Relishing the Rain!!! A Homestead Perspective
After a Spring that was dry, today I am Relishing the Rain!
We collect rainwater as our only water source here at Borrowed Earth. The tanks were getting lower than I am comfortable with. That stress is now eased. We are now Full in my using water tanks and I am filling the drinking tank as I type.
This brings me to another topic that really fits well in this new series I have started.
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Scaling Resource Requirements
This spring saw a jump in the number of folks living here. I have been pondering on how many bits and details I hadn't taken into consideration with the addition of extra bodies.
Chow time!
More folks means more food... a no brainer for me! I can finally cook 'normal' now. This one was well thought of.
The garden is still being put in as we go, so we are just doing the best we can there. The extra hands will make short(er) work of harvests and preserving later in the year.
It was simple for me to come up with a per person food contribution value. I made sure to allow enough for the basics to be replenished and the storage stock to grow slowly while keeping hard working bodies well fed.
Income
We follow a management plan that is centered on the old adage below.
Don't put your all your eggs in one basket!
Sending a hug and a wink to @earthmother after that oldie but goody!
We have several small sources of income here on the homestead. I will talk today about the firewood part of it.
We were gifted a customer base by @freedompoint, Mmmwwwaaa!
My son's s nice strong back has replaced me this spring in this equation... just in time for me to head for the garden beds.
He was 'firewood trained' by me all winter, every winter for his entire childhood. I feel he brings the joy and love of making firewood to the situation! Joy is a requirement for most everything here at the homestead.
... Long ago... Firewood puts about $30/unit in hand after expenses and such, now half goes into my son's hand. This is a shift.
This was expected, but seeing how the ripples play out over time has us reconfiguring the best way to use our time and personal skills and resources.
Firewood will continue to be a piece of the whole. Yet new opportunities are being courted as well.
Water supply
Like I stated above, we harvest our water from the sky... I'm sure that's a title from a book, not mine.
I calculated we had plenty of water storage for twice the people. I was rather far off.
I had enough storage for twice the people if they were people living like we had been.
Living in Camp for 9 months before water storage on site taught us strict and careful water conservation. The two of us used less than two gallons of drinking water a day. And not much more than that on average of usable water as we call it.
The young adults have come from the 'Land of Faucets! A land where the adults in their lives paid the bills.
We easily use 5-6 gallons of drinking water a day now. Everyone is trying to be mindful and not treat the drinking water like a substitute for going to get more using water.
It will get better with time and experience. I also plan to at least double my storage capacity for drinking water.
We have added critters this spring, which further stretches the using water.
The dry year has me seeing the need and designing the solution for some irrigation collection too!
Improvements in our water system, primarily our storage capacity have floated to the top of the list.
image source, before edits.
Lastly, I will discuss poo! We humanure!
Which means we compost our toilet waste. We currently have an indoor bucket toilet system. Which goes to a pile and gets covered with leaves.
The piles are growing quickly. The main issue with this is that we are hosting a rather large event this fall. A little pile tucked away in a corner is one thing... A Big pile or a grouping of smaller ones... Well we just don't want to flaunt our poo... Ya Know?
It is time for some solution making here... I'm sure we will find a solution... Even if it is to just camouflage the pile this fall!
Anyone spare any plastic flowers? Hahaha
The Wrap Up
Two plus two does not always equal twice as much!
CHANGE is constant. Having good a good plan helps... Have a framework for making decisions helps more.
I would have had different projects on the top of my list if I had thought things through more thoroughly.
Happy Saturday All! Hugs!
~all text and images are my own unless otherwise credited
Just a girl...
Living, Loving and Dancing her way to Wholeness with the help of a Mountaintop and a Purpose.
Follow the Adventure
Anyone spare any plastic flowers? Hahaha
omg that made me laugh!!!
I so get it. I have created three 5x5 snow fenced compost bins. it seems to be working really well. keeps it contained. I use 1 a year, so it is a 3 year rotation. I like to bake mine for 2 years, to be safe.
I know what you mean about the water. we also collect here. I am getting a little concerned with my levels. Having extra animals has been a drain on the water that I wasn't really figuring out properly. This year I laid leaves and straw everywhere there wasn't a plant, to help keep the moisture in the garden. just hoping that it isn't an invite for the extra bugs that will eat the whole thing. Always something to figure out :)
I am so happy you laughed... I was laughing as I wrote
I was laughing remembering your spring slip on the way to the coop...
I am looking into different solutions for human waste from the main house... My guy's one must have is a flush toilet... Year 3 in the house, I will need a plan soon.
How do you store your water? Is it a big job to expand? I am grateful I haven't hooked anything together yet, I manually switch which tank fills.
i have 55 gallon drums for the now. I want to bury a 500 gal water tote. I move water all the time. I have a few faucets on the drums, so that they run in series. I am looking at making a bath house. i have a propane hot water on demand...waiting with my name on it!
Thanks for offering a unique prospective to the idea of homesteading and living off the grid.
You are welcome. It's certainly a creative life style.
I was thinking about water today. We have mains water here, but I would like to get the garden to a stage where we don't use water from the house, just from the rainwater butts if need be. These are always full to overflowing when not needed and quickly run out when they are. Maybe the system needs a bit of thought.
Yes... Capacity seems to be the issue with depending on them in dry times. I hope you accomplish this.
I have a young gardener joining me over the summer (he is just completing his A levels before going to University in the Autumn). I found out that he had an interest in gardening (he helped to build a sensory garden for disabled children as part of a volunteer citizenship scheme) and thinking about water storage and use will be one of our projects this year. I'm looking forward to introducing him to the chop and drop method!
Good luck with your event, I'll be interested to know how you solve the humanure problem.
I found this really interesting @borrowedearth! I know you will find a perfect harmony! It's so wonderful to have a family cooperative in the works - we would love for that to happen!
What about putting a quirky "warning" sign on a tree. People gotta realize their poo goes somewhere when it exits their body. :)
I am enjoying the family aspects.
I love the idea of a quirky warning. We could have fun with it and teach at the same time.
We are planning a bunch of family activities for the event this fall. Perhaps we could build extra piles
and include in the scavenger hunt a use your nose, which pile has poo item... Lol... I doubt they could tell!
Fantastic post. It is so great to read about off grid life. Now one would think us off gridders would get sick of it but I find it inspiring. It is so wonderful to read that you compost your human waste. There are not many out there that do this. Well at least not in our area. Other than us I only know of one other person, here anyway.
That is so true. We have taught many people about water conservation. Many people don't even think about how to conserve water.
It sure sounds like you have really thought about this plan. It is easier to begin with a plan and then adjust as you go.
The planning is something I just do naturally....my thoughts churning... Creating the plan which is the Music😊 that I use to Dance through my days.
Here on this Mountaintop I am healing by learning to love the survival strategy my brain learned as normal...
Trying to conduct my own wild bits is enough. These management plans are my way of knowing when it's time for my song to play in the every growing hootenanny we've started here in the Ozarks!
The influx of homesteaders here in the Ozarks has given me an opportunity. I have been witnessing. Always gathering and processing data... I use it here.
I feel drawn right now to being a light bearer for a bit again. Which to me means asking folks the right questions for who and where they are...and dancing in the joy that is their song.
I wish to help homesteaders reach their joy song more easily...to ask themselves the questions.
Basically a lot of personal responsibility stuff. No One has all the skills or every stone placed perfectly upon their path. I heal by noticing the ~holes in the wholes~ and there I raise my light, gift a hug and ask now what?
I am hoping to get folks talking about homestead management... I don't have time to go digging for it so I hope this stirs up some new stuff. I am grateful to have this platform to get these concepts out of my head and spare the folks I live with the chaos that first comes out as I strive for words... Lol
Not sure where this desire to lead management chats is taking me... But I hope it's fun!
This is a great platform for talking about homsteading management. I think it is a fabulous idea. We all need to share ideas. I find my self asking the question "How did they do it before all of the modern stuff?" There has been so much lost if we can all just share our little pieces then maybe we can bring the very old ideas back.
How wonderful to have a growing community where you are located. It is so nice to be able to share with like minded people that are close by. I am sure the plan will come together.
Even the best-laid plans can go foul when dealing with unexpected events on the homestead. We have run headlong into this. Water is at a premium in the dry season when we can have 7-8 months without rain. Thank goodness we are no in the rainy season. We went from a plan for five people to 21 almost overnight due to the conflicts here in Nicaragua. It has been a stretch but we are okay for water. We kept collecting and will soon look for more tanks. The gardens have to grow exponentially too. We have every available scrap of land being planted. Hopefully, the conflict won't last long and we all can resume our normal lives, whatever that may be...
We continue to hold you in our hearts.
I love you have pooled resources and are working together. Hugs!
Thanks, @borrowedearth! Working together makes it go so much faster and pooling the resources makes it easier for us to survive until this conflict is over...
Go here https://steemit.com/@a-a-a to get your post resteemed to over 72,000 followers.
Hello @borrowedearth
What a brilliant insight into your life and your daily issues. These are real issues as opposed to some superficial nonsense that you hear.
I am fascinated by what you are doing and must confess that I know very little about the subject. When I am aware enough to put my gadgets down there is part of me really drawn towards how you guys are doing things.
I will be following with interest.
Gaz
I really admire your effort and also thanks for this insightful piece.
I will be visiting your blog now onwards to see your quality contents.
It's awesome reading about how you've build a sustainable life living in harmony with nature on your homestead @borrowedearth. I really admire all the amazing homesteaders I read about on steemit. It's interesting to read about the challenges that you have had with water and how they're overcome. I guess there is no way to account for how much rain the sky chooses to gift us.