The Drought

As luck would have it, our first summer at the farm also coincided with the worst ever drought on record for the area. We last saw rain mid-June and then not a drop until last week of August. We had to get very creative to save our newly planted trees and vineyards, as the severe drought conditions and subsequent wildfires wreaked havoc on plantations that had been around for generations.

Let me just say that watering the vineyards is hard work, more than you would think, since we do not have an easy way to do it. Since we live in Galicia, normally a temperate summer climate, we depend on the rain for our crops, therefore farms do not have irrigation systems like you would see in drier regions.

Luckily, we got a new toy, a UTV, at the start of summer to take fun rides around the mountain trails near the manor. However, we ended up repurposing it for more important matters. We rigged a 300 gallon water crate on Traxi (yes we named our UTV) so we could water each individual little vine one at a time, I think you can imagine how much work that is, but just for reference, we worked nearly four hours just to water the vineyards alone.

Obviously we need to consider some sort of irrigation system for rare occasions like this summer where droughts decide to have a go at our crops. We are thinking of drilling a well near the vineyards and apple orchard and creating a large pond that we could use to both irrigate and provide a nice watering hole for future farm animals. In the meantime, we will continue to be hard at work in the fields, keeping our farm going one plant, vine and sapling at a time.

Farm life isn’t always as nice as you would think, but it is so worth it when we get to see (and eat and drink) the results of all our efforts. One day we look forward to enjoying a fabulous Galician sunset, sipping our spiced cider and wine while laughing and reminiscing about that first summer learning farm life the hard way.