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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

From James:

> It has also burned in the fact, which we all know but sometimes it 
> isn't such a reality, that you can only have as much garden as you 
> have water.  Of all the factors in raising your own food: mulch, 
> compost, nitrogen, sunshine, etc.  it is water the most dictatorial 
> and absolute.

Land seekers: burn this into your brains! Again, again and again. It 
is common sense; we all know it, yet again and again we learn of 
people whose lives are diminished by lack of sufficient water. Worry 
much more about quantity than quality. Quality can be improved. 
Quantity often cannot.

That said, Don and I were tossing around the idea of rain water 
collection. This subject merits further discussion. I say calculate 
your annual water needs, double that, then calculate how large a roof 
would be needed to get that much water with your MINIMUM average 
annual rainfall. It seems to me that we here can come up with a 
very-low-cost roof that puts rainwater into a vessel that sits higher 
than our houses and gardens. You flatlanders may have pressure 
challenges but at 2.2 feet elevation per pound of pressure, it takes 
only a small hill to provide adequate household pressure. Garden 
irrigation can be and is often ideal at low pressure.

Now don't let this rainwater collection stuff cause you to lose that 
mantra: I need water; I need water; I need water. Repeat regularly.