Trying to take care of my little piece of the planet
Yes, he’s back.
We thought he was a goner about six weeks ago when a large tree fell on him, toppling him into our small fish pond. As is usually the case, it was my fault. We’ve had an issue for years with pine trees in our woods becoming infested with pine bark beetles. A number [...]
Posted on August 4th, 2010 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Family Life, Rainwater Collection | 6 Comments »
If you’ve wandered around on this site at all, you’ve realized that collecting rainwater is an obsession with me. I rationalize that I only push it as far as it’s useful, collecting rainwater when I need it and letting it go back into the ground when I don’t. So our 5000 gallon cistern has an [...]
Posted on January 17th, 2010 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Rainwater Collection | 2 Comments »
I’ve been anxious about our water supply all summer/fall. We’ve had enough to get along. But we never really had a plentiful supply. I could never seem to get the level above 3000 gallons. If you look at the graph below, you can see how the rainfall during last summer (our first one using our [...]
Posted on November 10th, 2009 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Rainwater Collection | 3 Comments »
While perusing the headlines at lunch I came across this piece of video about a microbrewery in Atlanta that uses rainwater to make environmentally friendly (AKA “green” ) beer.
Hey! That was my idea!
I used to homebrew many years ago, until I realized that the minerals and microbial flora in my groundwater were combining to add [...]
Posted on October 5th, 2009 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Leisure Projects, Rainwater Collection | 2 Comments »
If you’ve prowled around other posts on this blog, you’ll know that we installed a rainwater collection system for ALL our water needs, including drinking water. It has provided safe (UV-sanitized) and tasty water for over a year now and I’m very happy with it. But the collection part only works if it….yeah, rains.
This spring [...]
Posted on August 13th, 2009 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Rainwater Collection | 2 Comments »
Yes, we’ve had a hint of snow, and I had intended to be ahead on preparations for winter this year, but there were delays in getting the logs delivered, and further delays on my part in turning them into firewood. So I still don’t have that self-satisfying pile of split wood drying safely in the [...]
Posted on November 24th, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Energy, Rainwater Collection | 3 Comments »
I know. The title of this post is so over the top. But the reality for me, silly or not, is that after the last eight years, I have been pathologically focused on tomorrow’s election. I spend far too much time at my desk checking and re-checking the news. I haven’t had any exercise other [...]
Posted on November 3rd, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Gardening, Nature Diary, Rainwater Collection, Rants and Musings | 5 Comments »
We’ve had less than a quarter of an inch of rain in the month of August, and the flowers are showing it. Fortunately, thanks to the cistern, we’ve been able to water the vegetable garden and have literally harvested bushels of heirloom tomatoes and peppers (among other things). However, we’re down to 2800 gallons out [...]
Posted on August 21st, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Rainwater Collection | 1 Comment »
It’s been another few weeks of watching the rain go south of us. Or north of us. Or quite commonly, both at the same time, with banks of clouds splitting in two and pushing past us on both sides. Last night I went to bed after watching the local news, confident that the mass of [...]
Posted on July 23rd, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Books/Movies/Podcasts, etc., Nature Diary, Rainwater Collection | 1 Comment »
I received an email from a friend about collecting rainwater for the vegetable garden. Such considerations are increasingly common in our drought-prone area. Her question seemed simple: “Is it safe to water my tomatoes with rainwater from my asphalt shingle roof?” I almost responded with an immediate ‘yes’. After all, I knew the roof to [...]
Posted on July 21st, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Rainwater Collection | 15 Comments »