Dear CSA Members,
The big news this week is the rain. It’s really good for our trees, soil, and winter veggies. We’ve gotten maybe a 1/4 inch total rainfall these last two days, but more importantly, California is getting snow in the Sierras. In the big picture, this is very important for Frog Hollow Farm for the 2016 irrigation/growing season.
That is because we get our summer irrigation water from Byron- Bethany Irrigation District (BBID), which gets it water from the Sierra run-off water as it flows to the Clifton Fore bay here in the delta. BBID is part of the vast network of dams, reservoirs, canals, pipelines, pumps, and ditches which make up the California Agricultural water system. It is one of the largest water systems in the world, and is the lifeblood not only of California Agriculture but of industry, municipal, recreational, and residential uses as well.
BBID is uniquely positioned, in a legal way. We BBID farmers, have so-called “pre 1914” rights to water from this statewide system, which historically have protected us from curtailments issued by the DWR (Department of Water Resources) during all previous droughts.
However, this last season, the state issued its higher authority and challenged those pre- 1914 riparian rights by curtailing our water anyway. BBID is now in court to overthrow this arbitrary, illegal action by the DWR. The decision is to be determined by the court, who knows when. Certainly, the best solution to this grave threat to our food supply is rain, enough to fill up all the hundreds of reservoirs and snow to cover the mountains.
We’ve done a lot of work here at Frog Hollow Farm to prepare for rain. Last year in December, we did get a storm which dumped a significant amount at once, so much that it flooded four acres of apple and pear
trees next to Highway 4, and also our farm worker housing area, also next to the Highway. So this year our crews have spent lots of time clearing all the drainages along Highway 4 of our own property and of our neighbors who own land in our drainage corridor.
This year, we’re ready and we want those torrential winter and spring rains; bring it on El Nino!
Eagerly,