Gratitude to Water

So many things to say for this first Field Notes entry… One obvious go-to for me would be about all the wildflowers currently popping up: Trillium, Chocolate Lillies, Hounds tongue and Milkmaids, Buttercups and Warrior’s Plume.

However, as this is an inaugural post on the eve of the publication of this website and the formalization of a business that has been in the works for some time, I feel obliged and excited to start with gratitude, as I’ve been taught by my teachers and mentors.

And what better thing to be grateful for and call attention to in this moment than Water. Water that comes in all forms: rain, sleet, hail, and snow; fills the rivers, lakes and oceans; Water that is Life; Water that makes our planet so unique in our solar system. Water that is wet and powdery, that is sometimes a delight to walk in and let fall on your face; Water that can take powerful forms which can erode mountains, cause landslides, flood valleys.

It’s March 29th, 2023. Last year at this time, we’d received 44.67 inches of rain at Lake Lagunitas in the Mt. Tam Watershed for the winter season, close to the average annual rainfall at that location of 45.87 inches. This year so far, we’ve received 70.01 inches of rain from 7/1/22 - 3/27/23, 152.63% of the annual average. Source: Marin Water Water Watch

Anyone who’s spent the winter here knows that it’s been a wet one. We’ve received our fair share of big storms -what meteorologists have begun to call Atmospheric Rivers and Bomb Cyclones. Maybe those words describe events new to these times of global climate change; maybe they are sensational journalism, a way to strike fear and get attention. However we might put our language around these events and try to place them in a context of history, the rains that have come this year have been plentiful. Our ground is saturated. The creeks and rivers are flowing. The reservoirs that will sustain us through the dry months of our Mediterranean climate are full.

For me, the bountiful and long rainy season have been a blessing. The plants installed in gardens throughout the Fall and Winter are spoiled and will no doubt be more resilient when faced with the heat and dryness of the Summer and Fall. The rain tanks installed have filled and overflowed, and I can imagine the joy of the client and plants alike when they are watered with harvested rain water months into the dry season. The abundance of certain wildflowers, only seen after certain Winters, are a signal of abundant rainfall.

I know that it hasn’t been an easy Winter for everyone. The design of our cities and water systems has led to massive flooding in some areas, from which people are still struggling to rebuild. While my prayers go out to those folks most affected by a long rainy winter - the houseless, those living in the low areas affected by flooding and leaking - I also pray that we may continue to do the work that makes our water systems more resilient. There are stream beds to restore, swales to build, curb cuts, more carbon in the ground and less exposed soils - these are just a few of the technologies we can employ to slow the runoff of rain water and sink the water that falls back into the ground, where it will replenish groundwater and reduce the load on our cities’ storm drain systems.

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As we move into April, I always wonder if this drizzle will be the last rainfall of the season. With that in mind, I step outside into the falling rain, taking in its texture, its breadth, its flow, its temperature. Doing my best to acknowledge all this, to soak it in, as it may be the last for some time. Being present with the rain, in gratitude for the waters we’ve been graced with this year.