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It is hot here. Over 30 degrees in the daytime and with little respite at night. More worryingly, it has not rained, apart from a single violent thunderstorm, for weeks. The ground is so dry it resembles concrete where compacted and dust where loose, and even the trees and weeds are struggling. We have kept our herb and vegetable garden looking reasonably healthy by watering at least every second day, but over the last couple of days have noticed an even more worrying trend. The depth of water in our well recovers a little less each time we water, and we now do not have enough water to soak the beds thoroughly before the water surface is below the pipe that leads to the pump - which is less than a metre from the bottom of the well. Alongside that, the pond is now only a few inches deep due to the water table dropping and we cannot pump from there. For the time being I have lowered the pump assembly by aboout thirty centimetres, but another week like this and we will be in real danger of losing a lot of our plants. Anyone know a good rain dance?