I know, a drought is not what anyone would think of in relation to Ireland. Having had the longest, wettest Winter anyone can remember, we had about a week of Spring, then straight to Summer.
Not just any old Summer though.
The temperatures have been crazy. Many days here in Tipperary have been over 30 degrees Celsius. It was lovely to have that beautiful sunshine, and to be able to just pull on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.
Weeks into it and things are looking very serious.
There is a ‘hose’ ban in place for the entire country until at least the end of July.
We are so very glad we stuck with the plan and maintained our own well.
We, thankfully, have sufficient water.
You’d be astonished at how much water hens and ducks drink. Pigs need water to drink but also to wallow. Pigs roll in wet mud to protect themselves from the sun – pig sunscreen!
Our 1,000 litre rain barrel is almost empty, but we have 2 smaller ones on standby.
We’ve watched our neighbours hauling 10+ tonnes of water for their cattle every day! They are pumping water from a stream/spring to supplement their mains supply. Can you imagine the effort involved in that? Can you imagine the extra costs they are incurring?
The grass isn’t growing, and is in fact parched.
Our soft fruits harvest is way down on previous years. Last year I harvested 6 lbs of raspberries in one day. This year I’ve only managed to get 2 lbs over the past week!
In conversations recently with city folk, there does seem to be a complete disconnect to just how critical water is to our food supply. Plants and animals need both sunshine and water to survive.
I am no economist, but I would suggest that fruit and vegetables, in fact all food is going to increase in price, and is going to be in short supply – both for animals and for humans.
Worrying times ahead.
A Year In Redwood 
And in Central Minnesota, we are having the wettest summer we can recall. Rivers are out of banks for days and even weeks now. Rain seems to fall every 2 or 3 days. The corn farmers are looking at huge crops. But we need to dry out a little. Mud everywhere. Of course the 10,000+ lakes are full. Have had hot days as well, but not for more than a couple of days. Not complaining, mind you, just offering a comparison of different places and current conditions.
Hi Mike and Mary,
Vegetable farmers are looking at completely destroyed crops here! We have rain today…. first in over a month. Thankfully it is falling at a slow and steady pace so might do some good. Today is St. Swithan’s day… and the saying goes that if it rains today it will rain for 40 days and nights… I hope not, but we do need quite a bit to get back to ‘normal’ levels.
Margaret
Sorry to hear about the drought you are having Margaret, we had a bad one last year and it is sad to see. Here in the states in southern Iowa and much of the country it has been one of the hottest summers on record with many days 90 F or more. In the month of May we had 5 days that had 90F or higher temperatures and I had never seen that before. Just an hour north of us they have had some of the most rains they have had in many years with lots of flooding but for us we have had just barley enough to keep us from a hard drought. We now have not had any rain here in this whole month of July and looks like we are headed for another drought as well.
Gordon,
So many changes to climates all over the world. We have rain this morning… first since 19th June… that is unheard of in Ireland, where a week without rain is a odd. Hope you have enough water for the orchard.
Margaret