The beginning of our hydration system

There is a key component to farming and homesteading that is more vital than central air during a Florida August.

Water.

Hydration for our bodies, our livestock. Fluid to clean gardening clothes and cast iron dishes and sweaty, dirt-smeared skin. Liquid to hose down sprouts and clean off udders.

Without water there will be no homestead. Without water there will be nothing to farm and no one to farm it.

Out on our land we are off the city grid for sewage, water and trash removal. By taking building into our own hands we've cut out the middle man that would arrange a well to be dug for us. Even hiring a well-digging company is out just because of the ridiculous expense. This puts establishing a working, economical, safe water system in our hands.

We will at some phase be hand-hammering a sand point well and attaching to that a manual pump. This water should be clean and clear enough to drink without a heavy filtration system But given the drought prone area we live, we can't rely soley on a well dependant on top-soil run off. According to our watershed management department, we're allowed to harvest as much rainwater as we want without needing any permits or inspections.

This is largely Rob's project and he requested I get this book for him The New Create an Oasis with Greywater: Choosing, Building and Using Greywater Systems - Includes Branched Drains. The Shabin will have a greywater bog that the shower and bathroom sink will run into. We'll be engineering a 500+ gallon water filtration system using these two 250 gallon tanks we bought used this weekend. They were previously housing vegetable oil for a bio-diesel but are food grade and as long as they are rinsed out properly will be fine for our intended use. This water will not be suitable for drinking but will be okay for washing, showering, etc.

Rob has been working on the diagrams for placement of containers, runoff over flow and filters. But this is the beginning of our hydration system. One of the integral parts of our venture.

Water Pump

The land doesn't have a well yet. We're planning to try our hand at pounding a sandpoint well ourselves and attach a hand pump. The other option is having a well dug by a professional which includes a price tag of about $3500. If we had the well dug it would include an electric pump. We don't have electricity yet which would be an additional $450 or so to set up. This isn't an option for us yet but we still need fresh drinking water while we're visiting the land.

I looked into buying or renting a water cooler holder but they're so expensive and if you want hot or cold water lines to function you have to have electricity. The cheapest one was also $40. While hunting up solutions on Amazon we came across this Dolphin Manual Drinking Water Pump.

For easy transportation (it comes in a little box), price and function it's a fantastic addition to our shabin. The bottles don't need to be tipped upside down (I can't be the only one that spills about half the jug attempting this), the pump easily snaps together and simply threads onto the bottle neck. There is a little learning curve to pumping, as the suction on the upstroke after depression continues to pump water through it but it's easy to figure out. The pieces come apart for easy and small storage back into the box it comes in. The longer neck also makes it suitable to position over a basin to use as a "faucet".

We did have to purchase the jugs from the grocery store. Filled they were about $12 a piece, $6 for the water and a $6 deposit on the jug which we'd get back if we turned them in. We were going to try and find them used but also need the caps for transporting such a long way.

I'm actually quite keen on the idea of keeping these. Using them to ration our water supply for washing but we'll see how it goes. Either way, this pump is a great investment for adding "running" water where there is none.