Sunday, November 17, 2013

Video 40 - Scenes and Commentary.

So, what is that hole really for??


10 comments:

  1. Thanks for the update. We enjoy your watching the videos and learning about your progress. Any plans for a garden yet? What kind of video camera are you using?

    Mike

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    1. Hey Mike, thank you. I am using a GoPro Hero 3 (Black edition). The camera takes great footage. The problem lies in the non-photography educated user not being able to pull out all the potential. :D It has a stereo microphone. A hole on each side of it for the audio. Using a simple trick of covering them with small bandaids keeps the wind off and the voices coming through clearly.

      You can hear the difference when I panned in the first 3 scenes and there was wind noise, while in the others, there was none.

      Garden plans! Oh yes! In front of the Tiny House and the Solar Array there is a hill of sorts. I plan on eventually having 4000SF veggie garden out there. Might not get all that this year, but I plan on digging into it and creating some mounds and curves. Channeling the rain water we do get. Perma-culture ideas for desert climates.

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  2. Do you think the spring, if you are lucky enough to hit one, will produce enough water for a large garden? I don't know how much rainfall you get, but I would imagine, with temperatures in the high 80s, you will probably have to do a bit of watering through the summer months. I had to laugh at your shadow in the opening shot. It looks like a fat lady with a tiny head, saluting the solar panels!

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    1. I believe that should I hit water, I will still have to carry on with permaculture principles. Such as, using the change in elevations to create swales and berms. To funnel what water we do get into specific spots. Plus heaps of mulching and perhaps even burying a bunch of wood in the soil to hold the moisture longer.

      So, with the spring, ehrm...well maybe?

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  3. Granny and I thought the same thing she beat me to it. At our rural property we have a well (shared with 2nd Family at the end of the other property). It's about 150 feet down but during the summer of 2011 when the drought was bad, there are nearby (10 miles or so) farms that raise rice and they flood their fields to harvest. They are on the same aquifer and there were some homes in the area that had wells that ran our of water. So they couldn't water or anything. So that was my thought about having enough water for everything you might need. You know, if there wasn't any water, a good use would be for a tank that you could use to somehow harvest rain when you do get it?

    Though the doomsday bunker sounds fun too, LOL!

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    1. True. If i do not find water, then i could bury storage tanks to mitigate freezing. I do not expect enough water to run a conventional farm. Regardless it will need some dryland creative ideas. Namely. All of them. Eventually i shall get gutters for the house and deck roofs. So far my water usage is about 2-3 gallons a day between comfortable survival (hydration, tea/coffe drinking enjoyment, and food prep) and bathing. (bathing takes a kettle or two of boiled water to one or more ambient ones) I suspect usage will go up a bit when i get a proper shower. A third perhaps?

      So, you can see that i do not need much to meet 'house' usage. Irrigation will need a few more ideas.

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    2. btw, what do you think of the newest videos? Getting any better? Interests. Do they have enough content? Also, what do you think about winter beginning in October up here! Bear in mind it snowed the night i moved in, Sep 22nd!

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    3. Love the videos, they are really good. And they weren't bad before, better than what I'd do, ha. Is there water nearby? I can't remember. A stream? River? I can't remember if you filmed that but I'd love to see that sometime. Snow in September is crazy but I guess something you'll get used to, ha. Stay warm!!

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  4. Cloud, there is a home water storage system (Cistern) I saw in Mother Earth Mag, that uses a hole dug in the ground and lined with heavy poly. You then insert plastic "squares that look like milk crates, to provide the Tank area. The poly is then sealed over this and a thin layer of soil returned to the top. About one foot + / -. It is feed by gutters from the roofs. A small pump would be used to return the water to the surface. You could also gain a small amount of rain water by using the water that runs off the electric pannels. I still hope you hit water though. Much Much easier. Using and storing rain water is a major dryland method.

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    1. I think I have seen something akin to it. It was used in a commercial setting though, with some 30,000 gallons or perhaps more.

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