What are you doing to become water efficient?

[Wolfie2]

I like mine from Lowes also. I haven’t buried mine under mulch yet but that’s the plan after planting corn and beans this month.

I purchased two ring style soakers from Amazon which I’m giving a try this weekend.

I'm customizing the length to fit my garden. Majority 35 ft. rows. I am going to cut to fit the rows. I"m going to make rings and small pieces for young trees and flower beds. Will take 3/8"fittings and can stretch the inside plastic to fit 1/2" fittings. Can get the fittings, hose ends plugs etc off the Net.

 

[AZN]

I used to live in Phoenix, now I'm in PA. Mulch in the garden, will be adding rain barrels to greenhouse and chicken coop. I run a dehumidifier in the basement and use that water for houseplants, seedlings, etc.

How are you adding rain barrels? Gutters already on greenhouse? Sorry, I want to do this with shed but don't know how to attach gutters and even measure???

 

[Devyn Nagy]

We collect rainwater from our roof to use for our large garden. We have a 220 gallon capacity (using upcycled plastic drums.) That way we don't have to pump softened well water all the way to the garden.

 

[Tinypahomestead]

How are you adding rain barrels? Gutters already on greenhouse? Sorry, I want to do this with shed but don't know how to attach gutters and even measure???

Hubby left room on my greenhouse for gutters. It is not a plastic house.

 

[ChicksnMore]

We collect rainwater from the roofs and we shape the earth so it has channels and basins to try to catch and keep as much rain as we can.
Our laundry drains outdoors into a basin and a channel to a second basin so it waters two trees and misc other plants.
We catch all rinse water from dishes, washing and cooking veggies, showers...just every bit of grey water we can. If there's no oil or bad chemicals in it, it gets reused.
Everything washed outdoors is washed at the base of trees or basin areas that feed plants.
Animal areas are all set up so when I empty and rinse water bowls, the water goes to the plants that shade them.
Hubby doesn't flush...I do and so do my kids...but we do have low flow toilets with filled water bottles added to the tank to further reduce how much water we use per flush and we're on septic. We have to hold the handle down to get number twos to flush...lol.
We xeriscape our front yard and most of our property. In the back we have my garden area...I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't have a green area in my life. But in the garden I use drought tolerant landscaping that's not cactus. It does use more water then cactus...but not a lot more. Instead of annual flowers, I use drought tolerant perennials that bloom. I have pond buckets scattered throughout my garden that I can scoop water from to give plants a sip instead of turning on the hose, and I water when plants show signs of thirst rather then on a schedule. I use water reservoirs in all my planters instead of drainage holes...sometimes its just a coffee can stuck in the bottom and filled with wood chips. Just something to keep the water from all draining away.
I pulled all our mulch out two years ago because of ticks...mulch provides them with a great habitat and our dogs got ticks that year. We don't use a lot of perticide so getting rid of them was hard! I'm certain we're back to a tick free property though so I just started adding wood mulch back in this year. It'll take a couple years to get a good layer down again though since I don't buy it...we run our tree trimmings through a wood chipper for most of it. I also use rocks...fist size or larger...as mulch. They do an amazing job of cooling the ground under them and holding in water...and we have tons of rock here!

Water issues here in the desert are hard. I try to be careful with how I use water and it feels like it's never enough.

 

[AZN]

Hubby left room on my greenhouse for gutters. It is not a plastic house.

Oh wow!

 

[Regina Larsen]

I am SO on the fence about making a small pond for the ducks vs filling small pools. Thing is it has to be off grid; i dont feel like i can develop the homestead relying on future power grid.
My thought was an 8x10 surface area with a 6' deep bottom. Hoping that like with an actual natural pond the bottom will be anaerobic sludge but since no one will be stirring it up the water column would stay clear.
Nervous to do that big a dig and have it go wrong
Rainwater collection system is in development.

 

[chfriedmam]

I was telling my husband about your showers last night and we’re both curious. Are the water restrictions that severe there, or are you doing this now so you’re already in the habit later?

The reason we’re asking is that when we both shower the water is on for ten minutes total. If hubs showers only he’s in for five mins max, but we’ve been thinking of trying a camping shower. The ones that hang in the sun to warm the water. The difference for us is that we’d only have to fill it from the tub and hang to use in summer because there’s no such thing as a cold shower here in summer.

well, I'm in Los Angeles. I grew up in Santa Barbara, also during a drought, and as a child I was taught to turn the water off like that. Also in college in Berkeley I it was the expectation around me. I don't insist my kids do it, bc I know as a child I thought of it as child abuse! but now as an adult I do it. You may be right it doesn't save so much, but I also have a toddler, who literally every time I turn on a faucet tells me there's a drought, and that kind of gets under one's skin...

Los Angeles is saying we are only allowed to water 2 days a week for 8 minutes each time, so that's pretty severe. BUT you can get around it by hand watering, which you can do daily after 4pm or before 9am. And truthfully, I have to hose down the chickens' run in the middle of the day. They are responding by raising prices drastically after a certain, very low, water use threshold.-AND it doesn't matter how many people live at your home. I have 8 people living at my house (and 25+ animals), but they don't care.

I say, where are our desalinization plants?

Long-term, I encourage my kids to think about moving somewhere where it occasionally rains, although too much moisture brings a whole other set of problems

 

[igorsMistress]

I'm just hopin buryin them under the mulch will help keep the sun deterioration to a minimum. Also hopin the armadillos cooperate in this endeavor!

I think you’re on the right track there with the mulch over them to prevent rot. I haven’t ever dealt with an armadillo, do they dig your stuff up?

 

[igorsMistress]

I'm customizing the length to fit my garden. Majority 35 ft. rows. I am going to cut to fit the rows. I"m going to make rings and small pieces for young trees and flower beds. Will take 3/8"fittings and can stretch the inside plastic to fit 1/2" fittings. Can get the fittings, hose ends plugs etc off the Net.

Let me know how that work out! Hubs was thinking of doing the same but wasn’t sure with that sleeve over the hose inside.