Happy Valley Pride: March 11, 2009

I attended the Small Farm Conference this past week and came back with a lot of information that I hope to share with you in the coming weeks. Of course, the drought was on everyone's mind so I will be passing some of this information on.

Here are some of the Web sites you can go to and get started. Drought Management - Crop Irrigation Strategies and Irrigation Scheduling - Crop Deficit Strategies http://ucmanagedrought.ucdavis.edu/index.cfm

Save Water with efficient systems and healthy plants http://wwwnrcs.usda.gov/feature/backyard/watercon.html

Irrigation: when and how much? Meet crop requirements while conserving water ftp://ftpfc.sc.egov.usda.gov/CA/news/Publications/conservation/irrigation.pdf

and Water efficient landscaping ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/CA/news/Publications/conservation/landscaping.fdf.

Plans are in the works to have a drought page on Clear Creek Community Service District's Web page www.clearcreekcsd.com, which is not available at this time. I will let you know when we have it set up.

You don't have e-mail? In the next two weeks I plan to make the above publications available at the water district's library. If you did not make the drought meeting on March 4, we gave hand-outs on 100 tips to save water, how to read your meter, addresses of our elected officials and bullet points so you can write a letter to these representatives. They are all available at the water company.

Mark you calendars for March 19 when The Happy Valley Farm Trail has invited Woods Irrigation to come and give us the latest innovations in irrigation. Our meeting starts at 7 p.m. at the Happy Valley Community Center, 5400 Happy Valley Road. This meeting is open to all residents, so plan to attend.

I want to thank you for your prayers for rain, but keep it up. We still need lots more. Our reservoirs are coming up, but they are a long way from being full. Keep positive thoughts. If we work together, we will survive.

God bless your week and do a good deed every day.