Grey Water – The Cheap Way
Posted on 22. Oct, 2010 by admin in On the farm
One of the main projects I want at the Sonoran Farm is the use of grey water. I would like to capture and reuse as much of the current water that I am already using. Capture water from the shower, the washing machine, the sinks or what ever it may be so long as it doesn’t contain anything harmful like human waste. In order to work towards a sustainable permaculture lifestyle.
I have been getting quotes on different types of different grey water install types. The bottom line is having 100% grey water capture added to an existing house is quite expensive and the payback period versus that of other green projects doesn’t stack up.
I wish I could do it all but I can’t so when I can’t afford it I improvise. You’ll find a five gallon bucket in my shower. Each day I capture around three gallons of water that would otherwise go down the drain. This water is then used to hydrate my plants around the house. I know this is small and too much effort for most which is just lame, but this is a start and its free!
Have a leak, grab a bucket and resuse, resuse, resuse.
Hey why not…
Posted on 01. Oct, 2010 by admin in Opinion
It is now 90 degrees at 9:00 PM. The summer is cooling down in Phoenix if that makes any sense that its still blazing hot out this late at night. If you live here though, you know that the cool weather is just around the corner.
So unlike most gardens that are dormant in the winter, mine for me was dormant this past summer. Good reasons of course. I am working with a landscape team that focuses on edible landscape. We are in the design mode now for plant layout and rain water capture systems. Greywater is still a question of how much will capturing all my water usage cost compared to the pay off.
So I hope to have some real stuff going on soon but I figured since nothing was really going on in the Sonoran Farm then why not throw up a post saying so.
Water – Our Most Sacred Resource
Posted on 04. Jun, 2010 by admin in Opinion
I had the chance to meet with a company today that specializes in permacutlure design and edible landscaping. While I am taking a holistic approach to The Sonoran Farm so that all that goes on here can be as integrated as possible, I see that most of what I will be doing will be tied to water.
I really was planning on telling you more about the discussion of the design for the different areas of my property, my topic switched.
Today everyone was posting on Twitter or Facebook to contact British Petroleum’s, Randy Prescott. I thought to myself that this was simply ridiculous. It’s like yelling at a call center rep simply because you were pissed off at the company.
Listen, I am sorry to say this but if it takes a horrible environmental event to wake up people then so be it. The world’s water as it was prior to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was already bad but few really cared to think about it.
We currently have a dead zone in The Gulf of Mexico because of all the toxins and nitrogen based fertilizers that run down the Mississippi River. No bio life can exist there, and this is pre BP.
We have a trash island in the Pacific Ocean nearing the size of Texas where all the plastics from Asia and the Americas are joining. The plastics of the world are deteriorating under the sun and are causing mass destruction.
We as humans can not live without water and perhaps some fisherman out of a job, eco systems dying and the main stream media madness may bring some good to the bigger picture.
