no irrigation

so it is still spring,

and just rained quite a bit,
so I declare that the drought is over, but others may not agree...

the grain crop is doing well and seems like it only has to dry now, but maybe it has more growing to do now that it rained

this is the pastella and it seems very happy

this is the sprouting zucca melon, and it was not till I looked at this picture that I saw the other one just sprouting on the right side of the picture

this is my apple tree, it is growing fast and straight

this is where I grew the onions last year,
look at the strip of mostly bare dirt to the left side,
that is where I did not add organic matter to the soil, and that green patch to the right is where I tilled in a bale of straw...

here is the sugar pea patch !

this is the first and largest pea, and I hope to save seeds form it

and there are more peas growing

here is a mountain yam, it managed to get over a foot tall before I noticed it growing,
I have 2 out of 10 left still growing, and hope one reproduces soon.

I failed to take pictures of the potatoes that are ready to harvest,
and of the apricot trees( by the way they are doing very well )
and all of it was grown with no irrigation at all,
the winter is plenty wet enough to grow things with no irrigation around here
the trick of mixing organic matter into the soil to get the ground to hold more water got the peas and potatoes through months of no rain,
and that means that I don't need hoses,
and I don't need the well pump,
and all the pipes out to the garden plots,
and to go out watering all the time, 
next winter I will be growing lots of grain in the isolated areas,

now the summer garden that I will have to water has been planted,
and I will have to water it,
but it is just not that big this year,
so far I planted the best squash seeds from last year, a hulless seeded squash, peanuts, sorghum, black eyed peas, basil, cucumbers, and more to get planted later (like rice tomorrow, 2 types)

on another note,
my laptop is not having it's hard drive start to fail, and it is the only thing that can read my camera SD card,
so I either have no more pictures, or I get a smaller SD card that my other computers can read (I have one in an old camera that I might find at some point),
or I replace the hard drive...

I knew the day would show up that my hardware started to break,
but at least it is not a needed farm hardware item,
or a radio I talk on all the time,
sad it is messing up, but not sure need to fix it,

now time to get back to my kombucha tea making,
and I am going to try making miso out of chickpeas,
I got some at the store and want my own now
glad I have this book
http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Fermentation-Flavor-Nutrition-Live-Culture/dp/1931498237
I keep making things out of it

cooking is my new fascination,
and trying to get clean water I can drink.