When I was around 19, I went to the Gambia, West Africa, as part of an education course at Dalhousie. At the time, the eastern end of the country was experiencing desertification. It is a process where the trees are cut down for firewood, the goats eat any vegetation left, and the water table drops. Women had to walk longer and longer distances to get water, and firewood. Wells were going dry. I was there in the dry season. It was a stark experience, and ever since, I have been very aware of water use and supply.

The former owners of this farm told me that the 8 foot deep well here is spring fed, with soft water. Many people from the area would come here to get water. We are very fortunate to have a good water supply, but we have to be careful. During my 30 years on this farm, there have been several very dry years. In 2016 there was a drought that reduced our level of production. That fall we decided to dig a deeper well so that we would have a more reliable water supply for washing produce and our household use.

Digging a well is stressful! Where do you put it and how deep will you have to go before hitting water?? Also, every foot of drilling costs more. The driller went down 100 feet. He looks at us and says, keep going? At 200 feet, still no water. Keep going? I think at 220 feet, he hit water. Luckily, because of the drought, there was a subsidy to help with the cost of well drilling.

Because it has been dry lately, and there are 10 people living on the farm, David is running a new line to use water from our pond to irrigate our greenhouses. The little 8-foot deep well couldn’t handle it. He was so happy to use the tractor forks for the trench instead of digging it by hand.