When the Well Runs Dry

Okay, I’ll admit it. When we first bought this old homestead on 45 acres, I was scared to be alone, two miles into the forest down a dirt road with no reception. I’ve watched a bear walk by the kitchen window and the trail camera caught a beautiful mountain lion. I do trust my burly man to take care of us, but honestly, a week felt so long to be camping in this cottage in the hollows. It’s exhausting, like a mental workout, and I love it.

Living this close to nature makes me feel more witch-like than ever.

I am challenged to live in sync with nature’s rhythms in ways that push me as an individual, aka a hard-headed woman, double Cap, firstborn, etc. In my core, I don’t feel comfortable not knowing how to take care of myself. I cannot teach and write about the Wheel of the Year and be disconnected to the systems that keep me alive. Living off grid pushes me to that edge of my comfort zone so that I can grow.

The drive from the mountains to the hollows is over seven hours. We usually arrive at beer-thirty and stop off at North Spur Brewery for a pint and dinner before heading six miles out of town and two miles down a dirt road. The sun is typically setting on our view of 18,000 acres of protected Mendocino Forest as we drive in a downhill spiral, deeper into the hollows on a glorious e-ticket ride. We admire all the growth and greenery upon our arrival. We saw a mama turkey and NINE turkey chicks. I emptied the truck while Joey turned on the water and the propane that fuels our stove and refrigerator.  Then we settle into our swivel cushy chairs on the porch to watch the stars come out.

In the morning, we take turns weed whacking around three garden beds, the spiral to the fire pit, the house and the road. I write while Joey walks up to top of the property to check on the well pump. This well station is 400 feet above the cottage in the hollows. He fired up the generator to start the pump to draw up the water up from the earth, in through a valve, and downhill through a series of thick black hoses to fill the water tank that is only 50 feet from our house. It took longer than normal for the well to refill, also known as recharge. He left the well and came down to tell me the news.

Money fears (how much would the repair be?) and lack of water fears rose until we decided on finding a solution. How much water do we have and how much do we use daily? Joey climbed the hill to a platform (cut into the hill by the previous owners) where the water tank rested. He measured 1100 gallons of water. We weren’t sure how much we would need for our 12-day stay. The plan had been to one day have a wonderful gray water and rain catchment system, outside of washing dishes in a big ceramic bowl. We couldn’t wait for something fancy because we needed to water the watermelon, artichoke, calendula, sunflower, and bushbeans starts. We couldn’t deplete the water from plant allies, new and established who were facing a month of summer without watering from us.

Mother Goddess is the necessity of invention and insight. We could take a bucket into the shower and water our plants from there. I sang as I watered my strongest plant allies: rose geranium, rosemary, lavender and yarrow. I sang Magick in my gesture of giving water back. As a water bearer, I was giving what I wanted to receive. Please refill with water when we take water.

Two days later, Joey’s brother Tony, who has worked on wells for years, explained that a gravity fed system needs back pressure. It’s better for our system if draw up a gallon and a half of water per a minute until the well is full. I’m still learning what all this means but the gist is, we needed to adjust the valve and we will have plenty of water. A solar system for the pump would mean no gas. That is next, I think. We’ll see what is needed and trust the resources and the abundance we have! We settled into this feeling and I felt true wealth. A deer walked through the garden but didn’t hurt anything. I saw a spotted owl.

The day before we left, I found an arrowhead in the garden bed that I had tended for two years just as I stepped forward to admire the yarrow blossoms, a wild plant and ally. I was thinking about the loss of Freddy the Fir tree and how grateful I was that the wild yarrow was staying contained the area I asked the plant to thrive in, next to the lavender. When I saw this arrowhead, it felt like a miracle, a gift for me, a sign that Mother Earth is happy with the way that we are living in harmony with life on this wild, unspoiled extraordinary piece of earth. I am humbled in ways that bring tears to my eyes. I am living in the Garden of Her Eden and I see my abundance.

This lesson makes me think of my favorite dicho, of Spanish proverb "No sabemos lo que vale el agua hasta que se seca el pozo, which mean:“‘We don't know the value of water until the well runs dry.’

This metaphor is a warning to not take your abundance for granted.  If you fail to appreciate what you have, eventually you will run out of it. Lift your thinking and learn to see the value in true friendship, health, sunshine, water, family. Appreciate the treasures in your life as the true abundance and see its value. Shifting your thinking is Gemini Moon Magick.