Adventures In Homesteading (Day 18)

5 months ago

Hello Everyone!

Hammering out routines, A solid sleep schedule, Advancing the rainwater system, A busted zipper & Far from plug and play!

Alright, I actually made it over to my elevated tent in the woods earlier in the day (to do my writing routine) than I anticipated being able to achieve. It really has been quite the constant juggle (with pretty much everything here) and I have no idea how I have managed to hammer out my daily routines to the point that I have.

I am unsure if I mentioned it in a previous entry but I have been getting to bed really early at night... and then waking before the sun rises. All of which has made for plenty of time to have long productive days... as well as times when I can just look the place over... or hike off into the woods... just because I can!

Most of what I have been doing on my hikes is trying to familiarize myself with the place, its features, landmarks, trails... and of course whatever flora and fauna that I might stumble upon. What supersedes all of that in my thoughts though... is figuring out the water scenario here... and which areas that I should spend time doing spring development on... and which that might be a total waste of time.

Anyways, early in the day I spread somewhere close to twenty or thirty thousand sycamore tree seeds... all along the places that I want to create some privacy... and create a dust screen against constant barrage of road dust. I do not know if the seeds are even still viable... but figured that it would not hurt to spread them around and see what happens.

Once I was done with that, I tackled the task of getting my rain water collection system dialed in better than how I had it before. Basically, I made a new filter for the 'spout' on the catchment itself, then fully covered the top of my black tub with screen... and to complete the rig... I anchored my rain barrel downhill so that the tub will overflow into it.

The entire setup as it is... now needs to collect a lot of rainwater before it starts functioning... but what I am thinking of doing (for now) is just bailing water from the tub into the barrel... if I really need pressurized water for something. I think that after just a few good solid rainstorms I will be able to fill both the barrel and the tub... which means that there will hopefully be a shower in my future!

After I was done piddling around with that project... I went to put my tools away (in the tool tent) and the zipper on the tent finally popped after weeks of rough handling. Given how cheap the tent is... and that although I could repair the zipper... and stop it from leaking... it was time to move the tools... and repurpose the tent as a water tent.

Twice now I have gone to that public spring and gotten water... and although I keep all the bottles/jugs covered from the sun with a thick black plastic bag... putting them in the shade (while still in the bag) is much better. It has been quite a long time since I was in a scenario where I needed a water tent... but with how hot it has been... and how many animals that I have to keep watered... I need to keep as much of it on hand as I possibly can.

While I was cleaning out the tub (and reconstructing the rainwater system) I even bottled the water that I already captured up... and yup they were the first containers of water to occupy the new water tent. The best part of the water (from near the top before I disturbed it all) I put into some very large containers for dog water... because although they are not very keen on old rainwater (with lots of tannins) they love fresh rainwater.

Back to what I was getting at... once I got that tent repurposed I 'went to town' (so to speak) tidying up the entire area that that tent was in... because I also had a bunch of other stuff staged around it. Although I was hoping that with all the stuff moved... that I would reveal a flat spot large enough to setup my carport on... but nope it slopes much more than I thought that it did.

I have had all kinds of crazy ideas of how to set that carport tent up (even over or in a gulch) but when it comes down to it... there just is not a good place for it. If I was not trying to back out of the area that I am now camped in (and it would not put the tent closer to the ruckus makers) there are several really nice spots... and one area in particular that is only slightly out of level.

Not that I am big on moving further down the hill or anything either way... because the vegetation is sparse and come winter it would all turn into quite the mucky mess. It is probably better to just trim some small overcrowded trees from that area... open up the canopy some for more sunlight... and grow as many black locust trees as I can fit in there... until the smaller vegetation begins growing in thicker.

On a different note. I hiked back to that area where I am looking at building a farm pond... and upon closer inspection... it will not take nearly as much fill dirt (or clay) as what I was originally thinking that it would. Something that is pretty cool is that the largest outcropping of rock on the property... will form the uphill side of the pond... and make for a great place to sit... and soak my feet in the water.

At some point this afternoon, I dug up a few wild black raspberry plants, some blackberry plants and several small eastern cedar trees... and then transplanted them along the edge of the property... near a spot that always stays kind of damp. They are actually near the middle of my brush wall... and my plan is to keep planting (transplanting) those three things... all along it... until I create a massive hedge.

A few days ago while working in the woods (at a potential spring site) I was able to pull up an entire six foot (two meter) white pine tree... and just today I dug a hole for it... and planted it along the property line that has a lot of road exposure. Honestly, I should just make a day of doing that soon... and search through all the gulches for anything that is an evergreen (that I can easily either pull or dig up) and fill in all the open spots along as much of my borders as possible.

Of course the tasks are never ending here in general... and hardly any of what I have been doing (or dealing with) has been making it into these entries. In other words I am simply happy that I can eek out an hour or so to myself... spell things out to the best of my ability... and get it all shared on a daily basis.

In other words getting to this point has been a nonstop effort on my part... and it is not like my entire setup is just a simple 'plug and play' one... that I can deploy on the fly. Sure I have a bit of an 'edge' because I have taken apart, moved and put back together several little homestead areas now... but wow the terrain challenge here makes things tricky.

My camp area itself is 'functional' enough and I can reliably brew my espresso whenever I want to... but I miss soaking in hot water in my outdoor tub as the sun is setting over the horizon. Going from my previous setup (and locale) to this one... has been quite the 'adjustment' to say the least... and although I have far from 'adjusted' to the place and surrounding area... it sure has its charms.

Eventually, I know that I will hit the ninety day mark and be fully adjusted to my new scenario... but hopefully by then I will be out of camping mode altogether. I will not regale everyone with my moaning (that I have made too often before) about camping... but whoa I am still over it no matter how temporary I know that it is.

Well, I guess that I have rambled on enough for one entry and am going to wrap things up here. I hope that everyone is doing well. Ta ta for now.