A Little Rain

 I was going to call this post "Drought" for we have been in an awful drought here in eastern Iowa for the past month. But last night we got a little rain, and though it was a tiny amount, it was enough to make a difference. When I walked out this morning, even though the ground was dry and the sun was still hot, there was an amazing vitality to the world that had been missing before the rain. In a drought, everything pulls inward, shrinking down to preserve what little moisture it still has. Plants have switched to preservation mode, in crisis, holding on. We have been watering our gardens here at Prairie Hill, but it's just enough to keep things alive. And it also has been uncharacteristically hot for the past weeks, temperatures in the 90's. That's the kind of weather we sometimes get in August, but for it to be that hot in May is unusual. It's just when things are coming out of their winter's hibernation, a time for quick growth and expansion. This year I've noticed perennials like echinacea, which usually are pretty resilient, curling up and drying out in these stressful conditions. I'm hoping that their roots are protected enough that once it does rain more, they'll be able to recover. 

I've heard before that there is more than moisture in a thunderstorm. There is an energy field carried by the storm that has a profound effect on living things. I've been fascinated by that theory but I hadn't really witnessed it until today. There was indeed a thunder storm yesterday evening, and though it delivered just a bit of rain, this morning there was an amazing difference in the landscape outside my house. It was as if the world had opened up in the night. There was a vitality and a humming in the air, not audible but felt. I couldn't explain it by the bit of water that had come down. It was bigger than that. And it was exciting to witness. Everything was more alive, pulsing with energy. I imagine this affects us all, even though we've had enough water to drink from our faucets. Our spirits get raised by the relief in the natural world around us, the opening up of closed-off energy.

For the past several years, we've had episodes of drought here in the midwest and it's never a happy thing. Whether you're a farmer or a gardener, extreme dry periods really mess with your planted crops. Even though the TV weather report celebrates sunny weather, the truth is that rain is of enormous importance not only to us humans but to the whole ecosystem. That should be obvious. What is not yet obvious, but what is inevitably coming down the road, is that we will be experiencing more and more drought in the future. Heat makes drought worse, for the soil loses its moisture to the hot air currents. Wind exacerbates this even more. And it is clear that our planetary temperatures are rising. I remember when scientists began talking about the possibility of climate change, it was thought that we had lots of time before much happened. But climate change is happening much quicker than anyone predicted, and even the die-hard deniers who claim that it is all something made up by the liberals are having to consider revising their opinions. It is clear that we need to start learning about drought and about the measures we can take to mitigate it when it appears.

Most of us are used to relatively dependable rainfall in our ecozones. But if we look at the wider planet, we realize we have been lucky compared to many places. Over the course of history, prolonged droughts have caused mass migrations and much human suffering. In some parts of Africa and other places, there are yearly periods of drought, and wildlife migrate to follow water availability. There have been instances of 10-year droughts and even 50-year droughts. And it is predicted by some that by 2100, 1/3 of the earth's surface will be plagued by drought. Not a happy thought!

Assuming that drought is in our future, it's time to think about how to best deal with it when it comes. Preserving moisture in the soil can be helped by mulching around trees or other plants. You can catch rain in rain barrels to be used for watering gardens. We can be more careful about household water use, and saving dishwater and bathwater to be used outside for irrigation. People who have lived in drier places than Iowa already have adjusted their lives to be more conservation conscious about water. We'll need to open our minds and plan innovative ways to protect and preserve our water resources.

On the other hand, we could just do a Rain Dance! That's not entirely a joke. Years ago I read a book by Doug Boyd about a Native American medicine man, Rolling Thunder. The author wanted to learn as much as he could about Rolling Thunder's philosophy, lifestyle, activities, rituals. And one day during a drought while they were out in nature, Rolling Thunder demonstrated how to bring rain. What I remember from the book is that this involved finding a certain small bug (I visualize it as a "stink bug" but I can't really remember what kind of bug it was.). Rolling Thunder's ritual involved using this bug, with whatever chant or prayer he said, to bring rain. And within a few minutes, from a cloudless sky appeared a downpour of rain! Amazing to us, but maybe not to medicine men or women. Having a close relationship with the energies of Nature might permit one to respectfully request something like a rainstorm. It's something to think about......