Getting Ready for Spring Garden

This evening, my son and I started some seedlings indoors that will be transplanted after the last frost.  This was the first time he has ever done this.  After getting over touching the dirt, he thought it was fun.  There were 50 seedlings started: San Marzano Tomato, Genovese Basil, Creeping Thyme, Lacinto Kale and Early Jersey Wakefield Cabage.  After this snowstorm tomorrow and the next day, we will plant the following outdoor for early spring: Bambina Carrot, Cascadia Sugar Snap Pea, Marvel of Four Seasons Lettuce.  After last frost I will be planting Boston Pickling Cucumber, Louisiana Short Pod Okra and English Lavender.  These heirloom seeds were all ordered from Terrior Seed Company.  In a couple of weeks, we will order some more for the spring.

Our Rain Catchment System Project

2/9/14

This is not a completed project, but will be ongoing over the next year.  We want to install rain barrel systems on the four corners of the house where the downspouts are located.  Lets be clear, we are not contractors or carpenters; in fact, we know very little about completing home improvement projects.  Its definitely a skill we want to build, so we looked into completing the project ourselves by researching and taking our time.  We have completed the first step of the project and I wanted to share how it went.  One thing I should note, I made some little mistakes and some big mistakes that I wanted to present to show how we got the finished product.

What we want is to install a system of rain barrels connected to the downspouts located at the four corners as mentioned.  We have a lot of water go down the spouts that just pool up along the outside in the front and back yard.  Our garden located at the east and west side of the house gets watered from out tap.  We want to catch the rainwater and use this to primarily water the garden and help reduce the water that pools up around the yard. The completed project will include a rain diverter on each spout connected to two, 55 gallon food grade water barrels.  All together, that would give us the capacity to store 440 gallons of water.

We started with watching videos on YouTube, reading reviews and landscape blogs to learn about the different systems and talked to a friend that had done this before.  When we decided on the design above, we chose to start small to make sure we could do this and not drop a ton of money on a failed project.  We decide to try installing a single barrel to the southwest corner of the home.  See how how it works in the rain and fix any mistakes we made.

My first mistake was in step 1 and it was a big one. I looked on craigslist to find some water barrels.  I read that you should check in the barrels and make sure there was nothing in them before.  I found some used barrels for $20 - HDPE plastic, 55 gallon drums with detachable lids.  My brother and I went and picked them up.  The barrels looked clean inside.  I stuck my nose in and couldn't smell anything, so I went ahead and purchased 3 of them.  The drums sat outside behind the house a couple of days as I ordered a downspout diverter on Ebay and waited for it to arrive.  When I got ready to install the barrels, I opened the lid and was quite disappointed to see the inside had white looking pain dripping down the inside.  The drums sat out in the rain which penetrated the clasp on the lids.  Between the lid and clasp was some kind of primer or paint that the guy wasn't able to hide when he cleaned it.  So, I had thoroughly checked the barrels, but neglected to check the lids.  The inside of the barrels had a strong smell of paint thinner or something.  I didn't want to risk it, so I took the drums to the dump. Next time, I will probably try to buy them new.

This was a setback.  I had all the parts to set up the system and allotted the time on a Saturday to do it. I called and checked around everywhere to find the barrels, but none were close by or places that had them were not open on weekends.  I decided to go ahead and use a new heavy duty trash can that had never been used.  While I don't plan on leaving this forever, I wanted to try it and make sure I was able to complete this project.  If it works, I will use the trash can on my shed to collect water from that, but in the meantime, it would be a learning tool for us.

Here is how it went:

I started with the heavy duty trash can.  It is not food grade plastic, but should work fine for collecting water for watering the beds.  I began with the drilling the hole for the spigot, using my drill and 1 and 3/4 inch hole saw.  I drilled a hole 6 inches from the bottom and placed a 1 and 1/4 inch PVC bulkhead union connector.  After installing the connector tight, I screwed on the spigot to the connector.

Next, I added the inlet hole with hole saw about 5 inches from the top of the can and connected the bulkhead union connector.  This is where the hose from the downspout will attach.  

Next, we prepped the area where the rain barrel would stay.  We put down 1 cubic foot of river rock at against the foundation to help drain and level the area.  We placed down 2 cinder blocks and three flat bricks to give the barrel some height to help with the flow for the spigot.  

We had purchased the Oatey Mystic downspout diverter on Ebay which cost $26 with shipping.  This diverter system only collects about 40% of the rain water and the remaining amount will continue down the downspout.  We chose this type of diverter so we won't have to worry about the water backing up to the gutter if it gets full.  We followed the directions:  about 2 ft. above the can, we measured 6 inches of downspout to remove with a hack saw.  This was a pain.  I know to let the saw do the work, but I just could not get a good angle without sawing the siding of the house.  Anyway, we took our time, taking turns sawing and cut through it.  We installed the diverter which was really simple.  

Next, we needed to connect the 1 and 1/4 inch hose from the diverter to the barrel.  The diverter came with a thick, 4 ft. vinyl hose that was folded to fit inside the box.  The hose was kinked and we just couldn't straighten it out as the downward angle of the diverter spout kinked no matter how close or far the can was when going to a horizontal inlet on the barrel.  We heated the hose to try and soften it up, ran hot water through it, put a broom stick through it and ran a dryer over it.  The thing wouldn't budge.  I ended up having to go to the hardware store and purchased a 1 and 1/4 inch bilge pump hose.  We ran it through a test by spraying the hose on the roof to simulate rain... it worked perfectly.

We are pretty confident we can do this again with the proper barrels.  This garbage can barrel won't go to waste; it will be used to catch rain on the shed in back to be used for the compost bin and some other things.  All we would do in addition to this is install another outlet on the opposite side of the barrel as an outlet/inlet to the adjacent barrel.  Next we will obtain 3 more of the diverters, 8 55-gallon drums and all the spigots and parts.  We will do this slowly over a year, but eventually rely less on municipal water source and have some back up, emergency water on hand.  

2/11/14

After about 3 hours of very light rain, the barrel was full.  The problem was the trash can lid does not make a sealed fit like a barrel clasp on a water drum.  This prevented back pressure which would have caused the water running down the inlet hose to back up and run out down the downspout.  Instead, the water just started running over between the container and the lid straight down on the ground.  

I'm not too worried.  I love how quick it filled up and I ran a 100 ft hose to the spigot.  There is pletny of pressure for the hose which can reach all the way to the garden beds.  Today, I installed a drain outlet on the opposite side of the inlet with a 3/4 PVC bulkhead union connector.  I plan to go ahead and get a second, identical trash can and run the drainage outlet to the second can.  The second can outlet will drain out to the ground.  For today, I just ran the hose out in front a few feet so the water doesn't pour out next to the foundation.

2/16/14

I went ahead and added the second rain barrel today.  Basically, I just replicated what I did for the first barrel.  I also added a y connector to spigots in order to just use one hose.  At this point, this project is done.  I dropped a lot of money on this with all the mistakes, but learning to make this and understanding how it works made it worth it.  Since it cost near $250 all together, I will probably just purchase a single, large food grade container that already has the spigot installed which costs around $350 and holds 160 gallons.  

    

Our waste problem

We have too much trash.  We don't have a garbage pick-up service, so we take our trash to a county dump site.  Nothing is recycled.  Our routine has been to load up our trash bags into 3, 40 gallon cans. On Saturday morning, I load up the trash in m truck and take it 9 miles to the dump site. Our 3 cans are full every week and we have had I take special trips in the past during he week.  I would like to set a goal of reducing our trash by half in the next couple of months or so.  I am looking for ideas to implement to reduce our trash.  Here is what we have so far:

1: all food waste will go in a coffee can and tossed in the compost bin. This is a no-brainer, but we always get lazy on it.  I will be sure to leave the coffee can out on the counter. In the past we have given up when it gets full and never taken outside. The compost bin is about 50 yards away from the back door. Maybe we can put a larger receptacle right outside. Since a coffee can fills up quick.

2. We should start saving all our cardboard for sheet mulching.  We have been throwing it all away due to laziness but I am always searching for car board when it is time to sheet mulch.  This will save us money on weed stop which we have bought in roles.

3. Bring home less trash.  We have been guilty of using lots of disposable plastic.

4. Shreddings to the compost pile. I shred all our junk mail and I will start composting that.

Water Filtration

We purchased a new gravity water filter, the Berkey Royal that holds the Black Filters.  This unit has a 3.25 gallon reservoir.  There are two filters in the system which can hold up to 4.  Each filter will purify 3,000 gallons of water.  There is much information, reviews and videos on this water filter system.  I have watched videos of people filtering creek water.  We will be installing rain barrels to harvest rain water from our roof.  That water will be used for the garden, but if really needed in an emergency, we should be able to filter the water with this system.  We plan to purchase about 4 filters to keep on hand.  This filter and the rain barrels will help us keep water on hand if its ever needed for more than just the garden.

Making our own Laundry detergent from cheap ingredients

For the last 4 years, we have been making our own laundry detergent which has saved us a lot of money.  We stocked up on the ingredients years ago and still have most of it left.  Here is the recipe.  We got this from Pinterest long ago

Homemade Laundry Detergent

You only need 3 ingredients and 10 minutes!

1. 1/3 bar of soap (I prefer fels-naptha, but I know others have had success with ivory, dreft and even dollar store soap, so choose something you like the scent of that doesn’t bother your skin) (cost. approx. 33 cents)

2. Borax-1/2 Cup (this is available at just about any department or grocery store in the detergent aisle)(cost. approx. 7 cents per 1/2 cup)

3. Washing Soda-1/2 Cup (this is a little harder to find, but check your local grocery-again in the detergent aisle) (cost. approx. 10 cents per 1/2 cup)

4. Water -1 gallon (plain ole tap water is just fine–I would avoid pond water, smelly lake water, etc… :0) (cost. approx 5 cents per gallon using tap water)

 Total cost:  Approx. 55 cents per gallon.  64 loads per gallon. 

Green onions

This was all over the internet and many just think of this as common knowledge. Putting the green onion bulbs in a cup of water on a south facing window sill will make them continue to grow.  The last time we did this, we had green onions for 5 months as they have been growing 1.5 to 2 inches per week.  I know this is a small thing, but it sure helps when a batch of green onions this year is almost $3.

Here they are, 5 days later.

Preserving/Canning - Carrot Cake Jam

We used to really love canning, but stopped for a few years.  Now we are trying to get back into it to help increase our food storage.  We will keep canning to preserve whatever we grow and don't eat or when we find a great deal on crates of apples, pears, peaches, etc.  To keep it interesting, we are going to preserve recipes rather than just left overs like sauces, jellies and jams.  After we have some food to preserve, we'll try some recipes to see how we like it and preserve the winners.

Here is a recipe we made today that we really liked.  We went ahead and preserved a couple batches using water bath canning.  We found the recipe on the internet.  

Carrot Cake Jam

Ingredients 

1 can {20 ounces} unsweetened crushed pineapple, undrained
1-1/2 cups shredded carrots
1-1/2 cups chopped peeled ripe pears
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 package {1-3/4 ounces} powdered fruit pectin
6-1/2 cups sugar

Directions

Bring a boiling-water canner, 3/4 full with water, to simmer. Wash jars and screw bands in hot soapy water; rinse with warm water. Pour boiling water over flat lids in saucepan off the heat. Let stand in hot water until ready to use. Drain well before filling.

In a 6 – 8 quart sauce pot, combine the first seven ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until the pears are tender. Stir occasionally so nothing sticks to the pan.  Remove from the sauce pan from the heat, and stir in pectin.

Bring mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Slowly stir in the sugar and return to a full rolling for 1 minute, making sure to stir constantly to avoid boiling over. Remove from heat and skim off any foam with metal spoon.

Ladle immediately into prepared jars, filling to within 1/4 inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with two-piece lids. Screw bands tightly. Place jars on elevated rack in canner. Lower rack into canner. {Water must cover jars by 1 to 2 inches. Add boiling water, if necessary.} Cover; bring water to gentle boil. Process 10 min. Remove jars and place upright on towel to cool completely. After jars cool, check seals by pressing middles of lids with finger. If lids spring back, lids are not sealed and refrigeration is necessary}. Yields {7} 1/2 pints.