The Present

I am now an old woman living as far from what is called "civilization" as I was able to find still in an ecosystem I knew.  I am now able to do as I please as I am what is called "retired."  I work very hard.  When my old body cries out in pain from my abnormal gait and stance, I can retreat to a comfortable chair and read without interruption from noises or neighbors (except if the dogs raise a ruckus).

I am reading a non-fiction book called "Dirt:  The Erosion of Civilizations" and find that humankind has spent most of its history on earth destroying it even before industrial activities.  The author, David R. Montgomery, speaks of the occasional saving of topsoil because some ancient farmer built an indestructible stone terrace.  I have thought of that constantly.  Here we have monuments cluttering the earth to so-called great men and actually none of what they supposedly contributed or created exists today.  There is a few areas of good food-growing soil in a few places in the world that preserved the only important thing to preserve as all food growers know and that is 8 to 12 inches of good arable soil.

So my career now is primarily one of a terrace builder and I am getting good at pickaxing the rocks that inhabit the land I live on.  It is drying worse each year because of climate change.  The only chance of a life-saving rain is a hurricane to blow some rain clouds inland.  I am learning more about water use and how to use it several times and how to garden with the least amount of water.  It took two days yesterday for the submersible pump powered with solar panels to fill my 3000 gallon water storage tank.  I am using only 5-gallons of water daily from the rain-harvest storage and bathing only once a week.  I have been filling a plastic mineral tub about 1 x 3 feet circular each day for the chickens.  Each day as I finish the morning's work, I wash my always dirty feet and legs in the mineral tub and then pour it onto the ground for the dog to lie on for cool earth under the juniper tree and to water the tree.  Then the tub is refilled.  I have found that the water is too hot to endure because it is 50 feet of hose lying in the sun from the pump house to the tub.  I do take a bath once a week inside and save that water to use to flush the toilet.

The city authorities 150 miles away are thinking about reducing the watering of lawns in city lots to 3 times a week.  I think the world is indeed crazy and glad I am in solitude and my own thoughts.  I have the company of animals who are rational and understand things we poor humans think we don't need to know with our arrogant mottled brains where we think we know better than the other species on earth when we actually know nothing.  However, the other species are very glad I know how to get water out of the ground.  If it stops flowing, they will think I am being cruel when it is really the billionaires who run the world.  How can I tell them it is not my fault?