We are in the worse drought sine the 30’s. Pastures are becoming barren and fields have very little growth. This past week we got some moisture but all it did was help to make spit balls. The farmers and ranchers care for the land but there is very little they can do to control mother nature. When it dries up and the wind blows, the dust will roll.
I have seen dirty brown snow and black muddy drifts out across the land. Dust has boiled off fields, reaching sky ward, farmers have been plowing fields to stop the dirt from leaving and ranchers are selling off their stock.
Yet the relentless wind boils over the land.
Blow dirt drifts along the fence lines, covering the land in a fine grit. Water rolls off the dirt, draining away. Fields do not recover from the damage in a year or two. Tumble weeds will sprout, sucking more moisture from the earth. It will be a barren land for a time to come.
Yet like their ancestors, many will hang on and go about business, trying to get a living from the land.
In the middle of these howling dust storms are small oasis. Water ponds that help wildlife survive.
3 comments:
OH man. I know there is continued drought in much of that area. We had one too until 4 years ago where now we can't stop getting rain.
I know these times come and go in history, but it doesn't make it any easier on the rancher, the farmer, those with the stewardship of the land.
Keeping you in my prayers, and hoping for rain.
No dust bowl for us fortunately. I thought it was looking to be another very dry year but we did get some rain and this weather stretches for several days. It remains to be seen what the summer will hold.
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