The Refuge Permaculture Center

Nature is so elegant, so well-fit. Light rain, light snow, falls from above and drips from the edges of the plant – the drip line. Water from above is immensely important. Root growth matches the drip line and mirrors the reach of the limbs, stems, leaves. The water collects nutrients from the leaves – dust of soil, bird and bug droppings, tiny dead bodies, full of nitrogen and nutrients – down into the soil below. The moisture underground keeps the roots warm and moist – think soaker hoses and drip systems – but it does not provide that which water from above provides. So bend down (gentle deep knee bends moves the blood and lymph systems in good ways) and check the moisture under the plants. Take a pinch of soil. If it sticks together, you can wait. If it falls apart or will not stay in a pinch, take the time, the quiet, the refuge of standing with the hose and the water wand on “shower” and sprinkle the plants from above. As rainwater is best so use rainwater…and condensation and melting snow, all that, by gravity are provided in such precious, limited amounts in this steppe, sagebrush environment. A very basic, very simplistic formula: 1″ of rain on 1000 square feet of roof = 600 gallons of life. Metal roof is cleaner and better transport than composite roof. Composite is made of petroleum products. Tiles are porous and can release chemicals or minerals. Seamless gutters are best. Downspouts into potable water tanks. Simple hoses or drains leading to gardens, windbreaks, hedges, food-forests. In one rainstorm 200 gallons were collected…200 gallons easily watered the nursery when things began to dry out three days later.Two hundred gallons less from the treatment plant at the river.
Stand in the quiet, the green peaking out of last years branches and stems. Listen to the water; enjoy the light blow-back of the spray; watch the life return. Not mastery; but stewardship. Try not to struggle.
Work with; learn from; let go.