planned blackouts during certain weather conditions when it is very dry and there are high winds that are common. If they do that, it will not only impact people who work on-line, or otherwise depend on electricity to earn their living, but also sick people who depend on electrical devices for their very lives. Just as important the electric water pumps won’t work, and people won’t be able to fight the fires that threaten them. But SDG&E won’t be held culpable! It is a very bad idea for the people.

What I particularly want to do in this article is relay information to you about drought in California. It is impacting all of America in ways we may not be aware of, and things are getting worse. If we don’t get substantial rainfall or a good snowpack in the mountains soon, our way of life here is going to deteriorate beyond what is comfortable for Californians, and the rest of the country is going to be subject to higher prices and a scarcity of some foods.

I watched a program Sunday about water conditions in the San Joaquin Valley where Fresno is the main city. They have upwards of 38% unemployment there. Vast acreage stretching over the horizon is lying unused where, until a couple of years ago, farmers each grew as many as a dozen kinds of vegetables. (I wonder if this is reducing the number of illegals coming across the border from Mexico to work in the fields.) Most of the farmers are getting no more than 10% of the amount of water they used to get from the aqueduct that brings water down from rivers that flow into the bay area east of San Francisco. Some farmers mix ground water with the better quality aquifer water, but it is scarce and salty. All farmers who haven't already gone out of business have had to cut way back on the acreage they use.

What is most alarming is that California supplies as much as 95% of many of the vegetable and fruit crops used in the United States. If produce in markets seem to be getting higher in price, one of the reasons is that it is costing a lot more to produce them and they getting much scarcer all the time.

So my daughter and I are making preparations to have a garden here at our new home. The weather is milder than what we had up in the mountains. People tell me that there is never any snow or even frost here. We had both back up at 4,000 feet in the mountains. (Read my article about the tree that fell on my trailer from the weight of the snow.) We think we will keep year round plantings of kitchen garden crops growing in off-the-ground containers to keep critters out and to save water. Our water comes from a well and doesn’t have very good water pressure, but it sure beats paying the increasingly high-priced metered water down the hill in the city.

So, the depression or recession isn’t all the fault of those bums on Wall Street. The weather is another serious cause. I wonder how bad things will get?