If you have ever flown to California over the vast desert you have undoubtedly noticed the occasional small green square that is a thriving farm surrounded by shifting sand. You might have wondered how it survives in the midst of all the hostility around it.
It survives because the fertile oasis draws water from deep within the earth … a river whose source is the snow capped mountains to the west. The farm in well provided for and quite safe; it has a secret alliance with the mountains.