I really hope they are wrong - if the extreme weather events and bushfires that we had this summer is going to become the "norm" for future summers then we are all in trouble! Thanks for the info Grace.

I don't know how deep the soil is in your area so this advice may or may not be useful to you all in NZ. For your predicament I would suggest that you make a sub shelter that you can secure your permanent supplies. Even if your just using reusable 45 gallon metal drum, depending on the water table you can bury them or make a above ground earthen shelter. I hope this helps a bit.

You have had record breaking heat for your summer and Japan has had record breaking snowfall for their winter: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21625702
I think I would take the heat over 16ft of snow. WE have a lot here but it is only a fraction of what they have had to endure.

I don't know how deep the soil is in your area so this advice may or may not be useful to you all in NZ. For your predicament I would suggest that you make a sub shelter that you can secure your permanent supplies. Even if your just using reusable 45 gallon metal drum, depending on the water table you can bury them or make a above ground earthen shelter. I hope this helps a bit.

These are very good ideas ranger, thank you 🙂 Usually, burying anything underground here would not be ideal because of the moisture content we would normally have on average, or because of our earthquake risks. However, in light of our current drought and nil soil moisture, a buried metal drum could be a very good way to have some emergency supplies available after a large scrub or bush fire.

Hello Grace

Wow, that must indeed be very stressful, I truly hope and yours will get some much! needed rain, please keep us posted.

Still no sign of rain, things are getting much worse now. Metservice say there is a "slight" chance of a tiny little bit late next week but they do not want to create false hope or speculate until closer to the time. Could be mid April before any relief comes our way at all.... even then that may change and may be longer. We would do anything (well, nearly anything 😳 ) for some real rain, longing to see & feel it again.

It's heartbreaking just waiting for rain isn't it Grace? I hope your idiot neighbour is behaving! I wish I could say something that would take some stress off you but what could I say that would help? I'm afraid this weather trend is going to be an ongoing thing for NZ & Aus!We are expecting a really dry autumn as well, it's hot today and they say it's going to be hot here all week. I can just about guarantee there will be more fires here cos we haven't had much rain at all! I've still got my fingers crossed and I'm praying hard for rain for you guys.

Oh Susannah, yes it is. But thank you, I know you are in the same boat and I feel for you too and wish you could have some badly needed rain as well. It's a little cooler today with some cloud cover but temp's set to soar again by the weekend. Haven't had any further issues with the bleep bleep neighbour...yet!! Hopefully he will stay out of our way for quite some time. We have officially been declared a drought region by the gov't today at last, so at least some farmers who are just about at the end of their ropes will get some basic monetary assistance for their stock feeds and food on the table for a little while. Meanwhile I have been distracting myself as much as possible with other things..it ain't easy though 🙁

Hope you get some rain soon!

Drought was a problem for us this past year. Even now, hay prices have skyrocketed (lucky we have some stockpiled!) because there just simply isn't enough, and people have been hoarding what they have to wait for prices to peak. Rumour has it that if we have another drought season or otherwise poor growing year, prices for all food is going to skyrocket beyond affordability due to unavailability. I've been cutting a few corners on the turkey & goose feed by bringing home scraps from culinary school and our own kitchen. They won't eat it all, but free is cheaper than corn prices for sure! And we switched our horses to a no-corn last year, which keeps them a little less hyper than typical thoroughbred feed.

Good luck, hope you get some rain soon!

How are you coping Grace? I understand your frustration when there is no end in sight! We are in for another 7 day heatwave (temps between 34-37) high humidity, no cooling breeze and no rain expected for quite a while 🙁 . How is your water holding up? My rainwater tank is just above half full....starting to get a little concerned now (we do have town water backup but I'm expecting the water restrictions to return to stage 4 any minute which means my tank water is the only thing between my fruit trees surviving and losing everything in the garden)

Hope you get some rain soon!

Drought was a problem for us this past year. Even now, hay prices have skyrocketed (lucky we have some stockpiled!) because there just simply is enough, and people have been hoarding what they have to wait for prices to peak. Rumour has it that if we have another drought season or otherwise poor growing year, prices for all food is going to skyrocket beyond affordability due to unavailability. I've been cutting a few corners on the turkey & goose feed by bringing home scraps from culinary school and our own kitchen. They won't eat it all, but free is cheaper than corn prices for sure! And we switched our horses to a no-corn last year, which keeps them a little less hyper than typical thoroughbred feed.

Good luck, hope you get some rain soon!

Thanks for your kind thoughts Rachel. As I anticipated, prices and availability are a major concern, so I have started to store more of what I can afford to because this is not looking good for us at all.

How are you coping Grace? I understand your frustration when there is no end in sight! We are in for another 7 day heatwave (temps between 34-37) high humidity, no cooling breeze and no rain expected for quite a while 🙁 . How is your water holding up? My rainwater tank is just above half full....starting to get a little concerned now (we do have town water backup but I'm expecting the water restrictions to return to stage 4 any minute which means my tank water is the only thing between my fruit trees surviving and losing everything in the garden)

Not coping very well Susannah, both my husband and I are very stressed. I really don't know how much more of this we can take. Water is a massive concern for us at the moment, the streams and rivers are dangerously low. Town water supply & delivery businesses are under pressure to meet demand, raising their prices, and there is a waiting list of 2-3 weeks if you can actually afford to buy it. We have always been very conservative in our water use and recycle what we can, but now we have nothing left in the gardens, had to remove any last vegetables that were trying to hang in there but we cannot afford to use the last of the water in the tank for anything except our ourselves. Growers of all kinds of crops are reporting losses of everything they have, so the flow on effect will be huge in the way of food from agriculture, farming, and the whole economy. UNBELIEVEABLY, our idiot prime minister yesterday stated (while on his overseas trip) that NZ will continue to supply dairy, meat, food exports...where he thinks it's going to come from, I don't know.

Yesterday we went for a drive to a town about an hour and a half away, just to try and get away from our own situation for a while. It was terrible seeing hungry & thirsty cattle, sheep & horses everywhere just standing in the blazing heat and nothing can be done for them. You can see where fires have broken out close to homes, very scarey. My husband's job may also be in jeopardy, because the majority of the work he does is for farmers and rural people. There are others that are worse off and my heart bleeds for them... they will loose much more than us. In every sense, we are feeling pretty down right now, especially as they say this is almost certainly proof of climate change and that it will happen more and more. We really don't know what our next steps will be.

Grace I don't post a lot but have been watching you post since you started it. My hopes, thoughts and prayers are with you all in the droughts.
Just know there is someone ( possibly many) out there that are wishing you the best to come out of this...soon....very soon.

Same for you susannah755

Caring {{HUGS}} to you both.

OTG

OTG, thank you so much for your good wishes and kind thoughts. IPN is the only outlet I have to try and keep me going through this right now and be able to share and express how challenging it is. I'm very grateful to have you all for your support.

I want everyone who reads this thread to really think hard about it and to plan carefully for the possibility of this happening to them this year, and years ahead. For those of you buried in snow, flooded out by excessive rains, and so tired of the terrible winter weather experienced in the Northern Hemisphere, I understand that it is a very challenging time for you too and probably difficult to imagine the extreme heat and no rainfall for months. Gather all you can, when you can, for difficult times ahead. If this is to become "the norm" for us down here, chances are it can happen for others around the globe also. We didn't see this coming, and when it did, it hit hard and fast. We are planning & prepping for a harder than usual winter as well, and making serious changes in advance of next summer should we have to go through this again.

Thank you OTG - sometimes just knowing that someone else cares about your situation makes it a little more tolerable.

Grace I'm so sorry that this is all causing such stress for you and your husband - it is really bad this year (I'm hoping that it's not going to be like this every year) but I sincerely hope that your DH doesn't lose his job as that would be just to much to deal with at the moment. I think your little trip was probably a really good move (sometimes just getting away for a little while can do wonders for you, but stressing will just make you feel even more miserable).
Even though I've been through this quite a few times before there isn't anything that I could tell you that would help - you are already doing everything possible! You already know that water is the one thing we cannot do without, so do you have access to more water right now? Can you purchase some from somewhere? Feel free to PM me if there is anything I can do for you Grace (even if you just want to rant and swear or cry over the current situation you're in).
A problem shared is a problem halved - please don't feel that you have to deal with this solo, we will listen to you and will offer support, advice or whatever we can.....you're not alone!

I have sent you a PM Sussanah... thank you 🙂