But our pond is nevertheless the sine qua non of our organic farming activities. Plainly put – no water, no veggies. Last summer we had more rain than we wished for, but as Mother Nature offers no guarantees – who’s to say that this summer won’t be a dry one?
Fortunately, our pond is an established one. It served as a watering hole for cows when the farm was a dairy farm, more than a generation ago. As best we can tell, no ‘pond maintenance’ had been done in more than 30 years. So this spring we seized the opportunity to nearly double its capacity as we cleaned it out.
In organic farming, plants are often watered through drip irrigation systems with tubing running along the rows which allows for efficient and effective use of water. Our ‘new and improved’ pond should meet our irrigation needs for the foreseeable future.
Cleaning out a pond is a dirty job – but nature will take its course (with a helping hand) and by summer’s end, our pond should be (almost) Walden-esque again.