I have always loved the rain. Growing up in drought prone California rain was never a given, a gift to be cherished when it arrived.
There is something undeniably powerful about rain and here at Ma’alot Farms we are able to experience that in a deeply meaningful way. We are located in the foothills of the Santa Cruz mountain, and because of the topography of the hills we get a million gallons of water for each inch of rain that falls on the ridges above us. As that water rushes down the hills it becomes powerful streams, ultimately draining out into the Guadalupe river and finally the bay. It is an awesome gift to house this water, even for a short amount of time, but it also requires management to keep it from washing out our roads and plantings. That is why, in the middle of every heavy downpour, I have the privilege of going out in the rain and clearing the drainage channels and pipes. It might sound like sarcasm to call that a privilege, after all I come back inside covered in mud and soaked to the bone, but I truly mean it. I usually don’t even wear a raincoat, just letting the water soak into me as I walk the property, examining the drainage and digging out storm drains as necessary. It feels like a gift to be out in the storm, a part of the forces of nature that shape our very earth.
The way the water erodes channels in the earth, shifting directions to avoid obstacles, all while running down hill is how all the great canyons were carved, but here it happens on a timescale I can see with my own eyes instead of over millions of years. Digging in the silt to redirect the water away from the roads and buildings feels like a meditation, a moment apart from everything else.