Greywater Project: A Very Basic Filtration Bed

We took time our first years here for observation, analysis, and planning. At that time, we had three areas for self-reliance that we wanted develop: food, energy, and water. Water conservation and stewardship included rainwater collection and greywater usage. For rainwater, we started with collection tanks. For greywater, we added a couple of ideas to our master plan, where we identified two potential areas to use it.

Greywater ideas from our 2012 Master Plan.

Greywater is a topic we researched carefully because there are precautions that must be taken. We bought Art Ludwig's Create an Oasis With Greywater (my book review here), and I researched dos and don'ts for household soaps, detergents, and cleaners (that blog post here.) We experimented some too, and used it to water tall plants like okra and corn. From those experiments, we felt that some sort of filtration would work best for us. 

When the summer rains became less frequent this month we got to talking about this. We got out our master plan (above) and discussed how we could construct a greywater wetland. Originally, the wetland idea was for a constructed filtration bed with rock, gravel, sand, and soil, plus water filtering plants. From there, it would drain out to the pasture. This would have required a lot of work, but we don't have the time or resources for an extensive project right now. Another commonly used idea for greywater, is a mulch pit. We got to wondering if we couldn't mulch pit that drained into our pasture swale. It would be  a first step experiment, just to see how it would do. 

This is how it fits into our swale plan. The filtration bed is the
little blue square between the house and pasture on the right.

The greywater drainage pipe was already in place. Dan installed it in 2016, complete with a bypass valve to direct the greywater either to the garden or to the septic tank. We haven't used it in several years, but this summer seemed the time to put it to use again. We brainstormed. For the mulch bed, we had a cracked water tote with five good sides. Dan cut it down and that made a start.

Filled with rain water!

He cut the existing drainage pipe and routed it through inlet and outlet holes cut into the tote. Because the cut tote walls aren't sturdy, he framed it out with some of his home-sawn lumber.

Our mulch medium is woodchips, because we make our own. To keep them out of the pipe, he used stone at the inlet, and screen at the outlet. The entire thing was then filled with woodchips. 

Completed project. You can see the greywater pipe coming from
the kitchen, and the mostly buried exit pipe going to the pasture.

View from another angle. The path leads to the garden.

Periodically, this will need to be cleaned out and fresh chips added. The old chips will get mixed into a new compost pile, and the bed refilled with fresh chips, or even better, a combination of wood chips and biochar. 

For now, we observe and take notes. We're already conservative with our water usage, and so far, the cut-down tote easily accommodates the amount.  There are no large amounts of water entering the swale, but if we see puddles, we use a shovel to shape the drainage path to the swale (we knew it wasn't level and would need to do this). Mostly, the water is absorbing quickly, slowly hydrating the ground as it makes its way to the swale. There is no odor and no debris in the water. It isn't potable, but it looks clear.

Eventually, the filtration bed could be expanded to a larger, more complex system incorporating plants. That will probably depend on how well this one handles the amount of greywater we produce and how long it takes for this one to need a change of woodchips. I'm glad we started with a smaller version of our original plan. That will make it easier to make adjustments as needed.

Greywater Project: A Very Basic Filtration Bed © July 2022

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com

Book Review: Create an Oasis with Greywater

In a recent post, I shared Dan's latest project, the start on an idea we came up with years ago - a trellising shade and grape growing system that utilizes our laundry waste water. This prompted quite a conversation in the comments of that post, with a number of questions and concerns expressed. I can't answer those because I'm focused on meeting our goals in our context. But I can point you in the direction of some excellent resources that will give you the information you need to make a start on your own research and answer your own questions. 

Create an Oasis with Greywater: Integrated Design for Water Conservation

This book by Art Ludwig, plus his DVD, Laundry to Landscape, have answered our questions, addressed our concerns, and are helping us design a system that will enable us to be better stewards in our water conservation efforts. In this post, I'll tell you about the book. Here's what the author says about it.

"Create an Oasis with Greywater describes how to choose, build, and use 20 types of residential greywater reuse systems in just about any context: urban, rural, or village."

Art Ludwig, author

"What This Book Is About"

"How to Use This Book" and "What This Book Is About" introduce the subject matter. The book is geared toward helping the reader zero in on their personal goals, make an assessment specific to their property, and then design and implement a system that will best fit their situation.

Chapter 1: Greywater Basics. This chapter begins by defining greywater. Explains the differences between blackwater, dark greywater, clearwater, wastewater, and reclaimed water. It discusses what you can do with it and why it should be used, but also lists a substantial number of reasons when it shouldn't be used. The last section of the chapter introduces the reader to the elements of a greywater system.

Chapter 2: Goals and Context. This chapter helps the reader deal with the massive amount of information out there about greywater systems, especially, whether or not a greywater system is right for you. It offers clear-cut steps for analyzing one's goals, context (site, sources, needs, percolation rates, climate, etc.), and proposed site. A "site assessment form" worksheet in the appendix (and online here) helps the reader make a very thorough analysis.

Chapter 3: Design a Greywater System for Your Context. In chapter 3, the reader learns how to integrate a greywater system with their landscape plus other systems, how to address health considerations, and how to match greywater sources with irrigation and treatment or disposal areas. Includes general landscape design points and six factors for good natural purification of greywater or wastewater.

Chapter 4: Greywater Collection Plumbing. Discusses general greywater plumbing principles, planning for future flexibility, traps, vents, diverter and shutoff valves, surge capacity, easy maintenance and troubleshooting. Includes advice on choosing and finding parts, inspections, and when to get professional help. Lots of pictures, charts, and diagrams in this chapter.

Chapter 5: Greywater in the Landscape. This chapter details how to put greywater to work and how to handle it in the landscape. Discusses calculating the treatment/disposal area, greywater efficiency,  coordinating greywater with freshwater irrigation, and how to handle greywater when it rains. Discusses how to preserve soil quality, with a chart of key elements found in household cleaners. Also how to monitor and repair soil, and what to do about toxic waste. The section on plants lists possibilities for greywater reuse, as well as greywater treatment and disposal. Shows the reader how to build a mulch basin for greywater irrigation, with lots of illustrations.

Chapter 6: System Selection Chart. A 2-page easy reference chart for comparing simple, easy greywater systems, or complex systems.

Chapter 7: Simple, Easy Greywater Systems. Lots of ideas and illustrations in this chapter. Discusses direct landscape systems (such as a bathing garden), garden hoses, dishpan dumping, mulch basins, movable drains, greywater furrow irrigation, and laundry drums. It introduces the laundry to landscape system (which is detailed in Art Ludwig's Laundry to Landscape book or DVD).

Chapter 8: More Complex Greywater Systems. Covers effluent pumps, mini-leachfields, subsoil infiltration galleys, constructed wetlands, an automated sand filter system, a solar greywater greenhouse, green septic systems, and septic tank to subsurface drip. Lots of pictures, diagrams, and illustrations clarify the concepts.

Chapter 9: Branched Drain Design. How to improve the time-honored "drain out back" system with ways to split the flow (including a discussion and chart on parts), branching geometry options, cleanouts, inspection access, and rainwater inlets. The section on branched drain outlet design discusses free flow outlets, sub-mulch and subsoil infiltration, how to design for surge capacity, and outlet positioning. 

Chapter 10: Branched Drain Installation gets down to the nitty-gritty of installing a branched drain system. Covers checking the design, checking for buried utilities, digging trenches, connecting pipes and fittings, dealing with slope, and installing outlet shields. Final steps include testing the system, mapping it, and burying it. Also included are sections on branched drain maintenance, troubleshooting, and possible variations. 

Chapter 11: Common Greywater Errors. This very important chapter contains 20 common misconceptions about greywater and mistakes people routinely make. Each one explains problems that can result, preferred practices, and specific conditions for exceptions. 

Chapter 12: Real World Examples. Features six examples that are currently in use. Takes an interesting look at each user's goals, design and installation issues, costs and benefits, and opinion of the system after it had been in use for awhile. Pictures and diagrams help clarify the examples.

Appendices. Lots of helpful information in the eight appendices, including how to measure elevation and slope, cold climate adaptations, non-industrialized area considerations, plus pumps, filters, and disinfection.  

As you can see from scanning the chapter summaries, there are a lot of variables and a lot of options. So far, this is the best book I have found to explain them all. Dan and I have both this book and also the Laundry to Landscape DVD I mentioned. I trust the information because the author isn't trying to sell a pre-packaged greywater system. You can find some of the hard-to-find hardware at his website, but he isn't trying to guide the reader to buy what he prefers. He lays out all the options along with their pros, cons, and guidelines for choosing the best system for your circumstances.

Create an Oasis with Greywater is available at the author's website or at Amazon. Or, if you aren't sure that it deserves a place on your homestead bookshelf, request that your public library obtain a copy! That's the best way to get a hands-on look at a book, plus it becomes available for others to benefit from it too.

Book Review: Create an Oasis with Greywater © July 2021

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com

My Poor Garden

It's not all bad. The first half of summer was devastatingly hot and dry, but Mid-July through mid-August finally brought us plentiful rain and the garden recovered. Now September has continued the earlier trend toward hot and dry which has meant the end of some things. Even so I'm still harvesting

Sweet peppers

Okra, which is benefiting from

Greywater, which we finally got set up.

I'm also getting

Cantaloupes. They are small from not enough water, but
they are very tasty and sweet; perfect for the two of us.

Green beans. Just a handful every other day or so.
Not enough to can but enough to enjoy for dinner.

I'm getting tomatoes again although the plants look pretty raggedy.

I call these my "comeback tomatoes" because every summer my tomato plants succumb to blight. Gardeners are advised to pull and destroy such plants immediately, but I rarely get around to doing that. I find that when the weather begins to cool down a bit, the plants make a comeback with new vines and leaves and more tomatoes.

I've been seed saving too: tomato, cucumber (now finished), cantaloupe, and green beans.

Sweet basil going to seed.

What's not going so well is the annual takeover by the wiregrass. Those midsummer rains saved the harvest, but also caused the wiregrass to start growing again.

Wiregrass is one of the few things that thrives in drought-like conditions. What makes it discouraging is that it takes over heavily mulched areas too. It just grows and grows like an indeterminate tomato vine, both underground and over the top. Nature is a mightier conqueror than we like to think, and every year I feel like this stuff sends us back to gardening square one.

Wiregrass in the tomato bed.

The tomato rows you see above were mulched with cardboard, empty paper feed bags, and about six inches+ of wood chip mulch.

You'd never believe this was all cultivated earlier this summer.
I tried to grow summer squash here, but it didn't make it.

I might have finally found some answer for it, however, in this article, "Resolving the "Wiregrass" Problem." I don't know if I have the same species mentioned in the article, but it indicates that the stuff usually grows in low-phosphorous soil. I know our soil is low in phosphorous, so if I can resolve that, maybe I'll resolve my wiregrass problem as well.

In the meantime, I'm getting the hoop house ready for fall planting.

Wiregrass comes up in the hoophouse raised beds too.

Temperatures remain in the low 90sF (low to mid 30sC), and between that and my bone dry soil from no rain, I somehow don't feel like fall planting. August and September are our times to plant cool weather veggies, however, so I need to get on with it.

One last garden shot

Jerusalem artichokes are blooming.

And that's it for me. How about you?

My Poor Garden © Sept 2016 by Leigh  at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

ISO Locally Available Greywater Safe Products

Continued from part 2, "Analyzing My Current 
Cleaners: How Greywater Friendly Are They?"

My goal for the last phase of my research was to look around and see what greywater safe products my local stores carry. All in all, I'm not totally dissatisfied with the most of the products I already use, but I wanted to see what else was available. Maybe I could do better.

Why did I want products I could buy locally? Why not simply order off the internet? For several reasons. One is because shipping has become exorbitant. It often nearly doubles the cost of a heavy item (which I don't understand since fuel prices are currently down). In addition, my state charges either a sales or use tax on shipping. Even with free shipping, however, I don't like juggling the time factor between when to order more and will I get it in time, I don't want to deal with all that packaging, and I don't want to deal with "out of stock."

Unfortunately many of these products are more expensive than conventional products, so affordability is important too. To me, part of being self-sufficient means being less dependent on money and the consumer system. Most of us agree there is no such thing as total self-sufficiency, so as Dan and I approach retirement age (but not necessarily retirement) we are looking at living with lower income and less money. Low price then becomes important.

What about the old "it's worth paying more to save the environment" argument? I don't buy it. It's a manipulative statement because it implies 1) that I can really afford the product but am too stingy to pay for it, and 2) since I'm not willing to pay more to save the environment, then I'm a crumb. I say, if manufacturers are really concerned about the environment, then they should make the products affordable enough so everyone can use them; not just the affluent.

I listed a lot of categories in my last post, but for this exercise I focused mostly on laundry, dishwashing, and shampoo. While the selection of so-called natural products has increased, I've also learned how the term "natural" has different meanings. Plant-based surfactants, for example. Sodium lauryl/laureth sulfate is avoided by many health purists and a no-no on greywater product lists. But what is it? It's an anionic plant-based surfactant, derived from coconut or palm, so some manufacturers include it in their "natural" products. The process of making it, however, is anything but natural and there are numerous health concerns regarding its use. (See Dr. Mercola's article here.) Unfortunately it's a ubiquitous product found in almost all liquid soaps and detergents, toothpaste, shaving creams, mouth washes, and in a number of cosmetics. So if a label used descriptive terms instead of actual ingredients, I dug a little deeper.

Laundry

Locally sourced alternatives: I found Ecos Liquid Laundry Detergent on at Walmart, far cheaper than on Amazon or other online sources. Ecos makes the cut on almost every greywater recommendation list I've seen, and the only one who puts "greywater and septic tank safe" on the label. What does it contain? "Thoughtfully sourced ingredients."

• water
• cocamidoproply betaine (coconut-derived surfactant)
• sodium coco sulfate (coconut-derived surfactant)
• cocamidoproplylamine ixide (coconut-derived surfactant)
• phenoxyethanol (preservative)
• methlisothiazolinone (preservative)
• equisetum hiemale (horsetail plant)

Cost per load:

• From Walmart (rollback price), $0.07 per load. 
• From Amazon (assuming free shipping) $0.18 per load.

Bleach

I mentioned in my last post that I don't use bleach, but I've learned that hydrogen peroxide based bleaches (oxy types) are considered fairly safe. The homemade version is easy and inexpensive:

• 2 parts water
• 1 part hydrogen peroxide
• 1 part baking soda

It can be poured or sprayed on stains before laundering.

Dishwashing

Most greywater sites agree that liquid castile soap is greywater safe, with Dr. Bronner's as the most recommended (probably because it's the most well known). I'm still looking for a store around here that sells it.

Shampoo

It was interesting to learn that shampoo has only been around since the 1930s. Also that at their most basic ingredient level, shampoo and dishwashing liquid are about identical. Finding a greywater safe shampoo is a tough one, because there must be a zillion choices in almost every store, many of them claiming to be "natural." I haven't seen many brands recommended as greywater safe. This site recommends Aubrey Organics and Avalon, also some Burt's Bees products. Other sites recommend Dr. Bronner's as shampoo as well as body soap. I've found none of them at local stores and online they are expensive.

Some of you have had good success with No Poo. Others claim it ruined their hair. This site lists a dozen different No Poo methods plus has links to DIY shampoos. You'll also find a link there which discusses different types of hair and why there is not a universal No Poo method. My hair is so dry that it never gets oily (seriously!), so I'm finding that the "Scritch and Preen" and "Water Only" methods work well for me. Can't get more greywater friendly and economical than that!

Conclusions

Realistically, there are no perfect products. Which ones to choose will depend primarily on one's goals, so the choices will be different for everyone. Dan and I want to use our greywater in combination with rainwater for food growing. In looking at products I would like to decrease the amount of sodium we put down the drain, because much of our soil is already too high in sodium. It seems I can't avoid sodium altogether, but if I can choose lower sodium products, they will be further diluted before they reach any plants.

Here are a few more things to think about:

1) Many of us practice what we consider to be organic gardening. Unfortunately there are different definitions of "organic" and these are changing all the time. The legal definition of organic food was designed for commercial growers, and there is quite some rigmarole to obtain certification to sell one's food products with an organic label. Small sellers will often say "grown with organic methods" to be safe from raising governmental ire. In regards to utilizing greywater for organic food growing, I doubt any cleaning products would pass muster under any definition of organic gardening. Those of us who want to use greywater to grow food for home consumption, may want to consider how our cleaning products fall under our personal organic growing guidelines.

2) If you have a septic system, then no matter what products are used, they are still being leached into the soil.

3) I used cloth diapers when my kids were babies. This presents a different challenge to laundry greywater because diaper wash water usually contains feces, which would make it blackwater. The possible presence of feces in greywater is why it's forbidden in some places. For a situation like this a diverter valve on the washing machine is necessary, so that dirty diaper water can go where the rest of one's blackwater goes.

This concludes my rather lengthy and overly-analytical series on greywater. In the end, what goes into our greywater and what we choose to do with it will be a matter of what we're personally comfortable with.

Some links I want to hang on to:

• Guide to Greywater-Compatible Cleaning Products at Ecology Center
• What are the best and cheapest grey water safe shampoos and conditioners? at Quora
• Greywater Soaps at H2OME
• Soap & Detergent Info at Rainwater Harvesting 
• graywater with dish soap (an interesting forum thread) at permaculture forums (an interesting forum thread)

ISO Locally Available Greywater Safe Products

 © Aug. 2016 by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Analyzing My Current Cleaners: How Greywater Friendly Are They?

Continued from part 1 "Of Soap, 
Detergent, & Greywater"

My recent greywater research is part of a homestead greywater feasibility study and focuses on two things: analyzing the greywater safeness of the products I currently use, and looking for locally available, affordable alternatives if needed. In this post I'll share what I've learned about the products I use. I try to be conscientious about what I use, so I was hoping they'd also be safe for greywater usage.

I focused on my three main concerns: pH, sodium, and boron (although read part one to see why I'm only nominally concerned about pH and boron.) There may be other problems with these products, for example health and environmental concerns, but in context this post only focuses on those three because of how they effect my greywater.

The biggest problem with analyzing cleaning products is ingredient labels, or rather lack of. Very few manufacturers give a detailed list of actual ingredients. Mostly they use advertising terms instead, things like "natural," "biodegradable" or "phosphate free." They rarely tell what's actually in the product. Thanks to the internet, I found much of this information online.

Following is a list of the products I use, their ingredients, anything else I learned about them, cost per use if applicable, and any concerns I have.

Laundry. I use either homemade laundry detergent or Charlie's Liquid Laundry Detergent. I don't use laundry softeners, stain removers (other than rubbing the stain with a bar of soap), or bleach.

Homemade laundry detergent: 

• washing soda (sodium carbonate)
• borax (boron)
• and either Fels-Naptha laundry bar or Zote bar soap
• Fels-Naptha 
• sodium tallowate (beef tallow), sodium cocoate (coconut oil), sodium palmatate kernalate (palm kernel oil), and/or sodium palmate (palm oil)
• water
• talc
• dipentene coconut acid, palm acid, and/or palm acid
• peg-6 methyl ether
• glycerine
• sodium chloride (salt)
• pentasodium pentetate and/or tetrasodium etdronate
• titanium oxide (whitener)
• tricloroban (antibacterial agent)
• fragrance
• acid orange 24 and yellow 73
• or Zote 
• Sodium tallowate
• Sodium cocoate
• Fragrance (citronella oil)
• Optical brighteners
• Dye (pink and blue bars only)

Cost per load: about $0.10.

Laundry water pH - I'm out at the moment so I don't know. Probably basic because based on what I read, liquid soaps and detergents tend to be neutral, solid soaps (bars and powders) are alkaline.

Concerns: Even without knowing exactly what all these chemicals are, I see "sodium" popping up everywhere, plus the boron. The whiteners, antibacterials, and coloring agents in the bar soaps are also a concern. If I do continue to make homemade laundry powder, I'll likely switch to homemade soap.

Charlie's Liquid Laundry Detergent

• Water
• Sodium carbonate (washing soda)
• C12-15, Pareth-2 (biodegradable vegetable and mineral sourced surfactants)

Cost per load: for the 1-gallon size, less than $0.13

Laundry water pH - 7 (neutral), although the straight product is highly alkaline.

Concerns: The sodium of course. Also, there is some argument around the internet about the C12-15, Pareth-2. These are used in some Seventh Generation products which might lend a sense of credibility, but, on the other hand, Seventh Generation products are not considered greywater safe. I would like to further investigate the criticism over the surfactants.

Dishwashing. I've been using old-fashioned non-concentrated, Simply Clean original scent Dawn. Dawn is made by Procter & Gamble, who boast that "Dawn helps save wildlife," because it is used to safely bath animals rescued from oil spills. (Click that link for more information.) Sounds good, but does being safe to bath animals mean Dawn is safe to feed plants?

Finding an ingredient list was not easy. The only thing the label tells me is that it contains biodegradable surfactants and no phosphates. I finally tracked down a P&G MSDS for Dawn Simply Clean Original and discovered it contains this:

• Sulfuric acid
• mono-C10-16-alkyl esters
• Amine oxides
• C10-16-alkyldimethyl Poly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl)
• alpha-sulfo-omega-hydroxy-
• C10-16-alkyl ethers
• sodium salts

The hazard warning on that safety sheet is that it can cause eye irritation.

pH - neutral

Cost per use - I haven't tried to figure that one out

Concerns: although the amount of sodium appears to be small, my biggest question is whether these chemicals are petroleum based (as are many synthetic chemicals).

Cleaning. I use vinegar, dish soap, elbow grease, hydrogen peroxide, and a DIY scrubbing powder that I've really liked. Unfortunately it contains equal parts of:

• table salt (sodium chloride)
• washing soda (sodium carbonate)
• borax (boron)

All huge no-nos! While small amounts of the washing soda and borax may not be too bad, pouring table salt on my garden doesn't seem like a good idea. The other scrubbing powder I keep on hand is Bon Ami Powder Cleanser. It contains:

• Limestone
• Feldspar
• Surfactant from coconut and corn oil
• Soda ash (washing soda or sodium carbonate)
• Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)

Concerns: Soda ash and baking soda are listed last on the label, so at least I know they contain less sodium than my homemade scrubbing powder.

Bath Soap. I've used Ivory bar soap for a long time, recently found Clearly Natural bar soap, and also use some homemade soaps.

Ivory 

• sodium tallowate (beef tallow) and/or sodium palmate (palm oil)
• water
• sodium palm kernelate (palm kernel oil), and/or sodium cocoate (coconut oil)
• fragrance (in the aloe scented bars)
• sodium chloride (salt)
• glycerin
• coconut acid
• palm kernel acid
• tallow acid
• palm acid
• citric acid
• sodium citrate
• tetrasodium (water softener)
• aloe barbadensis leaf extract

Clearly Natural Soap

• Glycerine
• sodium stearate and sodium oleate (saponified coconut, palm and/or palm kernel)
• decyl glucoside (vegetable-derived surfactants)
• propanediol and sorbital (humectants)
• sodium citrate
• Fragranced versions contain a blend of natural aromas and essential oils

Homemade soaps - These basically contain fat and lye, which undergo a chemical process called saponification to make what we know as soap. According to the Caveman Chemist (interesting article here) saponification produces fatty acids, the names of which are all sodium somethingorotherate. The bottom line is that homemade soaps contain sodium and are alkaline (although aging the bars has something to do with how alkaline).

Concerns: are the same as for everything else, but honestly, I don't think I'm doing terrible bad on this one.

Shampoo - I just buy the junky stuff for dry hair because it's cheap. Ditto for conditioner. Shocking, I know.

Miscellaneous - Then there are all the little things that go down the drain, which may or may not be of concern. I'm not listing all of them, but am discovering that once I started analyzing this way, I realized that anything that goes on our bodies, ends up getting washed off.

• Body care: Things like facial care, salves, and lotions. I have very dry skin so I like to keep lotion around. I make some of my own but also buy Burt's Bees products (of which some are considered greywater safe by the experts).
• Deodorant: Yeah, even that gets washed off with a residue going down the drain. I've been using a deodorant stone for years. These are made of mineral salts (back to the salt again), although the synthetic ones are not pure.
• Toothpaste: Another one I wouldn't have thought of. My current toothpaste is also homemade. I got the recipe from this website: 
• 1/4 cup eggshell powder (I use shells from hard boiled eggs, drying thoroughly)
• 2 tbsp coconut oil (which is liquid in summer and solid in winter)
• 1 tbsp baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
• a few drops of essential oil if desired (usually peppermint)

All in all, I'd have to say I don't think I'm doing too badly. One thing I'm learning is that there are no perfect cleaning products.

Interested in seeing what's in the products you use? You can either try to track them down with numerous searches like I did, or try these sites (which I discovered after all my research).

• CPID - Consumer Product Information Database
• USHHS Household Products Database

They don't contain some of the newer natural products that are out, but they're a good starting point for doing your own research.

In my next post I'll share what products I can buy locally that are more greywater friendly. Click here to read it.

Analyzing My Current Cleaners: How Greywater Friendly Are They?

 © July 2016 by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Of Soap, Detergent, & Greywater

It's been a tough summer for gardening. We've been in the upper 90s since the beginning of May, with a stretch of 8 weeks and no rain. Even with heavy mulch and rainwater irrigation, my poor garden shifted from production mode to survival mode.

I took my garden soil's temperature the other day - 94°F (34°C)!
 What can grow in that! No wonder my harvest has been so poor.

By the time we'd emptied the last of our rainwater tanks, I couldn't help but think of all the water we're wasting as it goes down the drain to the septic tank.

Now, before anyone rushes to hit the comments to tell me I can't put greywater on my garden, please read the rest of the post. Dan and I have Art Ludwig's book and I highly recommend both his book and web page on greywater errors. Actually, I'm thinking more along the lines of modifying one of our original ideas for greywater use.

Sketch from "Homestead Master Plan, 2012 Revision."

That is, to use the water from the wetland filtration bed for some areas of the garden, and save the rainwater for root veggies and things we eat fresh.

I did my initial research on greywater while I was working on chapter nine of 5 Acres & A Dream The Book - "Water Self-Sufficiency." From that I still had unanswered questions; not so much the how and why, but the what. What products could I use in a greywater system that would be safe for plants?

Some things make sense to avoid and are fairly easy to do so by reading labels: chlorine bleach, anti-bacterials, synthetic colors and fragrances, whiteners, softeners, enzymes, and artificial preservatives. Other ingredients are pretty ubiquitous in cleaning products and more difficult to avoid, especially borax (boron) and sodium. My other concern is pH, because soaps and detergents make greywater alkaline.

Boron. In cleaning products, borax is the source of boron. Found on the laundry aisle at the grocery store, borax (sodium borate) is 11% boron. As a laundry cleaning booster, it cleans and whitens by converting some of the water molecules to hydrogen peroxide. Borax is also used as a boron supplement for boron deficient soil. Boron is an essential nutrient for plants, however, it can be toxic to them if allowed to accumulate. My soil is boron deficient, and it shows up as a clicking sound in my goats' knees. So in some ways, borax is not a major concern. This link to the Agronomic Library can give you details on boron if you're interested.

Sodium. Look at any ingredient list for soap, detergent. and cleaning products, and you'll find many a sodium something or other. Excessive soil sodium interferes with plants' ability to take up water so that they dry up. Plants can also experience toxic effects by accumulating too much sodium. Some of my soil tests have indicated high levels of sodium. What's the answer? According to Neil Kinsey, "An open soil with plenty of calcium and plenty of water will not permit sodium to accumulate." [Hands-On Agronomy, page 23. He has an entire chapter on soil sodium which is informative reading.] So even though there's somewhat of an answer for sodium, it's still something I would rather avoid.

pH. Almost all the products we tend to use as cleaners: washing soda, baking soda, soap, borax, etc. are alkaline. This can kill acid loving plants. My soil is actually quite acidic, so slightly alkaline water would offer some benefit and is probably the least of my concerns.

Ways to manage these problems in greywater systems include periodic flushing. Even better is to use pH neutral products that are not high in boron and sodium. This was the motivation behind this round of research.

I had two research goals. The first was how greywater friendly my current products actually are. I believe that we humans are intended to be stewards of the earth, which means we are responsible for what we do and how it impacts the earth's health. Consequently, I try to make conscientious choices in the things I use, but since I hadn't aimed for products that are specifically greywater safe, I wanted to know if I needed to make changes. This points to my second goal, which was to research what I could buy locally that would fit the bill. Putting everything I learned into one post made it too long, I thought, so I divided my results into two posts. Next I'll share what I've learned about the products I currently use.

Happily, it started raining again so my garden is back in production mode. Unfortunately so are the weeds, but that's another story.

Of Soap, Detergent, & Greywater © July 2016

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Waiting on New Saw Blades

The sawmill stands covered to protect it from rain.

Well, the barn project is at a standstill for the moment. Dan needed to order new blades for the saw mill, which means no lumber making until they arrive. In the meantime, he's been busy with a few projects which have been on the to-do list for quite awhile.

One weekend we rented a chipper for our numerous piles of brush. There are plenty of sticks and branches from firewood, but using our own trees for lumber had really created quite a few new piles. It was lovely to get the place cleaned up, and very nice to get all that much-needed mulch.

I would so love to have an industrial-size chipper of our own, but even used ones are out of our price range.

Another clean-up project was to clear out the barn-building area, where we've been storing various materials. Things like a pile of railroad ties we got for free when the railroad company tore up a nearby track to make a bike trail. We've debated what to do with them, and finally decided to use them for a project that went on our 2012 Master Plan.

Idea for laundry greywater soil filtration bed. The pergolas would be used
for vining plants to shade the windows from the afternoon summer sun.

Dan used the ties to make the bed.

It will be awhile before we get the greywater hooked up, the front bedroom windows replaced, the rest of the siding put up and painted, the pergolas built, and catchment tanks hooked up to the downspouts, but it's a step in the right direction.

The next thing Dan did was to finally put in the garden gates. Two years ago this month we put up a fence around the garden in hopes of deterring deer and stray dogs from destroying it. Dan allowed for two gates to access the garden from the front of the property. We weren't ready to install the gates at the time, so the openings have been closed off with welded wire fencing.

The first gate is wide enough for a vehicle to pass through.

This allows large and heavy equipment access to the garden and also the new doe pasture beyond.

The second gate is a smaller equipment gate for the tiller, lawn or sickle mowers, or my large garden cart.

Dan made his own latch for this one.

I have one more project to show you, but it deserves a blog post of its own. I'll tell you all about it next time.

Waiting on New Saw Blades © June 2016 by

Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

We Think We Found The Old Well

Dan may have found the old well. He recently looked online for tips on finding old wells, and we think it's been under our very noses all along.

There is a broken cap lying around somewhere too.

The pipe as you can see, has been filled with dirt and likely the well is too, either because it's dry or because the residents wanted municipal water when it became available. Our neighbor told us his old well is dry. Like us, they'd hoped to use their's for watering their garden.

Arrow points to location of the pipe we think indicates the old well.
Also note the dryer vent to the left below the porch windows.

The only "bad" thing is that it's located so close to the house, as in inches from the foundation. I say that because I don't like the idea of having to dig so close to the foundation to figure out if it indeed is the old well, and whether or not it's salvageable.

We need to know, because we've already got an idea for the greywater from the washing machine on the back porch.

Idea for laundry greywater soil filtration bed. The sketch also includes a
gate across the driveway from our  privacy fence / firewood storage area

The idea entails building a greywater soil filtration bed along that side of the house. Because it gets the blazing summer sun in late afternoon, we'd like to frame the windows with pergolas, and grow something vining for summer window shade. I don't know what yet, but something that doesn't mind the alkaline laundry water. In the sketch above we've also finished off the privacy fence/firewood storage with a gate.

Before we can get to that, we need to finish the outside of the house on that side. That's a job of work because it involves upgrading the old, original windows, and new siding. The bedrooms (middle one at least) are next on the house goal list  after the bathroom (on hold till warmer weather). Every time we've replaced a window we've had to do the exterior siding as well. I reckon what I'm getting at is that there are a number of steps to be done first, so we have some time to investigate.

It would be wonderful to have the old well as a source of irrigation water at least. Even better if the water was potable. That's all speculation and we're not even positive it is the old well. It will be interesting to find out.

We Think We Found The Old Well © March 2013 

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Homestead Master Plan, 2012 Revision

Although we continually seem to be analyzing what we're doing and evaluating what we've done, once a year we try to put it all down on our master plan. We drew up our first one in 2009, the year we bought the place. Every year we get to know the place a little better, and what we want to do with it a little better. I actually didn't think we had many changes to make, but after talking about things, we did make a few. Things in red on the sketch below are what's on the drawing board.

Copies of all our master plans are available in my book, 5 Acres & A
Dream The Book: The Challenges of Establishing a Self-Sufficient
Homestead. For more information, click here.

The biggest change is in where we've been growing our grain. (Compare to last year's master plan, here.) This year, it's labeled "pigs". While it seemed a logical place for grain at the time, the ground was neglected for so many years that it seems impossible to overcome the morning glories, blackberries, kudzu, and other unwanteds established there. Goats do a good job of brush clearing, but after reading Sepp Holzer and Joel Salatin, the best solution for getting to the root of the problem seems to be pigs.

This would not be a permanent area for pigs, but will be where we'll put them this spring. If that goes well and we want to continue with them, rotating their location with temporary fencing makes more sense. Ever since reading an article about Australian pasture cropping in the July issue of Acres USA, I've been wondering why we couldn't modify the concept with pigs; fence off a pig area in one of the pastures every year, and follow with a grain & legume crop right there in the pasture (keeping the fence up of course;). After harvest, the goats and chickens feast on the remains and we can reseed as needed for pasture.

Our previously designated pig area, will be fenced for a doe browse. We will enlarge it by extending existing fences to meet along the property line. This will make a triangle shaped area, as you can see on the plan. This area is of particular concern because it is loaded with invading kudzu and poison ivy, all creeping our way. The goats will keep all that at bay.

A barn (or maybe barns, we haven't decided yet), is always under discussion and we really haven't settled on "the" spot. A central location makes the most sense, with fences and gating to give all animals access to various pasture and browse areas. Having a pie shaped piece of property makes that a little more challenging. Our current outbuildings (one for animal housing and one for workshop/tool storage) are becoming increasingly dilapidated with use, and eventually we're going to have to replace them both. Our carport is also in deplorable condition, so that neither of us will be surprised if we wake up one morning and find it tumbled down!

Current thinking is to tear down the "coal barn," and rebuild in the same footprint. This would become a real workshop for Dan on one side, and a milking parlor over the existing concrete slab. We could run a water line to it so I'd have running water there. (Add a small point-of-use water heater and it would be absolutely deluxe). We could also add a carport onto the front. The old carport could become an outdoor room, with an outdoor oven, barbecue grill, smoker, picnic table, etc.

Loafing shelter and hay storage would be a separate building. I'm thinking movable fencing could make pens as needed (kidding, kids, etc). Poultry housing would go here too, though not the guineas. From what I've read about guineas, home is home is home. They don't take to being moved around so I figure we might as well start them where we want them, near the buck barn because the woods are full of ticks.

Fencing is an ongoing project. We've pretty much finished the privacy fence / wood storage, and eventually hope to add a gate across the driveway and finish it to the house. We'd also fence the other side of the yard so that if we ever get a dog again (sigh), he'll have run of the back yard.

The other fencing concern is the red line you see on the left side of the property. Currently it's wire mesh and a row of crepe myrtles. The rental house though, sees lots of folks come and go. While everyone always seems nice enough, young children especially are attracted to the goats. They want to see the goats, pet the goats, feed the goats, throw things at the goats, hit the goats, hang on the fence, pull on the fence, climb the fence. You get the picture. Since the incident last spring with the neighbor's dog, we've been thinking "out of sight, out of mind" is the best solution. A privacy fence along here however, would be neither cheap (long stretch) nor easy to install (tons of tree roots). It's on the plan however, even if it's just one panel at a time.

We've left the pond on the plan too, though that isn't even on the radar. Still, it's good to have these things in mind as future plans are made. Honey bees too. Also eventually digging out the old swimming pool and building a greenhouse over the top. The pool itself could be the foundation for the greenhouse and a good spot for a root cellar in the greenhouse "basement."

One thing in the planning stage that I couldn't fit on the sketch, is the greywater areas we've been discussing.

Sketch of ideas for greywater.

With the hall bathroom scheduled as our next indoor project, we've been trying to finalize a plan. All the plumbing is at the back of the house. Part of it we'd like to drain and filter with a greywater wetland. This would be used to irrigate the field on the other side of the fence. Next to the house, laundry water would drain into a raised bed greywater garden. This side of the house is where the bedrooms are and faces southwest. I'd like to frame the two bedroom window with pergola type trellises, and plant deciduous vines there to shade the windows from the hot summer sun. These would be watered with the laundry greywater.

This is a long term plan and will likely change again next year. What it does for us though, is gives us a framework for decision making. It keeps us from spontaneously building something that would be in the way a few years down the road. If you're interested in seeing the original master plan and our progression of ideas, check out the following links:

• 2009
• 2010
• 2011

Copies of my homestead plans can also be found in 5 Acres & A Dream The Book.

Homestead Master Plan, 2012 Revision © Sept. 2012
by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Assessing for Water Conservation Systems

One of our 2011 homestead goals, is to begin to utilize water conservation systems. By this of course, I mean rainwater collection and greywater recycling. With the current house project being the second bathroom, it seemed the right time to begin planning in that direction. After all, shower and sink water are a greywater resource we don't want to waste down the drain.

We have city water and a septic system, so for us, using rain and greywater for irrigation make sense for a number of reasons. One reason is stewardship. This not only includes wise use of our planet's resources, but also of what we personally have responsibility for. For example, our small, potentially easy to overflow 750 gallon septic tank. Or the foundation of our home, which would benefit from not having rainwater discharged directly onto the ground via the gutters, as is the case now.

Stewardship includes our finances. Would we rather pay for 100% of our water usage, or invest that money in something else for the homestead? Something that will enable us to become more self-reliant and cut down on the income we need to support ourselves.

This relates to our second reason, self-sufficiency. Self-sufficiency to us, means not only being self-sustaining, but also not having to rely solely on a larger system to meet our basic needs. That's one of our major goals, to whatever extent we can manage. We work toward alternatives in the event any part of the larger system fails, or costs skyrocket beyond our humble means. Last summer's annual dry spell doubled our water bill. We realized we need to do something about that.

The first step was to check state and local codes for greywater restrictions. After that, we worked on clarifying our goals and expectations. They're explained above, but to put them succinctly, conservation and irrigation.

The second step was to evaluate our particular situation in terms of sources and needs. We started by making a sketch from our master plan.

Click for full size

Green areas are our irrigation needs, current and future. Currently we need to water the vegetable garden, fruit trees and shrubs, a perennial bed (leftmost, currently strawberries, comfrey, almond & crabapple trees), and herb and flower beds in the front yard. Future needs include the rest of the front yard once its converted to more herb beds and edible landscaping, a shade garden ("Bird Garden" on the sketch), and a patch for grain crops (upper right).

Blue areas in the house, indicate greywater sources:
#1 - hall bathroom and washing machine (on back porch)
#2 - kitchen sink
#3 - 2nd bathroom

Currently these all drain into the septic tank, indicated by the orange circle.

Little red circles indicate downspouts. Having a gutter system already in place will make it easier for creating a rain water catchment system. I didn't mark it on the sketch, but this water collects in driveway to the left of the car port and beyond.

Another consideration is the lay of the land, i.e, slope. Obviously this determines where and how the water is delivered. Our highest elevation is at the front of the property, near the road. It slopes downward toward the back of the property. I was able to piece together a rough topographical map of our property from some online county resources ...

Click for larger

When we took a closer look at it however (you can too, just click on the map), we discovered it isn't entirely accurate. It's true that the house sits on the highest elevation, but the yard isn't as level as the map seems to indicate. There is a four foot drop in slope from the front to the back of the house, especially along that southeast side. This presents a challenge because obviously water won't flow uphill without  help.

The next step will be logistics. This will be more challenging, because we have to consider where each water source is to be utilized and how to get it there. For example, greywater is excellent for watering things like fruit trees, but not recommended for root crops.

With all of this under our belt, we can begin exploring plans and options. We'll need an overall plan before we can focus on any one area. Preliminary research makes us realize that while the concept for greywater recycling is simple, implementation has its pitfalls, of which we must take care. In other words, we've got to do our homework!

All this is going to take time to research and apply to our situation. Just doing the analysis feels like progress however. Developing and implementing a specific plan will be much slower going. I'll keep you updated though, as we work on figuring it all out.

Assessing for Water Conservation Systems © January 2011 

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/