Wow, off in the middle of the day. Today our office had a luncheon in the big city. After driving 1 1/2 hours to get to work, they wanted us to work for 3 1/2 hours, drive 1 1/2 hours to get to the city, eat lunch, drive 1 1/2 hours back to the office, work a couple more hours then drive 1 1/2 hours home. I said I wasn't doing that. If they wouldn't let me just go home after the lunch then I wasn't going to the lunch. I don't care that the extra three hours of driving was on the clock. I wasn't going to drive six hours today. They said fine, go to the luncheon then take the afternoon off. The grand kids don't get home for another two hours so here I am, wasting some time on the computer. Soon I will go out and do some chores. I miss being outside during daylight!
Although it's supposed to rain it's just going to be a trace. Normally between February and March we get about 5 inches of rain. This year it's about one inch. We are way below our normal. I'm worried about the water. I've never had a water problem. The water is between 10 and 12 feet below the surface. There is plenty. But what this nice underground river dries up? What if somewhere before it gets to me it gets pumped up by the city or county? What if the farmers water deliveries don't come and they pump it all out? I am looking at the water tanks this weekend and hopefully by the end of the month or so I'll be the proud owner of a new water tank.
I don't want one that can be seen by all. My next door neighbor has a 3000 gallon tank on the side of their house. So does the neighbor past them. The tanks are in the yard for all to see. Since I have three barns and the center one is usually pretty empty, I wonder if it could go there? That would be about 50 feet from the well so the water would have to travel aways to get to the tank but the tank would be next to the garden. Also, if the well went dry I could patch up the rain gutters from the barns and direct the rain water into the tanks. Although we are always told that in an emergency you only need a gallon or two of water per day, that isn't taking into account needing to water your plants or the animals. I don't live in an area where you can grow a garden with summer rain. We don't get summer rain. Established fruit trees will provide some fruit if they don't get watered during the summer but the trees won't last for too many years if they aren't watered.
At one point I'd tried to figure out how much water I use to water my trees and garden. The problem was I am not precise in watering. I will stand with a hose until I get bored at that tree. It's always enough water but may be more than needed. I don't know. It's not too hard to figure out how much water I use. Turn on the hose to the strength it's going to be used then fill up a one gallon or five gallon bucket. How long did it take? 1 minute filled two gallons? Then 15 minutes of the water being on will use 30 gallons. One hour of watering will use 120 gallons. Easy to figure out. Now I just have to do it with all the trees, the garden, and the animals.
If I used 120 gallons a day in the garden then my 3000 gallon tank wouldn't even last 3 months. That would be a lot of hand pumping if I don't get a solar pump or figure out some other way to fill the tank. Could a stationary bike be rigged to pump the water? I'm sure I could find that on YouTube.
The grapes just started putting out leaves. It's going to be a good year for grapes. The vines have been in for several years. I may even be able to make some wine! Looking forward to that.
Listened to the news on the way home. The interest rates are not going to go up for another year or two at least. Unemployment is still going to stay high. The government is buying their own bonds to keep things stable. This strategy I will never understand. At some point aren't things going to crash because the government can't really buy their own bonds. It's a scam that would put the average citizen into prison. It is making me want to push for self sufficiency and sustainability NOW.
I'd better go outside and take care of things. Peace and quiet and daylight isn't going to last much longer.
An afternoon off unexpectedly is one of life's pleasures. For me is a cancelled meeting or a rainy day during baseball season.But no rain now.
ReplyDeleteWe have a makeshift rain barrel system, though it really isn't a system just a few barrels. We also have a stock tank for cooling off in the summer that is used to store water and us used to water the fruit trees. If you could hide the big barrel, it would be great. We just have to disguise ours.
Water storage is what we've been talking about lately also. Living in the desert we do, it has to be something that is planned for or we could get caught unprepared.
Good luck with the wine. We have made great vinegar in the past. It definitely is something to work at and takes time.