Water water everywhere, nor any drop to drink

One of the things we have in abundance here in West Wales is an almost unlimited supply of the wet stuff. It seems to fall out of the sky on a regular basis, although this summer has certainly been a lot dryer than the last couple of years.

The problem is, most of it is rainfall, a large chunk is runoff from the land surrounding us, and the majority of it ends up where we don't want it. We have some clay strata under the loose rock and soil, which means there is a lot of subsurface flow going in strange directions. Even if we've had a spell of no rain, this moving underground water is still, er, moving.

The Toy Shed sits in a little hollow at the bottom of the curtilage of the property, and in wet weather, pooling rainwater means welly-deep mire down at the lowest point. That's a third of the area with standing water.

I got to thinking about water, and how we could use it as a resource. Mains water is provided by Dwr Cymru (Welsh Water), and although they do a pretty good job of things - our water is lovely and soft - we have the problem of distance from mains, and capacity/bore of the supply pipe. If someone in the house flushes the loo or the washing machine starts to fill, there is a noticeable drop in pressure for anyone using a hose outside.

Consider then, the scenario of Mrs RT doing the laundry, me or Eco hosing down the machinery or topping up the pig's water trough and a horde of happy campers all wanting a shower or some water for drinking or cooking. Enough to go around, but you'll be getting a slow trickle rather than a forceful gush.

So our requirements are:

• A domestic supply that doesn't suffer during peak camping periods
• Guaranteed availability of plentiful water during peak demand times
• Dealing with some of the 'unwanted' water we have sloshing about the place

Our domestic supply is paid-for potable mains water, so we would like to use that for the house as much as possible. Rainwater is great for washing down, watering plants and giving to the pigs and chooks, but under Water Regulations, counts as sewage for treatment purposes. It's pretty clean and clear coming out of the sky, but once it has run of a roof that birds have crapped on, may contain some pathogens and dirt.

We also have a spring that feeds a large pond below the house, so that is a potential source of supply.

One of the common methods of dealing with surface water or runoff is to use a system of land drains. These are ditches or trenches which are dug across the land in order to intercept surface water and carry it off to somewhere else. With a little careful thought, and adaption with time as you see how the drains operate at all states of the tide, these can go a long way towards water management. Add in a few underground drains or culverts to link these land drains under paths, tracks or thoroughfares, and you can move a lot of water a long way so long as you move it generally 'downhill'.

As shown in a previous post, we managed to install a culvert across the track to the ToyShed which has mitigated a major part of the problem with boggy rutted ground and permanent mud down in the tractor yard.

This culvert drains into a 'moat' around two sides of the Toy Shed, which not only acts as a land drain, but provides a 'buffer' for the Willow Plantation and a breeding ground for the local frog population. The culvert is still providing a flow of around 10 litres per minute into this moat even after very little rain in the last couple of months, so we are sure it is subterranean 'flow' we are intercepting.

So it is this 'moat' I have been using as my source water for a few water harvesting experiments.

Ecorider

Shame they don't make these anymore...

Having used a small motorcycle back in the late 80's to get to and from work, I haven't ridden a bike since then. This beast takes a little getting used to. Diesel engines are a whole different ball game from small petrol powered conveyances.

Boot Tree

More Metal Fettling

Eco has an Ifor Williams drop-side trailer which is really great for occasional fetching and carrying duties and for carting machinery about, but we got a notion to make some modifications to it to enable us to cart logs and brash about the site and to foray further afield for supplies of burnables.

We removed the headboard and used the two mounting sockets to take a new front crossmember so we could add additional 60x40 sockets to accept brash bars. We fabricated these from 50x30 in two parts so we can use a half-length to provide log supports or use them full length to support a load of brash. We also chopped the side angle sections of the trailer base and welded in two more sockets. We now have five sockets along each side of the bed to take ten brash rails.

Leftmost brash bar half length, slotted into original corner post socket. The one next to the wheel is slotted into the new intermediate socket we welded in. By removing the brash-bars and refitting the original post sockets, we can convert back to a drop-side box trailer in a matter of minutes. The extension sections are also 50x30 box, with a 60x40 socket section welded to one end so they simply slide over the lower bars.

We should now be able to stack logs and brash to about half a metre high, lash it down with ratchet straps and then add the extension bars to enable another layer to then be stacked on top. All good stuff.

Assorted Pics of work so far this year at Eco Manor

Steel wheels for Squeaky Joe. 6mm steel plate for the hubs and the reinforcing fillets, 4mm steel plate for the rims and 75mm x 50mm x 6mm unequal angle for the teeth. These should provide serious traction over boggy ground infested with purple tussock grass.

Diameter 370mm (rim), 520mm tooth to tooth. 16 teeth staggered in 2 rows of 8, 45 degrees apart. Offset between opposing teeth, 22.5 degrees. Think Bodecea or Ben Hur....positively medieval!!

Our solar-power battery charging station down in the toy-shed is still working a treat, with the exception of a blown inverter for the shed lights which needs remedial work.

The sun is making the occasional appearance...that helps matters!

One of our biggest problems has been starting machinery with duff batteries or that have sat for weeks or months unused and have gone flat. We have fitted all our vehicles with Anderson connectors which allow us to charge anything from the solar, or jump-start pretty much anything from anything else.

Shown above is the dumper truck, sporting a second-hand Exrider battery from my old solar power system down in Surrey. Not all that good, but will start the dumper happily if it has been plugged into the solar charging for a day or two.

We recently finished organising the drainage culvert across the track to the toyshed. Now water which used to pool in the yard or simply make the ground into a bog is now draining nicely into the drainage ditch behind the toy shed. Even after a month of no rain, we still get a trickle as the surrounding high ground is still draining water through the rocky layers, After a day or so of really heavy rain, we possibly see several tens of gallons a minute. But it's going where we want it to now, so we are rather pleased with the results.

Pretty clear and clean too. I'm going to do some quality testing on the water, and then perhaps use it with a slow sand and ion exchange filter to see if we can produce high-quality potable water.

Year 2 of our short rotation willow coppice has been planted out. You can see last year's plantings on the left which have been pruned to provide our rods for planting this year.

After about 3-4 weeks since planting, the new rods are already producing buds and hopefully sending down new root growth.

All Hands On Deck

Well, Mrs E decided to go and visit an old friend of hers this week, so we have been left to our own devices. Only, Mrs E has been complaining for some time that now the weather is improving slightly and she can get out on the deck to tend her plants, she was a bit worried about her safety owing to the lack of handrail around the edge. One other important design criteria is that we need to let the dawgs out for a bask and a bit of fresh air, but don't want them escaping when we are working out and about on the site.

Cue this week's project.

We raided the wood-store for some 2" x 2" and 4" x 2", set up the saw bench and cut our materials. The drop from the end of the deck is about four feet onto rock, so we opted for a 1m high handrail with some pretty solid corner supports and intermediate posts manly enough to hold up under accidental slips, trips or tips.

Eco fitting the intermediate post on the front edge of the deck.

As rain began to get really heavy yesterday evening, we abandoned work for the day, but had at least finished the uprights.


Today, we had threat of rain and a few drops here and there, but mostly a chilly wind. We decided that as the weather was no worse than yestreday, and possibly looking to improve as the day progressed, we would crack on and try and finish the job.

2" x 2" handrail support braces fitted.

Looking pretty good so far.

4" x 2" D profile capping rail fitted to support rails. Takes my weight perfectly satisfactorily with very little flexing, so should make a nice strong guard-rail.

Fitting the handrail on the corner posts. All joints mitred and eased for a good-looking finish.

Once the railing was finished, we used galvanised stock fencing to provide a dog-proof and reasonably sturdy infill for the framework.

Just a little tensioning of the stock fencing and a little fine adjustment before fitting the lower fence rails in position.

And of course, being the consumate professional I am, I was wearing proper PPE....hi-vis jacket, steel-toecapped working boots and rigger gloves. Only, when I'd taken my gloves off to do some delicate work (hammering in a blardy great staple), that was when I whacked my thumb and drew blood!

The finished article. More solid than a solid thing, pretty dogproof and hopefully wil meet with Mrs E's approval upon her return.

 Just the horticultural nick-knackery to sort out now.

It's back!!!!

The beard is back :o)