Sunday, October 7, 2012

One Giant Leap

It's official, we finally have water at The Compound.  What's that you say?!  But you have a man made pond, a canal, besides you live in Florida, what do you mean you finally have water?

Yes, we do have a man made pond.  This;


Became this:



A pond holding Blue Tilapia, and an occasional turtle.

The canal which started as this:

Will remain this.  Although it looks nice, it is not clean, full of iron and other run off.  It could be drinkable, but with a lot of work and expense.

As to rain, yes we have lots of that, and more than our share this year, over 30".  Our dry season can be devastating when trying to garden in the fall/winter months.

But with a bit of labor from the Moose and Spud, and a small expense (around $200 total for the pump and PVC fittings) we have this:

 And THIS!


This water is coming from our 35' shallow well, that came with the property when we bought it.  The previous owner had it drilled, but that was it.  Now, we just need it tested to determine it's overall quality, and what we may or may not need to insure it's drinkable.  This could mean no more hauling of water for the chickens!  Better quality water for the garden and cleaning. 

We will be getting a hand pump, in the event we do not have the ability to run the generator.  The Compound is off the grid and we need to plan for all contingencies.

We are another huge step closer to self sufficiency at The Compound!

6 comments:

  1. Congratulations!

    We still need to get a hand pump (or at least solar) for our Country House. Problem, it's a deep well. "Simple Pump" looks like the best bet but EXPENSIVE.

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    1. I think we'd rather have had a deep well. The only thing we have in our area is shallow wells, and your risk for contaminents is higher. We're keeping our fingers crossed, it won't be anything too weird.

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  2. If you need drinking water I really recommend a berkey. I love ours. It will actually filter out food coloring!

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    1. We have one too, haven't used it yet and I was going to do some research and see what they do remove, etc. It's been awhile since I really looked at it. Are you using well water?

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  3. You neglected to mention the Great pizza that you made for the Moose and I !
    Now waiting to see if I get dysentery after testing with my tongue to see if the water was salty...lol

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    1. Well the pizza needs some work. One of these days we'll be totally organized out there. It's a work in progress, and the good thing is we get to keep testing pizza!

      I'll check in with you in another 24 hours and see if you're OK...lol

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