welcome to the organic green doctor blog

i am a family physician who was diagnosed with
early mild cognitive impairment(mci) amnestic type on december 21, 2010
this is a precursor to alzheimers disease
because of this diagnosis i have opted to stop practicing medicine
this blog will be about my journey with this disease
please feel free to follow me along this path
i will continue blogging on organic gardening, green living,
solar power, rainwater collection, and healthy living
i will blog on these plus other things noted to be interesting

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

its not everywhere

ITS NOT EVERYWHERE
it seems that our climate does a poor job of distributing water
for us to access

like those awful storms that went through arkansas this weekend
fast terrible storms with lots of rain then leaving their paths of
destruction
water is good for us to receive but not when its distributed that way

our thoughts are with those folks


then this last few months around here when the climate dumped 12 inches
on the austin area twice on separate weekends
causing its own destruction with its flooding and drownings that go with it

cruel it is as it made worse our water situation when it didnt fall on the
tributaries to all our lakes and aquifers that provide the water sources
for all the cities around here

and even more cruel here at the country n since very little rain has fallen
here since last early november

we can see it in our wildflowers
they are not as plentiful and they look like charley brown christmas trees
compared to what they look like in previous years
and
compared to some of the areas just a few miles from here where
there has been more rain

our lake levels here are down and the aquifer levels are down to
concerning levels since this should be our rainy season and
since we are about to reach in a month our hot dry time of the year

more severe water restrictions are about to be put in place
im afraid a lot of people will be losing their lawns and plants
this year

one town near here has gotten more aggressive
on new builds
there are restrictions on the size of the lawn
the type of grass you can plant
6 inches of topsoil has to be provided if grass is to be planted
more water restrictions are expected as things worsen

their water source is the river that runs near the country n
water on our acreage flows towards and into the river
we havent been giving them much recently

we of course catch water off anything that has a roof on
our property
we have a lot of berms and increased vegetation that slows the
flow down to the river so it soaks into our property
another form of xericscaping










so this last weekend i went out to check my aquifers
whats happening in mine is whats happening in theirs
its just my aquifers are more visible
yes im talking about my rainwater tanks
all 22 of them
excessive huh

i was saddened when i checked the levels in my tanks
we seem to be down to about 25% of our capacity
which like all the cities around here
is scary as we are headed into our dry season

im sad to say we may have water purchasing in our future
if it doesnt rain

cities cant really do that can they
they would have to buy it from somewhere that doesnt exist

so here we are on severe water restrictions
but that doesnt affect us that much since we already operate
that way

the techniques we use here can be used anywhere
well maybe except for one
you might get a ticket for that one

we plant only native xeric plants that gets no supplemental watering
we have no grass that we care for
although we have 10 acres of pasture land with grass on it

we reuse our gray water from the washing machine from showers
from our sink when we hand wash our dishes and rinse them
saving the rinse water for our edible plants
the first water you run when you take a shower
that stuff that goes down the drain
its pure water and can be used on edible plants
the other gray water is used on the landscape

we turn the water off when we brush our teeth or
when we shave

we take quick but effective showers

we use drip irrigation to our vegetable garden which is covered
thickly with mulch the leaves you folks have given me
which keeps the ground from drying so fast
that anthill garden bed method also helps to hold the water in

im afraid if in the future if you and the folks who live in the cities
around here dont adopt what we are doing here at the country n
that this area is going to be in trouble
as the scarcity of water continues

dont wait until the levels are dropped severely
thats called crisis management

there needs to management before the crisis hits

make people and encourage people to conserve now

just ask those folks in california how important all this is
as they run out of water there

yes its not everywhere
not anymore

lets save what we got

the organicgreen doctor


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