Monday, June 15, 2020

Liz Writes Life 6-17-2020


June 17, 2020

Liz Writes Life

Folks have been letting me know how their gardens are doing. One friend was expecting to pick his first zucchini and another emailed a huge list of fruit trees, berry plants, perennial and annual garden vegetables growing in the couple’s garden. Everyone has different ways of gardening. I say whatever works for you is great. But, I have decided one thing – it does take consistent work. And, maybe, more work than we planned on. Yep!

Some irrigation systems with timers, mulching, and raised beds can certainly reduce the time spent in the garden, but the plants must still be checked on every day or two. There are threats of irrigation systems getting plugged, insects that attack, weeding and the need for extra fertilizer.

When my dad worked the ranch, when I was a kid, I recall that every evening he spent time out in the garden, as the sun was going down, weeding, digging around the plants and re-furrowing for irrigation water to flow down the rows. Mom usually worked in it each morning. She was the picker and canner.

For quite a few years, I have not had much problem with gophers or moles digging tunnels. But this spring they are raising havoc. One of the small cucumber plants succumbed to the loose soil, before I found it. Then, I barely saved a two-leaved cantaloupe in time. I try to mash-down the tunnels as quickly as possible and even run a bunch of water down the hole with the hose.

Luckily, Monday morning I walked out onto the porch in time to see one of my old arthritic cats eating on a mole. What a good kitty!
Want to mention the lettuce has bolted and gone to seed. It is about two-feet tall. I will chop it up and put it back down on that row as mulch. With the heat coming this weekend, I better harvest the few spinach plants that are left. The onions starts have doubled in size to four-inches, but are still too tender to transplant. I fertilized last week with Hawaiian Bud and Bloom. The cucumbers look happier. I also started staking-up the six tomato plants that are well-over a foot tall with some blooms. The peas are producing, so I am making stir-fry for dinner.

Klamath Project

The saga of the government taking away legal water right allocations to 1,200 farmers in the government-encouraged Klamath Project continues. I attended many meetings in 2001 and reported (for a Fort Jones newspaper) on the entire shut-off of water to Klamath Project farmers and saw first-hand the fraudulent government scientific information that was used to justify the taking of irrigation water. It was excruciatingly sad, humiliating and down-right wrong.

But, believe it or not, this year is even worse because the Klamath Project farmers were told by federal agencies they would receive at least some water – but less than half their legal amount. Most farmers obtain loans to plant their crops, so they plan accordingly. Now, their crops are in the ground and growing. But, last month, federal agencies said the project’s water allotments would be reduced – again – meaning no water for July, August and September.

A rally called “Shut down and Fed Up” was held on May 29, 2020 with more than 2,000 people showing-up with tractors, log trucks, hay trucks, pick-ups and cars rolling from Merrill, OR. into Klamath Falls, OR. and down through the basin to Midland, OR. It was over 20 miles long.
In 2001, well-over 15,000 supporters showed-up to the Bucket Brigade Rally held on May 7th. I, and many Siskiyou Co. agriculturists, attended. It was quite the peaceful rally.

The fight continues to be about water needed for the sucker fish that are listed with the Endangered Species Act. Drought adds to the lack of water. This is where the government’s science has caused this huge problem. It has been proven the modeling and science to improve the suckers’ numbers is wrong, yet the federal bureaucrats turn a blind eye.

Last Thursday, June 11, 2020, a huge pulse of water was released from the Upper Klamath Lake down the Klamath River with the expectation of flushing out a parasite that can harm salmon – not the suckers. This pulse was so large that it caused flooding. The pulse was ramped-up for at least five days taking the legally-stored water, which is the legal water-right to the Klamath Project farmers. Such a waste! So this is creating another federal government-made drought, which will destroy food and farmers. Why?

Our Dist. 1 Congressman, Doug LaMalfa, has been seriously engaged with other Oregon and California elected-officials, including our Siskiyou Co. supervisors, to pressure the federal bureaucrats and get the legal water back to the farmers. It is a mountainous job. LaMalfa drove a tractor in the May 29th rally. He and his staff have been attending meetings and explaining the dire situation with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.

Of the situation, LaMalfa said: “With the current uncertainly to our nation’s food supply chain because of COVID-19, Klamath Basin farmers play a key role in producing for their market share of our nation’s food supply. They’ve worked for generations to supply this country with their unique crops. The federal government has, in this last-minute water grab, created its own unnecessary disaster that threatens the entire Klamath Basin’s 2020 crop year – its prosperity and way of life – only compounding the ability to keep healthy food on our nation’s supermarket shelves. Farmers typically contend with the possibility of poor weather and crop prices in a given crop years, but this year, atrocious forecasting and a mind-boggling eleventh-hour water cut by federal bureaucrats have caused potential for the greatest calamity the Basin has ever seen.”

The project farmers cultivate 210,000 acres of wheat, barley, alfalfa, potatoes, onions, horseradish, sugar beets and other crops. Hypocrisy and this destruction to farmers does not bode well for the health and well-being of the United States’ people.

Next week, I will explain some history of this government-made farming area, which is, ironically, under-siege by that same government.

Liz Bowen began writing ranch and farm news, published in newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County and lives near Callahan. Columns from the past year can be found at: lizwriteslife.blogspot.com. Call her at 530-467-3515.

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