Rainwater Catchment (At Last)

Rainwater catchment is a project we've been wanting to implement ever since we bought the place. Two years ago we developed a water conservation plan for both rain and greywater, based on observing drainage patterns around the place. About a year and a half ago, Dan found 275 gallon food grade tanks for a fair price and bought four, with a view toward rainwater collection. This project made it to our 2013 homestead goal list, and while I was painting the bathroom, Dan took two of the tanks and hooked them up to one of our downspouts.

Our 1st rainwater catchment set-up.  More to come.

These tanks stack well, so this set-up gives us the potential to catch and store 500 gallons of rainwater. Placement of the tanks was tough, because we didn't want to block the window, and putting them at the corner of the house would block the path to the garden between the house and carport.

The horizontal pipe from the downspout to the tank has a slight downward slope, to allow water to gravity feed into the top tank.

Dan cut a hole in the tank cap for for the corrugated hose.

The upper tank drains into the lower tank.

Tanks are connected

This not only doubles our storage capacity, but will help with water pressure when the tanks are full.

[UPDATE: April 15 - We had a leak at the connection but have solved the problem. Details on that and  how much water we're collecting are here, Rainwater Catchment Update.]

The tanks already had shut-off valves, so Dan added a hose bib onto the bottom tank so we can hook up an ordinary garden hose.

Bottom tank is fitted with a hose bib to enable
irrigating the garden with a regular hose & sprinkler

To prevent leaves and dirt from entering the tanks, he added a clean-out plug.

Clean-out plug.

Initial rainfall washes debris off the roof and into the tube. Once the tube is full, water flows into the tanks. Theoretically, only clean rainwater should enter the tanks. The end cap can be unscrewed to empty the drain pipe. I admit I was wondering about this, since it is so high off the ground. It does require a ladder, which is not really a problem, but I pictured water going everywhere as I tried to catch it in a bucket. The end cap is not a tight fit however, so that all the water had slowly dripped out by the time I went to empty it. All that was left in the clean out was a few leaves.

The roof surface area here is roughly 100 square feet. Our curiosity was obliged that very night, with a third of an inch of rain. This gave us two inches in the bottom tank. About a day later we got another 2/3 of an inch. That one inch total brought the water level up to the 50 gallon mark.

We're considering this experimental for the time being. We've learned that many of our projects need adjustments and tweaking as we go along. We have the option of connecting the other downspout to these tanks if we wish, but we'll wait to see how much rainfall it takes the one downspout to fill the tanks and how long that lasts. One thing I will likely have to do, is to paint the tanks because summer sun will encourage algae growth, which we'll want to avoid. Dan also wants to add an overflow of some sort. Other than that we've had a little leakage around the valves, but nothing that couldn't be easily taken care of.

This is the first project completed from our 2013 goal list!  I have to admit, that alone feels pretty good.

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Rainwater Catchment (At Last) © January 2013 

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

Bathroom Remodel: Walls

Dan had a week's vacation over the holidays, and we put the time to good use by working on the bathroom. Once he finished the plumbing and electrical work, it was time to do the walls. Because of the window, we had decided to panel the walls, and initially liked the idea of T1-11. After a bit of research I found an interior grade (i.e. not made with formaldehyde) T1-11 look panel. These cost about $27 per panel. We also considered barn board look panels from the same manufacturer. These sell for around $19 per panel. We needed 7, 4x8 foot panels, so going with the barn board look meant a $56 savings to do the entire bathroom. We really liked the T1-11 look, but not $56 more, so we went with the less expensive panels.

Wall panels installed & ready to be painted.

These panels are not primed, so I primed them first and then painted.

Walls painted. The space heater is for the next step.

It's hard to tell the true color in the above photo. I just wanted an off-white neutral, but there are millions of them. I found myself missing the days when our choices were white, soft white, and antique white. After awhile, they all started to look alike, so I just picked one. It looked fine on the color chip but when I started painting, it had a peachy pink cast that alarmed me. I got about halfway done and had to walk away from it for awhile, because the color didn't look right. Fortunately it dried okay.

The next step is the ceiling. We would have done that the next day, but the recommendations for the ceiling tile adhesive are a minimum room and surface temperature of 64° F for 48 hours. Since that room stays about 55 to 57° F, we plugged in a space heater set at a low temperature. Once we get the ceiling done (that post here), we can get started on the floor.

Bathroom Remodel: Walls © January 2013 

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

Homestead Goals For 2013

I think I say this every year, but every year it's no less true - I prefer goals to resolutions. Resolutions seem too set in stone, and to not keep them is seen as a failure. Goals on the other hand, are flexible and adaptable. They can be evaluated and changed if need be. They allow for the unexpected, and for changing one's mind.

Our goals for 2013 seemed easier to write than in years past. Initially there was so much to do here that we needed them for direction. Now things seem clearer as to what's next. They are still a good reference however, and it's especially helpful to make such a list in the first place.

Here is what we hope to be working on in 2013:

House: House projects pretty much have a work flow at this point. As we complete one, we will move on the the next and will continue down the list. How much we'll accomplish in 2013 remains to be seen and depends on how many unexpected problems we run into! Here are the next steps:

• Finish the hall bathroom. This is the current project.
• Move on to the middle bedroom. This room is actually the second step in creating a master suite; the bathroom is the first step. The suite will include both of these, as well as a study for Dan, which we'll make from part of the 5 foot wide hallway. (Original floor plan here, proposed floor plan here.)
• Ideally we'll finish all that this winter (ha!). This summer, we'd like to start on the front porch before it falls down. It will have to be completely rebuilt due to foundation and structural problems. This must be done before we can continue replacing the old siding for the house (a project first started October of 2011).

Fencing: This is next on the list. It will be ongoing it seems, until the entire property is fenced! Like the house, we will keep working on it until we finish, whether this year or beyond. For sure this year:

• Fence the browse area in the woods for the does. We plan to work on this after we finish the bathroom.
• After that we have a couple of choices:
  
  • Privacy fence on the rental house side. Renters come and go and we feel this is a necessity because the goats are too attractive to their dogs and children. Our experience has not been good with either one.
  • Finish fencing the yard around the house. At first this was just a privacy fence which doubles as a place to store firewood. However, roaming dogs are motivating us to fence in the entire yard. We seem to be a dog magnet! I can't tell you how many times stray dogs have come and upset the chickens and the goats. 

Rain Catchment: we want to at least get a start on this. We have all the materials for one corner of the house, and just need to set aside some time to put it together. That will probably be after we finish the bathroom.

Garden:

• No specific goal here except to make it a primary focus again. Last year the garden was put somewhat on the back burner because of the kitchen remodel. There were many days I had to press on with kitchen projects and neglect the garden. Now that the kitchen is done, I can get back to full time gardening.
• I did however, decide to challenge myself, in what is probably the closest I'll come to a resolution. Based on Carla Emery's concept of 365 days of independent eating, I decided to resurrect my garden journal to try to record at least something everyday toward that concept. Details on "Day 1" of my garden journal. 

Pasture Improvement: This year we'll focus on the buck pasture. I'll have the soil tested soon and start getting soil amendments. The plan is to plant it in corn and cowpeas this summer, and pasture in the fall.

Animal Shelters: Eventually we'd like to have a rain, sun, & wind shelter in each fenced area. At the start, we're considering temporary hoop shelters made from cattle panels and tarps. That will make them inexpensive to make and easy to move. We'll need two this summer.

• One for the bucks, because of the soil improvement project. They will have to spend the summer in the front pasture and will need rain shelter.
• The other for pigs, which we plan only to have over the summer. They will live in last year's grain field.  

Outbuildings: a real barn would be too expensive to build, so we're going to make do with what we already have, insofar as they are structurally sound. It took awhile to come to that decision, and was based in part by being able to visualize our outbuildings and barnyard as a whole. We have a general plan in mind now, so this year, the goal will be:

• Build a new chicken coop. The exsisting shed can then be used just for goats.
• Guinea house - in the buck browse because that's where all the ticks are
• Turkey house - we only plan to keep a few turkeys. Perhaps a portable house for them? According to Joel Salatin, turkeys are excellent at weeding corn (once it gets too tall for them to eat).

I know the list seems long but fortunately, it's not a checklist where we start at the top and work our way to the bottom. We like to have both indoor and outdoor projects because of the weather. Some of these projects that will take only a few days to complete, or at most a week or two: the rain catchment project, pasture improvement, and the shelters. Others are larger projects and will take weeks to months to complete, such as the master suite, fencing, and possibly the chicken coop. And as I mentioned, some are just the next step, whether this year or next.

It seems that when I share my goal lists every January 1st, many folks comment how ambitious our lists are. At the end of the year, comments for my "year in review" posts focus on how much we've accomplished. As an encouragement to others, I'd like to say that the key to success is to not look at the list in its entirety and think, "that's impossibly long!" Rather, we just take it a day at a time, a project at a time. Some days we work on indoor projects, some days outdoor projects. "By the inch it's a cinch, by the yard it's hard" as the saying goes. Before you know it, all those inches add up to a project complete. :)

Homestead Goals For 2013  © January 2013 

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