Weather, and Whither to Homestead
If you've been reading this blog, you know that this is my first year in New Mexico and I'm still learning the cycle of the year here and what it means for gardening.
I've learned a lot this past week. This was the week where I first saw buds and flowers on the cacti. There's one type of cactus (Hedgehog or Claretcup, according to M.) that has bright red flowers beginning to open. I've seen the makings of flowers emerging from the Chollas, and the Prickly Pears have buds beginning to emerge. I've been watching carefully for weeks now for signs of flower buds, and it's as if suddenly the flowers and buds just appeared overnight. Our apple tree is also now budding. And the day before yesterday, the first hummingbird appeared on the front porch, checking out the potted pansies. Yesterday, we put up the feeders for them. I can't tell if there's only a single one who keeps coming back to the feeder or if there are multiple ones--so far, I've only seen one at a time. Last summer, we could count more than twelve at a given time hovering around a single feeder.
The weather seemed pretty hot too and I've been looking for rattlesnakes during our walks. None yet. Today, Siris got the second shot in the two-part rattlesnake vaccine series. We've been discussing the possibility of taking him to a trainer; there are people who train dogs to detect and avoid rattlesnakes. From what I understand they use the shock collars to create an association in the dog's mind between the presence of the snake and a mild shock. I'd prefer not to use this form of training, but given his blindness and the amount of time we spend outside hiking in the habitat of rattlesnakes, I may decide that it's worth it. It could save his life.
Today, it snowed briefly and I can see the snow coming down on the not-too-distant hills. It's very grey, and we've actually started a fire in the wood stove, the first one we've needed in several weeks.
As I said, it's been pretty warm during the days, we've been in the upper 70s. However, the winds have been pretty constant. I put my seedlings outside the other day for a few hours before I realized the danger of sun and wind burn. I can see that their leaves have been damaged. I hope they make it.
My garlic is doing great, but there have been few signs of life from the onion starts I put in the ground last fall. Similarly, the lettuce seeds I planted over a week ago have not shown any signs of germinating. It's impossible to keep the soil damp for long at all, given the intensity of the sun and the ever-present wind. Today I bought some more onion starts as well as some peas from the hardware store. I'm worried that the peas won't amount to anything; our last frost date is the middle of May, so I hesitate to put them in the ground now. But I don't know that even if I plant them now, they'll have time to produce before it gets to hot for them.
The lack of water, the wind, the lack of organic matter in the soil, and the research I've done about drought conditions in the Southwest have me seriously doubting the desirability and sustainability of homesteading in here. According to the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center, our area is already under Extreme/Exceptional Drought Conditions this spring, and their prediction is that these conditions will continue or worsen this season (http://www.droughtmonitor.unl.edu/).
Additionally, we know that the southwest has gone through repeated periods of extended drought historically, with drought periods as long as fifty years. Climate change scientists are also predicting that, due to climate change, temperatures in the Southwest will continue to rise, precipitation will decrease, and drought conditions will worsen, leading to increasing problems with water shortages and environmental stress.
On a whim the other day, I switched my online searches for homesteading land from New Mexico and Colorado to Maine. I found that prices for land are comparable, if not better there, and it's often the case that the pieces of property have streams or ponds on them. Some land is within walking or very short driving distance to the ocean. I also have family on the coast of Maine, I've spent quite a bit of time there, and I grew up on a homestead in New Hampshire so I'm familiar with the weather and the culture. There's an abundance of game, fish, and wild edible plants. There are downsides as well--I hate black and deer flies, and mosquitoes suck. The winters are long, which I wouldn't mind, but my mother would hate. Some areas are pretty bleak, in more than one sense. And I'm loving New Mexico, and I know M. does, too.
But now I'm not so sure about what the best thing to do is. I know I'd like to stay here through the summer and work with the gardening conditions that I have. But it may be that the best thing to do is to move where the environment is more suited to supporting a homestead.
At the same time, the livestock store has chicks and the hardware store has asparagus and horseradish roots ready to plant, and I really want to get started implementing some of my longer term plans....
 |
| Hedgehog Cactus Flower |
 |
| Hummingbird on laundry line, outside the dining room window |
Today, it snowed briefly and I can see the snow coming down on the not-too-distant hills. It's very grey, and we've actually started a fire in the wood stove, the first one we've needed in several weeks.
As I said, it's been pretty warm during the days, we've been in the upper 70s. However, the winds have been pretty constant. I put my seedlings outside the other day for a few hours before I realized the danger of sun and wind burn. I can see that their leaves have been damaged. I hope they make it.
My garlic is doing great, but there have been few signs of life from the onion starts I put in the ground last fall. Similarly, the lettuce seeds I planted over a week ago have not shown any signs of germinating. It's impossible to keep the soil damp for long at all, given the intensity of the sun and the ever-present wind. Today I bought some more onion starts as well as some peas from the hardware store. I'm worried that the peas won't amount to anything; our last frost date is the middle of May, so I hesitate to put them in the ground now. But I don't know that even if I plant them now, they'll have time to produce before it gets to hot for them.
The lack of water, the wind, the lack of organic matter in the soil, and the research I've done about drought conditions in the Southwest have me seriously doubting the desirability and sustainability of homesteading in here. According to the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center, our area is already under Extreme/Exceptional Drought Conditions this spring, and their prediction is that these conditions will continue or worsen this season (http://www.droughtmonitor.unl.edu/).
Additionally, we know that the southwest has gone through repeated periods of extended drought historically, with drought periods as long as fifty years. Climate change scientists are also predicting that, due to climate change, temperatures in the Southwest will continue to rise, precipitation will decrease, and drought conditions will worsen, leading to increasing problems with water shortages and environmental stress.
On a whim the other day, I switched my online searches for homesteading land from New Mexico and Colorado to Maine. I found that prices for land are comparable, if not better there, and it's often the case that the pieces of property have streams or ponds on them. Some land is within walking or very short driving distance to the ocean. I also have family on the coast of Maine, I've spent quite a bit of time there, and I grew up on a homestead in New Hampshire so I'm familiar with the weather and the culture. There's an abundance of game, fish, and wild edible plants. There are downsides as well--I hate black and deer flies, and mosquitoes suck. The winters are long, which I wouldn't mind, but my mother would hate. Some areas are pretty bleak, in more than one sense. And I'm loving New Mexico, and I know M. does, too.But now I'm not so sure about what the best thing to do is. I know I'd like to stay here through the summer and work with the gardening conditions that I have. But it may be that the best thing to do is to move where the environment is more suited to supporting a homestead.
At the same time, the livestock store has chicks and the hardware store has asparagus and horseradish roots ready to plant, and I really want to get started implementing some of my longer term plans....
Comments
Post a Comment