I was out with my toddler on the Mission Creek Greenway the other day, and noticed that the creek is as low as I’ve seen it be at this time of year since I started farming in the neighbourhood five years ago. My boy is recently three and his intellect has exploded in a Big Bang of vocabulary, curiousity, and inductive reasoning. I pointed to the snow in the surrounding hills and attempted to explain that the creek would soon start to swell, and why that was so.
I tried to tell him about the potential for flooding; that I was crossing my fingers that this cold spell wouldn’t be followed by an equal-but-opposite spell of unseasonably warm nights that would render the melting curve—volume of melt per unit of time—too steep. That he should cross his fingers, too, as a tiny contribution to flood avoidance, because a bad flood could wreak some serious havoc. I think he struggled to grasp the risk, though. I was suggesting that in a few weeks the creek could be three times higher than his dad’s head, in a moment when it was, in parts, no higher than his ankles. So I don’t know if he’ll join me in worrying, much less planning ahead. Some threats are so abstract they must first been seen to be believed. Which can be a hindrance to things like preemptive flood mitigation.
Hey everyone: most of you have been pretty responsible and stoic about all this, and one of the silver linings of the last few weeks has been to experience this with all of you, together, and to witness a hundred acts of prosaic kindness. When this is over, I hope that a few of the sandbags placed with particular ingenuity and effectiveness are left in place.
Weekly home delivery for Kelowna to Naramata begins soonish. unearthedfarm.com/produce to sign up.
Stay healthy and sane. See you soon, from a distance!
