Splurging

With the last two days of rainfall, I am tempted to splurge on water usage. Heck it's July all my water tanks are full and I won't need any irrigation for a few more days.  I could splurge and start irrigating the small courtyard lawn, water hose + clean everything down, etc.  And with all that extra 'free' solar energy this summer, maybe I'll even leave the lights on all night.  Not!

First of all, if I start watering things like buffalo grass that's fine without water, it will die. (permaculture 201).  Next, by pressure washing with water, I'm saving myself some elbow grease and time - which I have a lot of.

The bigger question that lingers for me is:  What do we do when we have more water, energy, food, gasoline than we need?  Is this really the ultimate green test?  Why change our behavior when we have more than needed?  Most farmers and depression era elders know that we need to save up for a rainy day.  But for many younger generations who have never really experienced a long drought of energy or food or water - why should they bother?

So, now at WinSol3 I am not changing a single thing.  I remember the long drought in 2006 when there wasn't a drop of rain for 6+ months,  I remember in the late 1970's walking down to the bottom of Lake Shasta to access a friend's houseboat.  Everything goes in cycles, and we can do fine with just continuing to do fine.  No need to party on excess.  Won't be long before the next downturn.