Pennsif's Progress - The Days are Numbered // Day 913 : Water, wate...

I live in Wales. In Wales we have a lot of water.

This summer, like the summer before, and the summer before that, and even the one before, we have had a lot of rain.

As in the past few years we had a hot, sunny spring, and if we are lucky we will as in the past have a late Indian summer.

In Wales you have two summers, one in the spring and another in the autumn 😊

From a prepping point of view this is good. Water is not something we are ever likely to run out of.

We have two springs, two tanks, two streams and two wells. Two is one, and one is none as they say in the wild ways.

As a 'backup' we also have a half acre lake, which with a bit of filtering would keep us going for many a day if times run dry.

Living on the side of a mountain two springs is a bit of an underestimate as new ones pop up all over the place.

When we were clearing the back steps up to the orchard this week we discovered a spring has sprung from under one of the steps. Unfortunately those steps lead down to the conservatory so we have a bit of a torrent heading down to the back door.

But I am not complaining about all the water. It is such a vital resource. I would rather have too much than too little.

We have only run short when we first moved here nearly twenty years ago. That first summer was very hot and very dry. We only had the original old concrete block tank then.

That tank was fine for the elderly couple who lived here before. But for a family of two adults and three young children washing and bathing way too regularly it wasn't going to cut the mustard.

Prince Charles

It came to a head when Prince Charles came to visit our neighbours. I waved to his helicopter in my underpants but then our tank ran dry.

I think the neighbours had used up all the water off the mountain washing everywhere down before the Prince arrived.

So after the royal dry-up we decided to upgrade our water storage capacity and installed two large plastic tanks - each holding 1100 gallons (5000 litres). They are fed by our main springs, but we have a hook-up from a second spring if needed.

Water has not been a problem since.

So our water is sorted from a prepping point of view. Tick that one.

The continual rain is a bit of a drag over the summer. Paricularly when I discovered a hole in my wellington boot. But that is one minor incovenience when I hear first hand from homesteaders in the USA on the HomesteadSlackers slack group about some of the major hassles they have had recently with the hurricanes. My good wishes to you all over there.

Polytunnel

I am so glad we have now got the polytunnel and the greenhouses.

It is very soothing working in the polytunnel with the continual drumming of the rain on the tight plastic overhead.

I'm now planning for a second polytunnel next year. I think we are going to put it over the water hole in the pig garden so we have an internal water supply which would be rather handy.

Alongside harvesting I am still trying to get a few more seeds planted in the greenhouses and the polytunnel. This is new territory for me so it is all experimental to see what will and what won't grow over winter. I am hoping I can keep a supply of carrots, chard, lettuce and onions going as long as possible.

Potatoes

I am wondering about trying some Christmas potatoes. Anyone tried them?

On the subject of potatoes I have just started digging the Picasso potatoes I planted late (17 June) in one of the new raised beds in the pig garden. Considering these were seed potatoes I had forgotten about and found two months late under the sofa I was not expecting much.

But I have been very pleasantly suprised. They are coming out as really clean, good sized potatoes with a decent yield of nearly a kilo (1kg = 2.2 lb) per plant.

So the secret is to leave the spuds chitting under the sofa and forget about them for a couple of months or so 😊

Super Fast

The other big news of the week - I'm running fast.

We finally got connected successfully to the community wireless network. Our internet is now steaming along at 30Mb on a good day. Not super-whizz for city folk I know, but compared with the meagre 1.5Mb speed we were getting out here in rural Wales before it is stonking.

So now I can type twice as fast on steemit, and listen to the smooth sounds of MSP Waves radio all day long...

Rock on and enjoy the rain.

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[all images provided by @pennsif]

Pennsif's Progress - The Days are Numbered // Day 913 : Water, water everywhere