I'll Probably Regret it

The Watering Hole

It hasn't rained on the homestead in 3 weeks.  The grass is getting parched.  Here we are a week into June and I've only mowed the yard one time.  The lawn mower has cobwebs on it.  I'd be pulling your leg if I told you that it was only the drought that's kept me from mowing - it's not only the drought.  Each spring I have a little competition to see how long I can go without mowing.  I put up temporary fencing and let the cows cycle through the yard several times.  They do an adequate job of mowing.  My new excuse for not mowing is our honeybees.  Why would I want to chop up all the white dutch clover and other flowers that the pollinators love?  

The photo at the head of this article shows our water trough.  It's really a repurposed molasses tub that I have fitted with a float valve.  It holds about 35 gallons.  Two cows can fit their heads in at one time to drink.  The others must patiently wait their turn.  Do you remember waiting in line to drink from the water hose after a backyard football game?  You'd be so thirsty!  But you would have to let the hose run for a minute until it got cold.  That's the general idea of the water trough.

If you look at the picture, there is shade over the water.  It is peaceful.  A veritable oasis in an otherwise arid land.  If I was of the bovine persuasion, I'd stand there and swish my tail, chew my cud, and take long slow sips of clear water to wash down the fermented grass I was chewing on.  The water hole is a sacred spot.  When cows are drinking, I never want to disturb them or rush them.  Lots of important things happen by the 'well.'  In the Bible, the woman at the well experienced a life changing event.  She found living water at that well and never thirsted again.

You'll notice the nice shade over the blue tub of water.  It wasn't always there.  I am big on planting trees.  A fox squirrel buried a pecan one year and forgot where he buried it in our yard.  It grew.  I transplanted it in a pot and then planted it at the corner of the pasture and the garden.  Now that I think about it, I didn't think that all the way through.  The tree has grown.  It does cast nice shade over the water hole.  There are some downsides, though.  The tree will send out roots that will compete with the vegetables for rainwater.  The shade will, later on, cast shade over the garden, blocking out sunlight.  

I'll probably regret it.  But at the same time, the cows enjoy the shade.

“A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.” — Greek Proverb