"Self-sufficiency does not mean 'going back' to the acceptance of a lower standard of living. On the contrary, it is the striving for a higher standard of living, for food that is organically grown and good, for the good life in pleasant surroundings... and for the satisfaction that comes from doing difficult and intricate jobs well and successfully." John Seymour ~ Self Sufficiency 2003

Saturday 27 October 2012

Heavens Bounty

Firstly, please join me in welcoming Lynni.
Lynni doesn't appear to have a blog - Lynni, if I'm wrong please let me know.  Thanks for hitting the followers button :)

Update: Lynni's blog can be found at: http://all--in--the--family.blogspot.com/

To quote from her profile info: she is: "a mum and foster mum to 12 now 13 great kids. We live in suburbia and try to live a 'greener' life. I make our bread,bake in a woodstove, cook from scratch, knit, crochet and sew, grow vegetables and some fruit, keep chickens, make soap and natural cleaning products. I have lot's of recipe books but never know what to have for dinner. I wish there were more hours in the day and I wish there were no fruit fly."

Lynni - huge admiration to you from me - where do you get the stamina to be mum to that number of children...!

Btw, I l-o-v-e your Esse Ironheart Woodstove :)  Where did you find it?


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Now that the gutters are up we have started harvesting our rain water.

RMan schlepped two 1000lt tanks with us from town.  They had been used to store oil for a bakery, and, once empty, were just standing in the veld, doing nothing.  A good clean out with vinegar, and vinegar and water, although messy, eventually did the job.

RMan and John, our local part-time labourer, sorted out the slab base for the tank(s).  We needed to get the inlet fittings for the large 5000lt tank we purchased from our local co-op, so for the meantime we steered the water to the smaller 1000lt tank.
The gutter downpipe first got connected to the
smaller tank
Big(ger) Brother was watching, so Little Tank behaved herself.
Don't they look cute, sitting side by side on the
concrete slab.  Only the side of the garage roof
facing you in this picture caught over 500lts

of rainwater from 15mls of rain - that's from
 a roof at 45° measuring 9 mtrs long.
Over 500lts of rain water was captured from 15mls of rain which fell only on one side of the garage roof.
Only 15mls of rain gave
us over 500lts
We have since purchased another 5000lt tank.

Bearing in mind that we only connected the one large tank to the downpipes late on Thursday and the other one at lunchtime on Saturday, after the 180mm of rain which fell from Wednesday to Sunday last week, we now have 2 X full 1000lt tanks, one 5000lt tank that is over 3/4 full and the other 5000lt tank has about 3000 lts.  And we have an overflowing dam once again :)

We will need to purchase a further two 5000lt tanks - for the two other downpipes.  And then we're planning on buying a further four 5000lt tanks, which we will place on the highest point of the property.  As strange as it may seem, 2 X 500lt tanks are cheaper than 1 X 10 000lt tank!

That will eventually give us a total water storage of 42 000 ltrs (9 - 10 000 gal) of precious rain water.  Could come in handy :)

As soon as the tanks at the base of the downpipes are full, the contents will be pumped up to the 4 X storage tanks.  To pump the water it looks like RMan will be buying a petrol powered pump - and he has a choice of two.  One has a 30mtr head pump, and will do an adequate job.  The other is strong enough, and is designed, to pump water with hectic pressure in order to fight fires.  Given our long, hot, windy summers that may better suit our purposes...

RMan says he's still deciding, but I know (him) better.  He was originally talking about sorting out a solar powered pump, but, given the area's susceptibility to summer fires, I think that the more reliable source of moving the water (in case it's ever needed for fire fighting) may be the wiser option.  Just in case it is ever required...

10 comments:

  1. Thanks for the warm welcome. I have loves taking time reading your posts.
    My blog is http://all--in--the--family.blogspot.com.au/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Linn - You're very welcome - with an without the pun LOL. Thanks for the info - I have updated your info above :)

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  2. Dani, with all your crops and trees I'd imagine you will need all the water storage and collection you can get.

    Maybe RMan might want to check in to a trash pump. That would let him pump water from the pond for fire fighting rather than using the good stuff in the tanks?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. David - We're not sure if our dam will hold water through summer yet. we were told it takes a dam 3 years to collect enough silt to "block" the drainage. This is the 4th year, so let's see...

      We're not just worried about our crops though. Our drinking water supply can be erratic - so boiled rain water will help :)

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  3. Wow, that's way cool! I posted earlier this year about putting in some rain barrels this fall when we get our gutters up but these would make much more sense. Probably only fit one on the back corner of our farmhouse but it would be a great extra water source. Thank you for the inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 1st Man - They are not "pretty" rain water storage barrels, but, if they do the job, who cares? :)

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  4. Lovely! We have 4 tanks just like your square one. We're getting ready to try and hook up two of them soon.

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    Replies
    1. Leigh - It's dead easy to hook them up - providing you have gutters LOL

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  5. we have one of these at my parents' house in durban. a great way to water the garden in the drier months...

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    Replies
    1. Sprig - Given the water situation in this country, I reckon every house should have one :)

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Thank you for taking the time to comment - it makes my day and removes the "loneliness' of sitting at my screen blogging supposedly to myself ;) I try and reply as quickly as possible so please forgive me if sometimes my response is delayed.