Fall and Pumpkins!

Fall is a beautiful time of year—the trees are painting a beautiful countryside picture, there is a crispness in the air, football is in full swing, and pumpkin patches are popping up everywhere.   Have you ever grown a pumpkin in your garden?  Well, here is a simple recipe to grow your own pumpkin.  Of course, you will need pumpkin seeds, some good well-drained soil in a sunny spot and lots of water!  If pumpkins could speak, their first words would probably be:  “Gimme a drink!”  Between 80 to 90% of every pumpkin is water; and water is an essential medium for bringing nourishment to the entire plant.  Fortunately, the plant has a built-in water-gathering and water-conservation system.  The huge leaves are a hovering mulch, mediating ground and sky, shading the soil, keeping it moist, and inhibiting competition from weeds.  They are also exquisitely designed to draw nourishment from the sun and guide water to the base of the plant.  If a pumpkin seed is planted in the spring, you should have a pumpkin in approximately 85-125 days depending on the pumpkin variety. 

So here’s to fall, growing pumpkins, and our most precious resource--water!  Without it, there would be no pumpkin pie!

 

Become a Part of the Winning Team!

In these tough economic times we have been experiencing over the past few years, it has become more and more difficult to find the dollars to support the work of educating about groundwater and inspiring people to act to protect it for the future.  I know there are hundreds of very worthy causes out there, each of them vying for dwindling philanthropic dollars.  So how do we make potential funders understand the importance of our cause?  Do we have to move towards scare tactics – you know the “without water we cannot survive” message? 

This has never been the Groundwater Foundation’s way of operating. We have always felt that helping people understand groundwater’s importance in a positive way would inspire them to do the right thing; that the “winning team” approach of recognizing the good work done towards protecting and conserving the resource is the better way to go.  So while these tough times put that belief to the test – let’s show that it will prevail -- join us as we work to “recharge our aquifer” through our membership campaign.  You can become a member today by clicking here and supporting our goal of clean, sustainable groundwater for future generations.

What is your community doing?

By Brian Reetz, Program Coordinator

During our national conference last week in Omaha, I was lucky to present to the group with the former mayor of Wayne, Nebraska, Lois Shelton.

I first met Lois at a League of Municipalities meeting a couple of years ago. I thought Wayne would be a great fit with our Let’s Keep it Clean program that we were just starting as they were just forming a Green Team in the community.

I think our growth of the program and the growth of the Green Team has been a key to seeing sustainability. Our work helped them see some possibilities that could be done. Their passion to do it in their community helped us know it would be successful. From forming a Groundwater Guardian team to establishing Green Sites in the community as well as community events and programs with youth, Wayne is doing its part to make the community and groundwater sustainable.

What are you and your community doing today to make groundwater sustainable for future generations?