HOW MUCH RAINWATER? - Winter Permaculture Updates

I'm going to show you a little bit of what I've been up to in the last couple of days. Hey guys, welcome to another episode of what are we doing? We don't ever know what we're doing. That's okay. I have a few ideas. Okay. Here's my first idea. Okay. A lot of people asking about how rainwater catchment is going, lots of people asking about the trees and the berm, the swale, and lots of people asking about goat poop. Oh. That's not true. But we're going to talk about goat poop. Okay. So last night I actually started emptying. We have four different pallet areas where we put all of our goat manure from when we like clean out the goat lodge. It all goes there. The chicken manure goes there and it's been sitting for a couple of years. So we need. The chickens scratch it up. Yeah, they go through it and then we put it back and then they go through it again. So it's really good stuff and we thought this is a great time to go ahead and put it on the berm and around the trees. Yeah. And also I like your idea of putting it over the drip irrigation lines too. Yeah. So that way it'll provide a little bit of insulation, a little bit of protection from the UV and the grasses are growing up and they're starting to do that anyway, but this will give additional protection. Also it'll probably only last a few days because we still have free range chickens. And they're going to pick through it. Yeah. Totally. But hopefully they'll throw that stuff everywhere and it'll all work together. Be good. Which would you like to do first? Would you like to go around and look at our water harvesting stuff or should we go ahead and shovel some? I go with that. Whatever you want to do, babe. Whatever. I'd like to shovel some. Okay. So that we can. Be done with that part. Yeah. Okay. So we just got to go take it out of the bins, put it in some carts and bring it over to the barn. Yep. And over and over again. This is where a tractor would come in really handy. It would, but we couldn't get the tractor in the animal paddock. If I could make some adjustments to that. Also, we're not all here today. Yes. Adelaide is at work and we do have a puppy who's recovering from some surgery. So he's being watched 24 seven. Yes. So we're kind of, we're trading in and out and everybody's taking turns. So ready? Okay. Are we done? Hey, look at that. Hey, look at all that goat poop. We got all of the South side of the swale and the backside done while the berm and the backside done. So basically half of the swale. Yeah. Which is, I think is good for the day. And we only used one and a half of our four areas of compost. Yeah. Compost bins. Yeah. I feel like that went really far. Yeah. So in the next couple of days, we'll just continue to empty out and go cover the other half. Yeah. You don't have to watch us do that. And we'll also probably put some around some of the native trees that we really want to encourage to grow taller. Yeah. We did hit a few here and there, but there are a couple of really important trees down the way that we want to make sure we put some compost around too. So let's talk about the trees. Okay. Give people a little update on all of the trees from, for the berms and the swales. So people are always asking like how the trees look. Well guys, it's winter, so they don't look great. The principles of winter do also apply to the desert for a lot of, of vegetation, right? So most of the trees lose their leaves this time of year. So a lot of the trees we planted don't have any leaves right now. They don't look great, but the eucalyptus and the evergreens look really good. Yeah. They, they keep it all year round. And even the trees that have already lost their leaves still look like they're healthy and that they didn't die. So fingers crossed come spring, they'll get leaves and everything will really take off. Well, also what's pretty cool is, is that we've only had to actually run the drip irrigation this winter, maybe like once or twice. I think it was twice. Because it is, it's continued to rain here and there and kind of frequently enough to where we haven't had to connect everything and try to run it. So that's been nice. Yeah. Which is good. Cause we still need to expand from the end of the, where the, where the pump house was to where the new pump house is. Yeah. We just need to get some, some more hose and just extend it over. We've had quite a bit of moisture this winter, so we haven't had to do a whole lot. Speaking of. Oh yeah. Speaking of. Sorry, I interrupted you. Go ahead. Let me do it. Speaking of rainfall, let's go to our water tanks and let's look at how much water we've been catching. Can we go to the chicken garden first? Sure. Yeah. I was going to say, I don't even really count the chicken garden because we're not actually like using it. Okay. Well, let's just tell them it's overflowing. Well, yeah, it's been full for a long time and we haven't really been like using it. So it's still full. So there's not really any point in going out there. It's completely full and overflowing. We need to transfer some of that water out. Or just have warmer weather to where we can stucco. What's really cool is that the, the water tank we put here on the solar shed, which is where we'll go first. You know, like when we first moved it over there, we completely emptied it and we only transferred 300 gallons into the bottom of it just so we could pressurize it, you know, and test and all that stuff. Well now that it's rained, what do you think? We've probably had about an inch this winter so far. No, more than that. Let's see how much is in it. You want to see how much is in it? How do I tell? Hold on. So a good way to tell. You can hear it. You can see how cold it is. Right there. It's about a thousand gallons. So we've added about seven or eight hundred gallons. Actually it's more. It's more like eleven or twelve hundred gallons. So that means we've added like eight hundred gallons just by it sitting there and catching water. Off of a six hundred square foot roof. Very cool. Now we're not using this water for anything right now. It will be used for irrigation and eventually an outdoor shower. Oh yes, totally. That'll be a fun project. Can't wait until it gets warmer. Doesn't make a lot of sense right now. Okay, so let's talk about the Airstream water catchment, which has been working really well. Since we moved this tank up here, and I think, how much water did we transfer in? Did we do a couple of runs at the beginning? Oh, we almost filled it like halfway. So we put about two thousand gallons in it, let's say that. Since then, and that was back in the fall, we have not put any water in this at all. It just keeps like refilling itself from the rain, which is pretty awesome. Let's see if we can fill it. Okay. It's right here. So it's still about half full. It's like right here on this line. That's about two thousand gallons, yep. Yeah, you can really tell, especially in the winter because the water is so cold, and if you get to a point on the tank where the sun's hitting it, you can really tell the difference of where the water is. Yeah. In the summer, not so much. Well, yeah, yeah. And we're also hoping that by having this one, you know, buried three feet in the ground, it'll help regulate the temperature of that water when it goes into the airstream a little bit. Yeah. Hopefully. Also, the filtering that we installed on that pump house has been kind of a game changer for us. Well, the descaler more than anything. Yeah, the filtering, you know, we run all of our drinking water and cooking water through the Berkey, right? So we didn't really have any problems with filtering water, but it's nice to pre-filter it. And then, yeah, that descaling is keeping all of those lime flakes out of all the faucets. And also, having that descaler on there has been really great because usually our faucets and shower heads would get really gunked up with those flakes, and we have to go through this whole thing cleaning them out all the time. But also now that we're getting mostly rainwater, we don't really have that stuff anyway, so it's like a good combination, good mixture. I like it a lot. Hey, big, can we get some pigs? No, we can't slide in when we're sitting down. We decided, we worked so hard today, that we are going to take a little few minute break and sit in the chairs under the airport. Yeah, the sun is finally moving just enough to where we're in the shade when we sit down in the afternoon, which is what we've been waiting for. It's kind of the perfect, like our legs are in the sun, but our faces aren't. So it's really nice. Yeah, it is nice. Staying warm. Yeah. So, yeah, it's a fun video. Got some random stuff done. Yeah. It's been a busy day. I'm not quite done, but I'm done recording for the day. That's true. I mean, you made so much stuff this morning. And yesterday. Yeah. It's been a busy kitchen day. And I think I'm going to get up here in a few minutes and go paint that chicken tractor. Oh, yes. The chicken tractor. Should we bleep it out again? No, we shouldn't. Yes, we didn't shishigi bonnet, so we are going to have to protect it somehow. Yeah. That seems like the quickest and easiest way to do it. Yeah. And I have extra paint left over, so. Okay. It all works out, right? It all works out. Anything else going on? Is that it? I think that's it. Is that it? Yeah. I'm going to say, is that it one more time? I'm just enjoying the view. It's so pretty out today. Yeah. It's pretty nice. Are you glad we moved here? I'm glad we moved here. Yeah. Well, hey, we're going to flip you around and show you this view. We'll see you next time.