the world in a drop of rain

When you live on a farm, avoiding the rain is not an option.

The animals eat even when it's raining. There are plants to tend even in a downpour. We are appropriately 'kitted up' with boots, high tech jackets, hats, gloves, goggles, military-grade socks, flashlights, you name it.

"Time and the river," said writer (and Asheville homeboy) Thomas Wolfe, "wait for no one."

True enough.

Now that tomato season is behind us, we're planning for the next one, a process that includes the installation of two 2,500 gallon rain catchment tanks, pictured below. There are times when I wonder what we've gotten ourselves into--the real country as opposed to the stylized Ralph Lauren country--more out on the wet than lounging by the fire.

Note the installation of these tanks including bringing them over a bank via a series of ropes, and dragging them into place we had graded for them in a small tractor.

The end result will be water savings and more sustainability.

Even the new buck, Cicero, seems to approve.

Y'all have a happy weekend.