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  • From: EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Running water that cleanses the soul
  • Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:57:45 -0500

I have full rainwater tanks, about 1150 gallons that I use for the
garden(plus a bathtub), to fill up pools for ducks, etc.-will use this
water to fill a rice paddy. My tanks are almost always full, because
even if I empty one, a good 20 minute thunderstorm will refill it. I've
often thought that if I got a jacuzzi or pool(before the new well) that
I would have to wait until the creek runs and then use a ram pump(I
saved all those posts and have done a lot of reading on that) to divert
the water to the pool. The creek is good, spring water, it basically
just needs filtering, and once it is in a pool, of course, it could be
chlorinated. Over time the rainwater I collect gets algae, but that is
of no concern to chickens, ducks, and garden, and if I ever needed it
for drinking, I can always filter and treat it myself. I can do that.
My raingauge reports that the end total for the rain was 4.09 inches
total. The creek is still flowing well. The skies are clearing, I can
see blue again, and the wind is picking up. Temps have dropped twenty
degrees already, and the house is chilling down...Time for a fire.

In many ways, Gene, the garden itself is a water sink. My neighbor
George calls it a wet garden, because the soil holds moisture longer
than most other soils just yards away. I believe that is because people
have long added organic matter to the soil in the garden area..whether
they composted leaves, burnt brush piles, kept pigs, or piled cow manure
here, the soil reaped the benefit of it. The downside of that is that I
can't work the ground as early as I need to else risk compaction. When
we kept pigs out there(moveable pens) I only walked on 2x10 boards.
Now, with semi-permanent monster beds, I use carpeting between the beds
to avoid compaction. There may come a day when I need to plant between
the beds-greens would probably do well. The monster beds themselves
contain no soil, just organic matter and compost. A 3 foot tall mass of
waste hay, grass, leaves, sticks and manure holds a lot of water. I
really don't have to water that much, just in the middle of summer and
then I do things by hand. I have a couple of open topped plastic
barrels out in the garden area. They fill with water, too. (I suppose
that would add 100 gallons to the saved water list) I keep a watering
can in those barrels, unless I have manure tea in one. But I usually
water with a watering can from those barrels next to the beds. It looks
tacky with those blue barrels all over the place, but I don't care...no
one sees it but me really. Little by little, I am filling up and making
soil in my cut off barrels, too. I layer organic material in there just
like I do the big beds...hay, grass, leaves, kitchen waste, animal poop,
etc.

I would love to have a pond. Just above the little spring I
photographed is a dug out area that I call the woodland pond. Elevation
is about 100 above the garden and about 200 feet away from it. It fills
up with spring water that runs off the ridge. The guy who originally
dug it told me he dug it deeper than his tractor and that he almost did
not get his tractor out, but over time, it has filled in and even when
full now the water is only about 4 feet deep. The pond area doesn't
hold water any longer. This is one of those things, Gene, I would do if
I had Magnolia. I would redig that pond, line it, and wait for it to
fill. I could raise catfish up there. It is t-bone shaped and about
fifty feet long by an average of 30 feet wide. It could be a bit bigger
and definitely deeper.

In the deep area near the culvert, water will remain for almost a week
after the creek stops running. I think the underground stream is very
close to the surface there. It was in that area that I found a huge
crayfish once. It is odd to find such a thing in a creek that has been
dry for over a year, UNLESS it came up from underground. Rock Creek,
AKA Hidden Creek is 1000 feet distant on the other side of the road. My
creek runs into it, but at the time I found the crawdad, even Rock Creek
had been dry for a year...so where the heck did that little fellow come
from if not an underground stream?



Gene GeRue wrote:
On Jan 6, 2009, at 9:57 PM, EarthNSky wrote:

We got 3+ inches of rain today, and it is still raining hard. It is
supposed to continue to rain throughout the night to accumulate
maybe another inch or so.

Bev, is there any way to save any of that water? Divert to a depression? Create a pond? Any water that you can hold back might
help build up reserves in your house and garden area.

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