I recommend after every winter when the snow melts, you should build a pond at the bottom of your property so all the snow that melts will pool in that pond and it will catch the water before it runs off the property!
So funny! I've been saying that for a couple years to John. We're not sure whether we'd need a liner or if the ground has enough clay to retain the water. We actually dug a "sample depression" in the area to see what happens. So far, this summer it's dry. So - yes! That's a dream of mine and the dogs would love it, too!
@@pascalkuipers8099 Because you will catch all the melt in the existing watershed. Catching with some deep CCR's is also viable for replenishing the water table. Andrew Millison from University of Oregon has some great water table replenishment techniques. Using gravity feed water systems is relatively easy with a solar pump systen to get the water up to the higher cisterns. But is a whole different level of complication when you really cannot use surface ponds. . But as these folks already have wells, keeping the water table replenished is a necessity.
You should expand more of your rain water catchment on your roof! And build more rainwater catchment systems throughout your property like building large ponds or swales!
We live in the desert as well. We live on the grid. I try to explain to people the need to save water (as we do), but can't get through to them. From now on I am just telling them to go to your video. You do such a great job! Thanks
Thank you for your kind comment! Few people view resources as limited in the US (I'm assuming you're in the US?). From water to electricity, they believe there is plenty and always will be (insert eyeroll). :-)
About the trash can water barrel, you could paint it red and add a fake fire hydrant valve on the face and call it a fire hydrant. Putty and paint . . . and make it what it ain't :>). Enjoyed your story of water. Great video.
We catch our roof rain water as well. Ours goes to perforated corrugated pipe in a french drain system to feed our trees. We used this because we are not allowed to catch and store rain water. This way was approved because we let it drain back into the soil neer our trees. LOL
That's a great idea! We're looking at collecting more and have been puzzling the problem of pumping it to other areas. Piping to a French drain is a great solution! Thanks so much for your comments!
Hello from Tokyo, Japan. Finally, RU-vid has recommended something I can enjoy. Loved the video, especially the recap at the start. Also, really enjoyed that you actually focused the camera on what you were describing, not only on yourselves in the shot. We re from the same generation, and I too started working from 15 in the hot Texas sun. Living in the city, makes me enjoy this type of content even more. Can’t wait to retire and get my own spread in the country with a garden. Just wanted to say thank you for the content. Love the humor, excellent narration, nice editing with a quality camera. Also enjoy your smiles, photos and realism. Suggestion: I watch a lot of content in this genre, when you have time, consider creating a complete “up to now” review video. Do it in two parts, at least. Mark my words, you’re gonna have 100,000 subscribers by this time next year. Maybe more. Jon is my kinda guy, I’m sure he watches Farmcraft 101 and Dig Drive DIY, too. You’re a great team. As I type, I’m enjoying the solar system video from 2 weeks ago. Keep up the great work. Elated this was recommended by the algorithm.
I'm blown away by your comment! You're so generous. I only started making videos recently and I'm learning as I go. It's nice to get constructive feedback and, trust me, I'm listening. So much of the last four years is simply not on video. We took pictures but were so focused on the task at hand, we just didn't record much. Having a working toilet was a far greater priority than filming life without one! :-) Also, I didn't think I'd be doing RU-vid videos... I have to say, you're wrong about one thing: John doesn't watch Farmcraft or anything (I don't know what those are). He's just an old school guy with a lot of skills! He doesn't sit to watch much - in fact, he doesn't SIT much at all! But you probably guessed that. Again, thank you so much for being part of our little online community. You are a treasure!
@@LoveOffGrid Well, maybe you can let him know about Farmcraft in a year or so. After he finishes your honey-do list. Which I’m guessing grows constantly. :-)
You should definitely dig more swales and ponds on your land so theres more water catchment!! You should try digging a very big pond where the water would drain most on your land! It will surely benefit your property
A good presentation, I also live off grid in what is advertised as the oldest rainforest in the world. While water availability is not a problem, waster bore equals endless supply, all year round creek. The infostructure is not always easy, at 71 i need help pulling the pump when it fails. But I am so much more blessed than you folks. I admire your attitude to the task.
Off grid at 71 is something to be admired! I'm sure you understand the challenges better than we do in many ways. I'm so glad you are rich in water - must be nice! True, pulling a pump can be tricky. Every area has its own unique set of problems and it's always fun to see how someone else is handling theirs.
We take them to the lake all the time. We're surrounded by lakes, ironically, just none on our property! And creating a lake here is not so easy since the land absorbs water so quickly and what isn't absorbed evaporates. We're thinking about it, but we want to do it right and smart. Thanks so much!
@@LoveOffGrid You may wish to not only do water catchments, and use swales (swales are essentially tree growing systems) but CCR's if your property has some verticality, either in a demilune series at the top of your property, good water harvest from all the hard surfaces, and then start mulching/composting, wood chips leaves, comfrey, and do some soil testing so you can plant such things as nitrogen fixers. The hardest part next to short supplies of water is the wind, I suggest you take a look at the Tucson Swales, for an example of what can happen with even a relatively small area of Sonoran Desert Land, that has had time to grow into a small grassland. Growiing up on a N. Plains cattle ranch with clay soils, I learned to build spreader dams early, and the variety of such water infrastructure techniques, to slow, spread and sink the water , therefore storing it in the ground, then protecting the top soils from the wind by covering, preferbly with heavy mulch and compost can make all the difference. Gives the subsurface world of living networks that create abundance a chance to spread, and nuture the green. Figure if you have some plant stuffs that you can do a chop and drop, or figure where you can plant some fast growing trees. Mesquite is good if you are high desert in the SW. Something else you may wish to consider Is a Chinese Green House, and the depending upon you frostline, create a cooling/warming tube system. Big jub, can be expensive, but is your starting nersery to grow your own plantings from seed. If you have lots of thorny plants, and as your soils begin to heal, and you don't need all that thorny harsh plantings to keep on, cut them up, and place them hugelculture style in good deep pits, layer as you would compost...Brown/Green etc. In a year or three you have some intense and rich soil in the contained area of the pit. I always love to see folks return to the Land when they have high regard for it.
@@LoveOffGrid i was speaking of the wild animals, they bit holes into the pipe... A small wildlife pond is a kind and compassionate act. Nature gives us everything, a small offer of gratitude will bring blessings.
Dear Love off Grid couple. 👍👌👏 2) Please kindly allow me to suggest some things: a) Please consider to put a grey water system in use. b) Please collect and store more rain water. c) Please collect water from snow that melts. Thanks a lot for making explaining recording editing uploading and sharing. Best regards luck and especially health to all involved life forms (humans, animals and plants).
@@Chr.U.Cas1622 Thank you for watching and for your suggestions! I suppose I should have mentioned that we have a septic system. We’re working on collecting more rain water (most winters the snow sliding off the roof takes out our gutters but we think we’ve fixed that). Finally, snow melt goes to our wells which is probably better than collecting it in barrels as 1” of snow, when melted = minimal water. Again, thank you!
@@LoveOffGrid Thanks for replying, I always appreciate that. 2) I definitely didn't mean a septic system! I was talking about a grey water system where all the water from the washing machine, the dish washer and the sinks are going in. Then the water will be processed (several methods possible) and can safely be used for for instance watering the garden. Sincerely yours.
Actually a pipe from the kitchen sink ran to a willow tree when we moved here, but the metal bucket that was buried in between the tree and sink to collect water rotted underground. It was quite a job to find it, dig it out and replumb! There are other ways to do it, sure... for now, it all goes to the septic. We're always improving... thanks for the idea!
You have a beautiful place. I recently watched a documentary about catching water with fog nets, the documentary is called..... Turning vapor into drinking water - Catching fog in response to drought | DW Documentary. I recommend you to watch it. The fog nets are highly efficient in catching water. They are designed by an industrial designer who used to design tennis rackets and ski's for Elan. But in the documentary they also show DIY fog nets and different smaller setups. In northern Africa they supply an entire village with water from a fog net. And at some island that I can't remember right now they even brew beer with water from a fog net. And from what I can see it seems that you get plenty days with a lot of fog in the air. A single strategically placed fog net can catch hundreds of gallons of water per day. And you can place them at multiple locations with their own cistern.
That's a helpful suggestion - but probably not for our region. What you're seeing is probably not fog but wildfire smoke. We get very little precipitation in summer, including low humidity, which means very little water in the air. We do get fog in winter, ironically, but in winter we already have plenty of water on the ground (snow!). Thanks for watching!
@@LoveOffGrid I think that you underestimate what fog nets can do. Even with 15% humidity the fog nets are able to pull a lot of water vapor from the air. It is all about temperature difference during the transitions from night to day. If it works in the Sahara then I see no reason why it shouldn't work in your area.
I understand the lack of water. I'm off grid in dry California where we only get rain from January-ish to April-ish. Lots of water collecting for a few months then hope and pray throughout the rest of the year. I have no well, yet.
Had to sub as this was very enjoyable and relatable. We also are off g in S. Co. drilled in 99' went 450' ran some water and stopped. We think they veered off at an angle, so no well. We only catch water for our home had to have it delivered once in 20 yrs. We do haul water for our gardens thou. Your lavender is lovely!
Thank you so much for watching! I feel your pain regarding the well situation. It's an expensive gamble. I hope you're able to catch a lot of rain. We're still working on that.
Thanks for sharing. Sounds like some pretty expensive endeavors and unattainable by most. I would have been tickled pink with your natural spring and rainwater catchment. What are your thoughts on composting toilets?
It has been expensive, that's true - especially the well. There are so many ways to do off grid and each way is so personal. If we had started doing this when we were younger, we would have started with a lot less but we both worked for many years so we came here with a lot more resources than some. Not many people our age that retire want to do this so I suppose we're unique in that way. So many pros and cons to discuss either way... Regarding toilets, we've experienced some well built composting toilets and some that were far from nice! Again, it depends on how you do it and what standards you're aiming for.
Dig a fresh water pond and put lining at the bottom of the fresh water pond and the ice melt will fill the pond so all summer you will have fresh water
Certain times of the year, the entire area is green and beautiful. We've worked mainly around the house to KEEP it green, especially in summer when fire danger is high. Thanks for watching!
Hey, just wondering why you gave up on the well that only produced 1/16th of a gallon per minute. That is still 90 gallons a day. Was it too hard to find a way to pump that small amount into your cistern reliably?
I don't know anything about recharging the water table. I'll look into it. Thanks! On one hand, I hope it's an option for us; on the other hand, I'm going to feel really stupid if it is! That was a lot of money! :-) Thanks for watching!
@@LoveOffGrid its basically using earthworks to create ponds and swales to soak water runoff into the ground rather than letting it go into the streams. its not without its own expense, but if you've already got a tractor/digger it might have been an option.
@@LoveOffGrid look up peter andrews mulloon creek in australia for a start. the channel ABC news has a video called "Natural sequence farming: How Peter Andrews rejuvenates drought-struck land | Australian Story" is a good starter for soaking the landscape . smaller scale things like rock check damns and BDA's can also help massively.
Yes! I've seen this sort of thing, especially in parts of Africa and it works. We've been doing our own version (small scale) regarding landscaping around the house - trying to change the topography a bit to contain the moisture. The term "recharge your water table" sounds a bit faster than the actual process. :-) I wish there were a way to actually "recharge the water table" like you recharge a battery!
Yes, we do have enough water pressure to use sprinklers - but only in limited quantities. We use them sparingly and strategically since water is scarce. Thanks for watching!
