Cheatgrass shows us the way to the future: harvest snow.

Cheatgrass at the Edge of Winter

There is no need to wait for the rains or to finance high pressure water systems worth hundreds of millions of dollars. It’s all a matter of planting the right crops and developing the technology to harvest them. On the very edge of the snow is a microclimate that balances abundant water with the rising spring heat. It last for only a few days.

Our future depends upon understanding its processes and developing technologies that harvest them. In the meantime, it is a place of deep beauty.