Edible Wood Farm Journal: 2018 (18)
Water forbidden
No more water. Forbidden. Started this week. Immediately. The use of ground water for agricultural or other purposes is no longer possible. Drought. The Netherlands, the land of water and built on top of water, is in the middle of an unimaginable drought.
Green
A shortage of precipitation and consistent high temperatures has turned many typical evergreen meadows of the Netherlands into parched yellow praries. Images of my childhood summers in Australia came to mind: endless arid fields combined with everyone being hot and tired. My subconscious was continually longing for the colour green to dominate the countryside again. Life.
Fragile
The Edible Wood Farm is situated in a landscape in the east of the country that is designated as fragile and protected. Lowering the water level any further would probably damage this protected area irrevocably. There was no ban (yet) in other parts of the country but everyone has been urged to use water wisely.
Summer crisis
The consequences of the water ban had turned my period of summer slumber into a period of unexpected summer activity. Until last week I was spraying the logs a couple of times a week to prevent them from drying out. The level of humidity was sufficient and I was content. An edible log without moisture is like a cushion without a filling. Result – no sellable logs and no income. Give up? No way. If it is not possible to bring the water to the logs, the logs will be brought to the water.
