Setting up Automatic Watering Systems on a Shoestring

It's hot, it's really hot here in north Texas.

The heat has made it difficult to move along with some of the projects, but is mandating others.

The chickens, ducks, rabbits, and plants all need a lot more water every day. Some inexpensive supplies have been collected from Amazon. Metal watering nipples, some clear plastic hose, T-connectors, and spigots that can be mounted in 5 gallon buckets.

Most of the buckets were collected from nearby restaurants. While 5 gallon buckets are inexpensive at the home improvement stores, "free" is better.

The rabbits have a large barn fan, and the cages are shaded. The quart size watering bottles have been changed out to 2 liter soda bottles, but need to get refilled at least twice a day.

Replacing the water bottles with water lines will allow a couple 5 gallon buckets to ensure the rabbits have plenty of water. Blocks of ice can be added to cool the water and lower heat stress.

The container garden is also showing signs of heat stress! After watering this morning, it was only a few hours before plants were wilting in the Texas heat.

The container garden of a few years ago had a soaker hose laid across the tops of the plant pots. It worked fine in that situation.

However, this time it needs to be a stand alone system. A small submersible water pump has been ordered as well as another 50 feet of clear tubing. Like the soaker hose of the prior garden, the tubing will be laid over the top of the containers. A couple holes will be made with an awl above each plant so a small amount of water can drip. The pump can be adjusted to whatever water flow is necessary, and with a switched plug indoors, can be turned off or on at need.
Cost for both systems is under $90.

The plant pots got moved a little further north in the front yard, so they will have some shade, but where the potting bench got set up was in full sun. The heat this afternoon got to be a bit much. Some more work will get done when it gets shaded again.

Here are the links to what I've used for these projects. Take advantage of my penny-pinching search queen results! (these are Amazon Affiliate links. If you use these links to get your supplies, it helps me - a LOT)

5 gallon bucket spigot
small water pump
rabbit watering nipples

An Announcement From Princess Mocha

I've instructed my servant to change the title of this blog to reflect one of the goals of the farm.

That is; to EARN a living with the activities the human servants perform. I do need to be fed in the way to which I've become accustomed.

The title is now: Art-earnative Life Farm

Salvage Materials: A few Thoughts on Creatively Sourcing Needed Items

The retail cost of materials for building projects can really put a roadblock in planning a homestead.

Lumber in particular can put many projects on hold. With a little bit of patience, and a fair amount of effort, salvaging lumber can be an option.

The opportunities and options for using pallets are well known. We've been collecting pallets for several months.

Several projects are planned with the use of pallets.

The deck that will form the basis of my new studio will be pallets, Most of the rabbitry and duck coop will be constructed from pallets, as will most of the skirting on the house. Raised beds for the garden will have half-pallet high sides to lower the need for bending over. The compost pile containment is already constructed of pallets, and the firewood storage will be made of pallets also. The uses of this free resource are nearly unlimited.

The term "free" is used with a few caveats. The trade-off of time for money is rather direct since gathering pallets does take time, effort, and gasoline. Large pallets can easily weigh over 70 pounds apiece. While some projects do not require the disassembly of the pallets, the aesthetics may not be acceptable. Where the disassembly of the pallets is necessary, more preparation work is needed.

Some pallets are made from treated lumber, and the uses for these are more limited. In particular, treated lumber pallets should not be used in living spaces, or in contact with soil used for growing food crops. Disposing of the scraps of treated pallets in the wood stove is particularly hazardous.

This past week brought a blessing in the form of several pick-up loads of lumber from a repair shop that was raising their roof to install vehicle lifts. Liability issues may make this more problematic in some areas, but a case of liquid refreshment(s) may lubricate more creative thinking. Workmen may be willing to load a pick-up and trailer instead of filling a dumpster, for example.

The lumber from this haul appears to be full-dimension red oak lumber. Possibly over 70 years old, it would be a crying shame for this to end up in the landfill. First thoughts suggest that this may become the framing for some of the planned additions. A good deal of preparation work will be needed to remove nails and bolts.

We've also been gifted with a rather sizable pile of vinyl siding. There are a few uses under discussion, but it probably will not be on the exterior of any of the projects here on the homestead. Since it will not rot, it may be used as a liner for raised beds, or on the interior of the rabbitry.

A neighbor did not need this set of porch steps once he upgraded his porch construction. These are well built and will be the steps off the back porch. It took a fair bit of main muscle power to load these onto and off the pick-up truck.

Cull wood is sometimes available from the home improvement stores near us. This can be a very inexpensive source of broken bundles of flooring, trim paneling, floor tiles, even some dimension lumber.

We have quite a bit of cedar closet liner from one of these cull wood hauls. This is quite attractive, and the thought for using this is to combine it with pallet wood pieces to cover the side of the kitchen counter, a back splash, and possibly a wood patchwork feature wall.

Odds and ends of screening, extra light fixtures, flooring, barn metal, plastic roofing, and much more have also been collected.

Storage of all of these resources can be a bit of a headache, and with the recent additions, more re-arranging and preparation will need to be done.

Still, having these resources will save a great deal of money, and creates opportunities for more creative living.

End Of The Year Letter

We just got your Christmas card. So much has happened this year, that I figured an email would be a better response. 

Rahn and I moved the trailer last March we were renting to some family land that Rahn's sister Karen transferred to us. It was quite the rodeo! 

About 45 miles and $1,200, we got it to the property.

The house mover dropped it into a ditch when the trailer tongue collapsed. It took about a week for him to come back with a skid steer to drag it around and into place.  Another week, and he came back again to get it leveled and up on piers. 

During this time, we were working in town for a few days at a time, and came home one night to discover that the house had been burglarized.  It was heart-breaking, but friends did get my antique sewing machine and my custom-made spinning wheel replaced.

We got grid electric hooked up in the middle of April. Rahn has been working on getting stairs and porches built. 

Over the summer, we worked on a number of handyman jobs away from the house. 

The projects here at "Art-Ternative Life Farm" are many and varied. We started with meat rabbits, I plan to build a very large garden for next year. Eventually, we expect it to cover our acre of property, and hope to get the adjoining half acre as well.

The rabbit kits are just too stinkin' cute. We've agreed that only the breeding stock gets named, though.

Rahn started an addition to the house for my art and weaving studio for my birthday on December 5th. He had to pause the same day, as he needs to get some plumbing done for our rainwater harvesting system before he blocks access to that part of the underside of the house. 

Another birthday present was this vintage sewing machine. With a manufacture date of 1972, it's the newest of my little collection. The eldest is a 1924 Singer treadle, and the 1957 and 1962 Singers fill in the middle. I'll be doing a lot of sewing for sale on Amazon handmade page, as well as my AmedaDesigns FB page.

I have lots of spinning, knitting, painting, wood-burning, jewelry, and other projects going. I'm looking forward to having a more organized space to work in! 

Rahn's youngest sister gave him a boat that need some work done on it. Since Lake Texoma is so close, we hope to have it ready to go into the water by this spring. 

Meanwhile, he's doing a fair bit of smoking on "da Beast" a smoker converted from a restaurant vent hood.  

We're planning to add ducks to the homestead this spring, and figure that we'll doing our best to at least get our ducks in a group, even if we can't get them in a row. 

All our best, Ameda and Rahn

Projects Coming Up and Lists

by Ameda Holmes

It seems to be quite ordinary to have multiple projects going at once. Whether it has to do with the multiplicity of chores that need to be done on a developing homestead, updating and repairing clothing, decor changes to the living spaces, improving organization, and creating items for sale, the project list sometimes seems to be getting longer as items are completed.

This doesn't bother me at all. The production measured against my project list is quite satisfying. I did discover that I do have to create lists in order to keep from getting overwhelmed and confused. While I have received dismissive comments to the effect that the detail in my lists is unnecessary, I have found the detail is not only satisfying as it gets checked off, but needful actions don't get overlooked.

There is a daily chore list where individual items just get a checkmark as completed. Making the bed, feeding animals, doing dishes, taking out trash, etc.

A weekly list includes items such as dealing with leftovers. For example, freezing meals for the next week, making stew from left over meats and veggies. Baking bread, any cleaning and organizing projects, and mending, laundry & putting clothes away. With the guys working on remodeling and painting projects away from the homestead during the week, there is a need for portable meals to avoid additional expense.

A monthly list consists of the bills and due dates. While not actually projects, this is a very important part of our household organization. It is also where we schedule spending for materials and equipment.

While most of the homestead construction projects are on the shoulders and strength of the male half of this partnership, I do have input on appearance, priority and problem-solving. I also have some personal projects that are within my strength and energy level. This is a longer term list, as the time / money / energy equation gets continually updated.

A few items on the current list include:
Porch / greenhouse / dining room on the west side of the house. The entry stairs and first 8'x10' porch are mostly completed, though the white fabric awning needs to be replaced with a roof. The awning got taken down this week, though the new roof needs some purchased materials before it can go up.
We have a pile of reclaimed corrugated plastic roofing for this, and hopefully we have enough for the greenhouse as well.

A 16'x16' deck / porch on the east side of the house that will eventually (hopefully this winter) get enclosed for my studio space.

An enclosed storage room under the south end of the house. The house mover left the several-hundred-pound trailer tongue under this area. Rahn got help to manhandle this out around the tie-down straps and help to dig out the sand to level the area prior to it getting enclosed.

A much larger rabbitry needs to be constructed to protect the bunnies from predators and extremes of weather. We lost bunnies to both this summer.

The current cages did get moved to where the new rabbitry will get constructed, and a start was made on the construction. More to be done here as well.

The garden:
First iteration of the garden is going to be in 5 gallon buckets enclosed by half-pallet sides. Most of the soil here is composed of sandstone gravel and clay. Very low in organic matter, so buckets of amended soil as we get larger amounts of compost made will do for now. We can get a nearly unlimited number of free pallets and buckets, and plan to get a chipper to chop up brush in the future.

I'll be planting some radishes and cabbage in a couple planters today.

When I was living in an apartment in Irving I had a successful container garden. The containers here at the homestead will be much larger.

Eventually most of the property will have gardens. Food is the first priority, of course. Some of the plants I want to grow for fiber and dye are quite decorative and will be sited with an eye towards enhancing the overall appearance of the property. I also want to get some wild blackberry starts to plant along the edges of the property, some fruit trees, and perhaps some nut trees.

The "Making" list has sub-headings of clothing, household, and trade goods. This is probably the largest list, though the homestead construction projects are individually larger items. This is also the list that gets longer as I work on items. I have a quirk where I'm working on a project, and a variant occurs to me. I'll put it on the list and write down any details that pop up.

A couple examples of this:
I was knitting one of my favorite edgings on the lace wristers I was finishing. It occurred to me that I could use some of my acrylic yarn stash and knit panels to be mounted in reclaimed wood frames as fencing for the front yard. There was a FB post a few years ago where a knitter in the Shetland Isles made a fence around her garden using fishing net cord and over-sized needles. She used the same edging pattern as I was currently knitting.

Another variant of this was a project I did a few years ago as display panels. The panels I did then didn't survive the multiple moves of the years between then and now, but I plan to get some of these done this week. Reclaimed lumber frames, and twine to make dream-catcher centers.

Other "Making" projects include clothing for both of us. I currently have several historical re-enactment items cut out that just need sewing.

I am also cutting up a number of old pairs of jeans and piecing them into fabric to be used for covers for furniture and a cowboy duster.

Reclaimed denim is also a great resource for the trade goods list. Little bags, medium bags, quilts, wall hangings, are all on the list to be done.

Then there is my sizable stash of fabrics, yarn, jewelry supplies, and the creativity that gets splattered around my work space.

An on-going item on the "making" list is regular time spent spinning yarns to be used in future projects. I can sometimes get some production done as part of public spinning demonstrations. Honestly, there is a lot more explaining of the process than actual spinning happening.

Rain Water Harvesting

Fall rains will be arriving in north Texas soon.

As a beginning for figuring how much rainwater can be captured, one inch of rainfall can produce 0.62 gallons per square foot of collection (roof) area.

A 1,000 square foot roof with a 1 inch rainfall would produce 620 gallons. That seems like quite a bit of water, and the weight of that much water is 2.5 tons.
However, most households go through that much water in only a few days to a week. Laundry, lawn & garden watering, baths, toilets use the largest amount of water, with potable water usage being much less.

In practice, the actual harvested amount will be lower depending on several factors. Heavy rain events can lead to water cascading over the rain gutters, or fail to drain into tanks because gutters and pipes can't handle the amount. Some water is lost to first flush systems, or when tanks become full, water simply overflows the system.

As a more practical figure, 75% of the potential amount is a good estimate.

If I plug in our roof square footage, 1,072 square feet x 0.62 gallons per one inch of rain, by 0.75 to account for the loss factor, that comes out as 498.5 gallons.

While we currently don't have sufficient storage for our water needs, this area averages 41 inches of moisture per year. That figures out to a potentional 20,438 gallons!

The tank in the image was designed to be only decorative, we're working with the idea of having functional versions

Our plans include using a number of 50 gallon food grade barrels with equalizing plumbing so they fill and empty in unison. Some will be installed under the house to protect them from temperature extremes.

With a good filtering system, we plan to be independent of the water companies.

How do you make sure the water you harvest and store is clean?

Make sure junk never gets into the storage.

Starts with the roof itself.

This trailer is old and the roof has quite a bit of rust. We were thinking of dealing with it with more filtration, but we came up with a better idea.

We'll be coating the roof with three 18' x 24' tarps. At $99 each from Amazon, we'll have several benefits.

The tarps will keep the rust from the roof from getting into the rainwater in the first place.

We can get tarps as we can afford them. The first one will go over the north end of the house. Rahn already has one 20 foot section of gutter on the back side of the house, and he'll put another 20 foot section on the front when he gets the tarp put up.

The tarps are white, so we'll have less heat gain during the summer heat.

The tarps will keep the roof from rusting out further, giving us needed breathing space until the roof needs to be replaced. It's not leaking YET but I wouldn't count on the roof metal lasting another year at this point. We're estimating that the tarps will give us at least another two years.

The house is 67 feet long, so the second tarp will go over the south end of the house, leaving only 19 feet of the center to be covered by the third, giving plenty of overlap.

With the tarps keeping the rust out of the rainwater, the next part of keeping the water in the storage clean is what is called a "first flush" system. Basically, this diverts the first bit of water - including dust and bird droppings - into a side pipe and then lets the bulk of the rainwater into the storage tanks. It's simple to build out of bits and pieces of PVC pipe, and Rahn is working on that today.

After the first flush fills up, the water will come down the downspout. Before it hits the tank, It goes through a home made filter. Poly fiber, charcoal and gravel ensure that the water going into the storage is as clean as we can get it, and keeps mosquitoes from gaining access.

To prevent the growth of algae, we're keeping sunlight from the barrels. Some of the barrels are the blue poly, and wouldn't be susceptible to algae growth, but we do have a couple white barrels.

The barrels will be sited on the north end of the house on an elevated stand, and Rahn plans to enclose them with a protective box. This will improve the appearance of the set up as well as keep the barrels from any weather damage.

The barrels will be connected with a manifold that lets them fill and drain in unison, and can be expanded with more barrels to keep our water storage ahead of our needs.

There are a number of very good resources online.
This PDF is one of the best I've found. http://www.twdb.texas.gov/…/RainwaterHarvestingManual_3rded…
And this one from Texas A&M is also a big help.
https://rainwaterharvesting.tamu.edu/
It also includes links to quite a few useful publications.

Here is an affiliate link to the tarps we are using on the roof: 18 foot by 24 foot tarp )

Batch Cooking

I did a batch cooking run over the last couple days.

The guys will be away from the homestead for a few days at a time as they are working on remodeling jobs.

In order to keep costs down and provide them with something other than burgers to survive on, I concentrated on things that could be turned into soups and sandwiches. Another consideration was that they would need some real fuel for the heavy work.

I put 10 pounds of chicken leg quarters into the slow cookers, layered them up with spices and enough water to cover. 

The smoked pork roast from last weekend went into a stock pot to simmer the meat off the bone.

Then a dozen eggs got hard boiled.

Once everything was cooked, the chicken and pork got deboned.

Some of the chicken went into chicken mushroom and rice soup. Chicken stock, rice, canned mushrooms, cream of mushroom soup and whole milk. Spices were a little garlic salt, black pepper and oregano.

The rest of the chicken was shredded. I'll make chicken salad, some chicken with hard boiled eggs, and some egg salad.

Some of the pork got put together with some beans and pork stock in one of the now-empty slow cookers. This pork and beans will be cowboy beans with the addition of some more black pepper, garlic, onion, and a couple spoonfuls of tomato paste.

The rest of the pork will get shredded for pulled pork sandwiches.

The two half gallon containers of stock - one pork, one chicken - are in the fridge to let the fat rise to the top. I'll skim the fat off and freeze it separately, then I'll put the stock in plastic bags to freeze in smaller quantities.

The stock will see use in chicken vegetable soup, cream of chicken soup, tomato soup, beef and barley, souped-up mushroom rice, and much more.

(By the way, a cup of hot broth before bed helps one fall asleep faster and improves quality of sleep.)

I'll go the to grocery store tomorrow for some cornmeal, flour, and a tortilla press. The guys have asked for some home made tortillas. I'll also make some fresh bread.