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Drought, World Water Day and Saharan dust
On World Water Day, 22 March, the Municipality of Tavira sent out details of a new awareness and information campaign entitled “Water is Life, but it can End.“ I was puzzled at first because this theme is taken from the Lakota phrase “Mní wičhóni” “Water is Life” which was the protest anthem from Standing Rock. It also has a spiritual meaning rooted in Indigenous world views. “For Native Americans, water does not only sustain life, it is sacred.” The campaign is launched as the Algarve is being hit by Saharan sand, which will continue until next Monday. Everywhere is covered in brown mucky dust. So don’t wash your car or…
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Fracking, flowers and water
It is the time of year when the wildflowers come up on our hill. Yellows, mauve and every shade of green intermingle with reds and delicate orange. I have just been sitting among the flowers, thinking about this post. The theme is supposed to be fracking. It’s an unpleasant word with destructive consequences. I do not want to write about it, but I will mention what is going on, as fracking in the Algarve could potentially wipe out the abundance of natural beauty.
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There is gold in them there hills – and it is water
It is August, well, the embers of it. It is too warm to do anything in the garden after about 9:30am. Not that there is much to do other than clear, harvest and be hopeful. We went away to the UK for three months and came back a couple of weeks ago to a dry borehole and scorched vegetable beds. What can you do but dream and start again? The lovely people who we house swapped with did not know what to do once the borehole dried up, so not much was watered for a few weeks. Looking at what has survived has made us realise things can survive with…
