In case you missed the news, I have no water at home.
It’s been nearly two weeks now. At first, I called the local well company and they changed my tank. A day later, I called them again because there wasn’t enough water to shower. The sediment filter was filling up with dirt from the bottom of my well to the point where a filter that normally lasts 4-6 months needed to be changed out twice a day. (I’m a pro at that now.)
Another day passed and I couldn’t even shower. I had to wait 3 days after that until they could get to me and finally tell me that my well (which is only 45 feet deep but has been sufficient for this house’s needs for nearly 75 years) is basically dry. The drought this year here in CT is just that bad.
I posted about this debacle on social media and I was left nearly in tears with the gratitude from people stepping up with offers to help me. Several local customers (who have become friends) offered to let me shower and do laundry at their house, and a few offered to let me get water there. Because remember… I have poultry.
Between the animals and the house, I normally go through about 30 gallons of water every day. Since the well has gone dry, we bought some 5 gallon containers from the store and are only using the well water to flush number 2 down the toilet and use a little bit for doing dishes.
Even though it’s likely my well will eventually recover, I have no idea how long that will take. I have to arrange to get a new well. Here’s where the story gets interesting.
I grew up being exposed to the industry of well drilling. My mom started dating a well driller after she divorced my father and I was sort of part of that family ever since. I knew that our well company were the best ones in town and the other local company were the bad guys, because their company had been started by the patriarch of ours and that guy split off to make his own company. It was a whole family drama for a family that I was marginally a part of.
I refer to him as my stepfather, even though he never was because he refused to marry my mother. He was a womanizer, an alcoholic, and he was somehow charismatic enough that every problem he ever had was able to be paid off with money. His father slowly bought companies all over the region until he was known as not only one of the wealthiest business owners in the area, but also a local loan shark. He acquired millions of dollars in property through his unethical and predatory business practices, so much so that any reputable company on this side of the country refused to do business with him. Between the two of them they created a small empire, which my mother was set to inherit a large portion of.
Something extraordinary happened to me in 2021, just after my 38th birthday, which I’m going to be writing a book about. But for now let’s just say I had a mental breakdown followed by months of clarity. I realized that I had been abused mentally and emotionally for my entire life, programmed to act a certain way that was against my better judgement and instincts, yet unable to escape.
I stopped talking to almost my entire family in 2022. I cut them out of my life completely. It has been the most freeing experience of my life. I realize now that everything I had experienced was teaching me a lesson in some way.
The lesson I learned from growing up in that well drilling family was that the people “in my family” were actually pretty awful people. No ethics, no integrity, no values other than to get rich no matter who they had to hurt or walk over in the process.
I am NOT like them.
Anyway, two weeks ago when I realized there was a problem with my well I had two options: call my mother (who is still running the well company after my sort of stepfather died last year) and beg for help, or call “the competitor,” the people who were the bad guys my entire upbringing.
I called the bad guys.
They were awesome. I told them who I was and they came to help (I imagine they were curious about why I of all people was asking them for help) but they diagnosed the problem and went above and beyond to help me fix it. They charged a reasonable price (I know, I used to do the invoicing for my mother) and the tech who helped me even mentioned that he had tried to get a job working for my family’s company years ago but they told him they wouldn’t pay him much.
And it’s true… it never sat right with me that my mother and stepfather would complain that “Nobody wants to work anymore” when we had such high turnover rates for employees. But the job was dirty, cold, and hard, paid very little and had no benefits at all until after you’d been there a year. There were men who had worked for him for over ten years that barely got two weeks worth of vacation every year, and no sick days or healthcare.
When you treat your employees well, they stay. When you treat people like human beings, they are happy to work with and for you. When you treat people like crap and only live every moment for yourself, you reap what you sow when they leave you for greener pastures.
Anyway, I’ll be hiring “the evil competitor” to drill me a new well as soon as possible. I am working my butt off both to make money to pay the bills and to save up money for the new well, which unfortunately isn’t going to be cheap.
I’m also spending a lot of extra time driving to and from the houses of people I know so I can shower, fill buckets of water for the animals, and do my laundry a few times every week. I am writing my new book (Think Like An Herbalist) any time I have available and my goal is to have it finished by spring time.
I hope this post has reminded you to be grateful for water.
I am grateful every day that I still have electricity, internet, heat, a roof over my head, and clothes on my back. I am being supplied with the water I need to survive, though it’s not as easy as it usually is. I am being taught how to get along with less, a lesson which I’m certain will serve me well in the future, especially if shit hits the fan like it seems to be doing.
I’m still planning my Upcoming Retreat and I’ve opened up a 3-Consult Package deal you can get if you really want to change your lifestyle, improve your relationship with food, and heal yourself naturally. And I’m still working on bottling all the remedies I have available, even though cleanup isn’t as easy without water coming from the sink. You can order teas, tinctures, oils, and more in my Shop any time.
Thank you for supporting me during this difficult winter. I hope we are building a community that can help each other for many years to come. If you read this all the way through, I’d appreciate you commenting to let me know you’re here. I’m here for you too.