What did you do in the garden today?

[igorsMistress]

How do you capture it?

I would love to have a way to capture some of my grey water for garden use. Well, in non-freezing months anyway.

https://oasisdesign.net/greywater/laundry/

This is the website I’ve been perusing.

 

[Ascholten]

How do you capture it?

I would love to have a way to capture some of my grey water for garden use. Well, in non-freezing months anyway.

I have a 5 gallon bucket under my sink. Dishes get done on the side that connects directly to the sewage line. That is the side the bleach and really horrible stuff go down the pipe. The other side of the sink, the garbage disposal side, the line that goes across to tie that side in with the other one, I cut in the middle and put a T with the intersect pointing down, and a pipe that runs it right into a 5 gallon bucket underneath. I also have a small general utility pump under there too, that runs off 120 volts. In MY case I put a 3/4 inch hole thru the wall to the outside because I have my herb totes right there, it comes out, T's outside then goes into the totes where I have sort of like a cross arm with holes in it so the pump basically turns on, pushes it outside and sprays it directly down into the DIRT. (do NOT spray the leaves, ) you want it directly into the dirt.

For you, or someone who does not want holes in the wall, just put a 5 gallon bucket and when it gets like 3/4 full. (make more LESS SPLASHIER TRIPS) rather than one that sloshes onto your feet / the carpet etc etc., take the bucket out and pour where you need it.

I do other things, so keep the lid open on mine, but otherwise put a lid on yours and with a pump you'll never have to touch it or deal with stink,squish etc. I keep lid off because in my case, when I process large amounts of meat, like I am bagging up 50 lbs of chicken into meal sized portions, I pour the blood right into the bucket instead of down the drain where it's in the disposal, gathering flies etc etc type thing. that way it's in and out.

As you can see by the picture the down pipe screws on, this way if you have to remove it for any reason, you just put a cap on it and viola it's back to a perfectly like it was before you molested it normal operating drain !

anyways when it gets full flip a switch pump it out, when its empty turn pump off. also do NOT PUT MEAT down a garbage disposal, you really should not be doing that anyways, it just causes problems no matter what. But you CAN if you don't want to feed it to your girls, put veggy stuff down it and it grinds it to slurry which that little pump slorps right out and moosh mulch right onto your giner /tumeric, garlic etc etc which LOVE it.

Aaron

 

[Ascholten]

Ok now that someone else mentioned they do this too. I don't feel like such a retard.

Washing machine.
I do NOT use the water that was used to wash your clothes. In my case I worked in a power plant, so god only know what greases, goops and glops I sat in, wiped on etc, so do NOT want that in MY FOOD !!! That goes right down the drin, BUT the rinse water. I have a 40 gallon hefty trash can on wheels. I take the drain hose out of the drain and put it into that 40 gallon can and pump my rinse water right into there. I then wheel that straight into my bathroom, the top of the toilet tank is open and the water is turned off to it.

Step 1: every new can,put a cap full of bleach in it so it don't grow, keep it covered
Step 2: have a 2 gallon bucket in the wheelie can, you flush, dunk the bucket and refill the back of the toilet tank. when 40 gallon can is empty - refill it.

or, you can use a garden hose if you do not want a permanent fixture but have a bucket outside the house, run it through a window or whatever. have a threaded fitting on the hose end of your washing machine, it should be threaded anyways. hook it up and when the thing goes into the drain cycle, it pumps it right outside into your storage out there, for you to later use to water your plants.

PS, plants LOVE the traces of soap in the water. So do the chickens. It drives the bugs OUT of the soil and up to the surface where the girls gobble them right up !

I done the math. where i live, between water costs, and sewage disposal costs, out the door you pay a penny a gallon for your water, to get it and get rid of it.

I average about 600 dollars a YEAR savings by doing this, and also using rain water .vs. city water to water with.

If you really want to get creative and re re RE cycle. when doing multiple loads. when it comes time for your towels, which typically you can use cold water anyways. The load before it,you put the rinse water into your can, then when you go to do the towel load of laundry, you use that rinse water from the previous load as your wash water for the towels. tat way you are not using and PAYING for the city water..it's CLEAN water, or oh gee it has traces of soap in it BFD !!

since towels really are 'clean' you CAN use that wash water to water your plants with.

so you recycled the water once from rinse to wash, then twice from wash to plant watering.

in my case I ALSO save the water that comes off the coils on the air conditioning., so in theory i get a triply play. Recycle ONCE to take AC coil water to rinse clothes with it, Recycle TWICE to wash the next load with that used rinse water that originally came from the AC coils, then recycle THIRD time to water plants or flush toilet with that wash water. that you originally got from the rinse done with the AC coils who's on first??

Throw solar panels on top of this.

Ask me how you can get the electric / water company to owe YOU money

Aaron

Edit: YES, they really DO hate me.

 

[CaroleW]

https://oasisdesign.net/greywater/laundry/

This is the website I’ve been perusing.

That looks very informative. Another resource for you-- City of Scottsdale AZ used to have a brochure on greywater use systems thru their Green Building Lecture series. I think it should be on their website. It was a prototype program for the region or maybe even the country.

 

[igorsMistress]

That looks very informative. Another resource for you-- City of Scottsdale AZ used to have a brochure on greywater use systems thru their Green Building Lecture series. I think it should be on their website. It was a prototype program for the region or maybe even the country.

I have to say that I’m impressed with the cities here. They promote the water saving things that California always poo poo’d.

 

[Acre4Me]

Two seed orders placed!!!

Baker Creek and Territorial seeds.

Baker creek has decent prices and we had good luck with the seeds last year.

Territorial is pricier, so I buy what I can’t find elsewhere. However, good selections, great germination, so we keep them in the rotation.

I’ll peruse Burpee and Seed Savers today, probably order some seeds.

Kid has the day off from school, and we have two Gingerbread kits staring at us, so some gingerbread domicile construction and decoration is on the schedule for today as well.

 

[CaroleW]

I have a potted Stevia plant that survived outside and I brought it in (over a month ago). It has started to sprout from the roots of a stem that shriveled (for lack of watering) and I think if I layer the main unshriveled stems (which I just did) it will sprout along the stems to get more.

I'm also going to start some more Stevia seeds this week in a flat. They don't have a good germination rate typically. I got maybe 4 or 5 plants of 12 seeds last time, but I'm learning different methods so will steadily increase my numbers thru seeds or layering/division and thru pruning for harvest for more bushy plants.

 

[Sally PB]

Anyone here using a composting toilet?

I asked DH if he was interested, but he's not.

One the seed front, I've ordered from Maine Potato Lady (onion sets and sweet potato slips) and Tomato Fest (7 new-to-me tomato varieties).

I will order from Baker Creek, Sow True, and Seed Savers Exchange before I say I'm done buying seeds.

 

[Ascholten]

Anyone here using a composting toilet?

I asked DH if he was interested, but he's not.

One the seed front, I've ordered from Maine Potato Lady (onion sets and sweet potato slips) and Tomato Fest (7 new-to-me tomato varieties).

I will order from Baker Creek, Sow True, and Seed Savers Exchange before I say I'm done buying seeds.

I looked into a composting toilet. They do make them 'certified' in a way that yes you CAN use them in a house and they ARE acceptable, ie you could pass a code inspection and the place is considered liveable. Not like you are pooping in a pot and hanking it out the winder ! They have small fans on them and claim there is no odor however if you got a pile of poo in a room, you are not going to get around odors. Especially on windy days if the wind is puffing outside, it's going to put pressure gradients on your 'poo chimney' which will cause backdrafts, and your floorboard farts ARE going to come back up to say hello to you !

Whether you have one or now will depend HUGEly on your lifestyle. Me personally, I would not mind one, but would probably vie for an outhouse, just to not have to bother, because the toilets DO need to be cleaned every so often, which means you need to scoop the poop out and dispose of it. It's bad enough I need to shovel chicken poo but I really draw the line at having to play in my own.

Urine is sterile (unless YOU have an active infection) and can be used on the fly really, just dilute it a bit. Mookie sticks now, you really can NOT use on the fly, they most certainly are NOT sterile, and really need to stew for about a year before you can use them. Since they have to sit around and percolate to begin with, why not just put them in that pile at the get go and not have to keep moving them around?

Aaron

 

[pennyJo1960]

Afternoon Gardeners, Need more dirt using the spare room as the greenhouse just now.