And then, to the great pleasure of most rain-weary Oregonians last week, the sun came out. The only problem is that the sun has stayed out, and I’m not done frying my brain cells on PVC glue. There’s a heap of pipe to glue and valves that haven’t arrived and two new plantings of carrots and lettuce that are begging me for water that I can’t give them.

A friend at the watershed council showed up this week to help save the day, toting a little four stroke portable Honda motor that pumps water out of the creek, through a hose, up the riverbank and out onto my field. The only problem is, it waters about 50 feet at a time – which is a quarter of one bed. I have about 25 beds planted. Kind of like trying to put out a forest fire with a squirt gun.

Nevertheless, in the last two days it’s saved thousands of baby carrot lives, but also probably driven our neighbors across the creek to the brink. The thing sounds like a motorbike running at full throttle. I’m going to owe them a lot of strawberries.

I’m not sure when I’ll have this whole project buttoned up, but until I do there’s no end to the 14 hour days. But I can promise this: when I finally turn that valve and the water comes gushing out of the pipe, I am going to drop to my knees. There is no better way to deepen your appreciation for something than by not having it.

Zoë Bradbury is a Kellogg Food & Society Policy Fellow. She lives, writes, and farms on Oregon’s southern coast.