http://mikro2nd.net/farm/BraamekraalBraamekraal Farm Updatesen-ZAbraamekraalhttp://feedburner.google.comForellenschlussLettucehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/braamekraal/~3/NsDfX3veLCc/ForellenschlussLettuceMike Morris changed this page on Sat Jun 01 15:33:58 SAST 2013:<br /><hr /><br /><div class="diff-wikitext">Medium-to-large semi-heading variety most notable for the reddish/purplish speckles on the leaves for which it is named ("Speckled-like-a-Trout"). Also known as "Speckles".<br /><br />Superb flavour. Tolerates our Summer heat quite well, and slow to bolt.<br /><br />[{Image src='P1010348.JPG' width='300' alt='Lettuce Forellenschluss' caption='Forellenschluss' style='image'}]<br /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/braamekraal/~4/NsDfX3veLCc" height="1" width="1"/>7http://mikro2nd.net/farm/Diff.jsp?page=ForellenschlussLettuce&r1=-12013-06-01T13:33:58ZMike Morrishttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/PageInfo.jsp?page=ForellenschlussLettucehttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/wiki/ForellenschlussLettuceLettucehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/braamekraal/~3/-m3DCHljdbk/LettuceMike Morris changed this page on Sat Jun 01 15:33:58 SAST 2013:<br /><hr /><br /><div class="diff-wikitext">* BronzeArrowheadLettuce<br />* CimmaronLettuce<br />* DeerTongueLettuce<br />* <a name="change-1" /><font color="#8000FF"><span class="diff-insertion">ForellenschlussLettuce</span></font><strike><font color="red"><span class="diff-deletion">LettuceForellenschluss</span></font></strike><br />* GreenOakLeafLettuce<br />* HyperRedRumpledLettuce<br />* LaviLettuce<br />* LitalLettuce<br />* MalawiLettuce<br />* VulcanLettuce<br /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/braamekraal/~4/-m3DCHljdbk" height="1" width="1"/>9http://mikro2nd.net/farm/Diff.jsp?page=Lettuce&r1=-12013-06-01T13:33:58ZMike Morrishttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/PageInfo.jsp?page=Lettucehttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/wiki/LettuceMalawiLettucehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/braamekraal/~3/Nu48hvTZmSs/MalawiLettuceMike Morris changed this page on Sat Jun 01 15:32:40 SAST 2013:<br /><hr /><br /><div class="diff-wikitext">[{Image src='http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/mikro2nd/veggies/P1010343_zps70be5986.jpg' width='300' <a name="change-1" /><font color="#8000FF"><span class="diff-insertion">alt='Malawi</span></font><strike><font color="red"><span class="diff-deletion">alt='Lital</span></font></strike><a class="diff-nextprev" title="Go to next change" href="#change-2">>></a> Lettuce' <a class="diff-nextprev" title="Go to previous change" href="#change-1"><<</a><a name="change-2" /><font color="#8000FF"><span class="diff-insertion">caption='Malawi'</span></font><strike><font color="red"><span class="diff-deletion">caption='Lital'</span></font></strike><a class="diff-nextprev" title="Go to next change" href="#change-3">>></a> border='1' link='http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/mikro2nd/veggies/P1010343_zps70be5986.jpg' align='left'}] <br />[{Image src='http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/mikro2nd/veggies/P1010345_zpsb109e85e.jpg' width='300' <a class="diff-nextprev" title="Go to previous change" href="#change-2"><<</a><a name="change-3" /><font color="#8000FF"><span class="diff-insertion">alt='Malawi</span></font><strike><font color="red"><span class="diff-deletion">alt='Lital</span></font></strike> Lettuce' <a class="diff-nextprev" title="Go to previous change" href="#change-3"><<</a><a name="change-4" /><font color="#8000FF"><span class="diff-insertion">caption='Malawi'</span></font><strike><font color="red"><span class="diff-deletion">caption='Lital'</span></font></strike> border='1' link='http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/mikro2nd/veggies/P1010345_zpsb109e85e.jpg' align='left'}] <br />Beautiful oak-leaf style of lettuce that I initially thought was the same as [Bronze Arrowhead|BronzeArrowheadLettuce] under a different name, but the colours really are quite different. The seed I was given had poor germination during fairly warm (but not excessively hot) weather, and the few plants I had for my first seed-crop were further reduced by cutworms. Plants form a big, fluffy head of deeply maroon coloured leaves with a soft texture.<br /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/braamekraal/~4/Nu48hvTZmSs" height="1" width="1"/>2http://mikro2nd.net/farm/Diff.jsp?page=MalawiLettuce&r1=-12013-06-01T13:32:40ZMike Morrishttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/PageInfo.jsp?page=MalawiLettucehttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/wiki/MalawiLettuceLitalLettucehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/braamekraal/~3/-zr75GEwlZ8/LitalLettuceMike Morris created this page on Sat Jun 01 15:27:28 SAST 2013:<br /><hr /><br /><table border="0" class="imageplugin" align="left">
<caption align=bottom>Lital</caption>
<tr><td><a href="http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/mikro2nd/veggies/P1010350_zps03aa5c28.jpg"><img src="http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/mikro2nd/veggies/P1010350_zps03aa5c28.jpg" width="300" alt="Lital Lettuce" border="1" /></a></td></tr>
</table>
<table border="0" class="imageplugin" align="left">
<caption align=bottom>Lital</caption>
<tr><td><a href="http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/mikro2nd/veggies/P1010349_zps1d126c88.jpg"><img src="http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/mikro2nd/veggies/P1010349_zps1d126c88.jpg" width="300" alt="Lital Lettuce" border="1" /></a></td></tr>
</table>
Smaller, slower growing lettuce with somewhat rough textured leaves with ruffled edges.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/braamekraal/~4/-zr75GEwlZ8" height="1" width="1"/>12013-06-01T13:27:28ZMike Morrishttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/PageInfo.jsp?page=LitalLettucehttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/wiki/LitalLettuceVulcanLettucehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/braamekraal/~3/Fpx0-7o9Qfw/VulcanLettuceMike Morris created this page on Sat Jun 01 15:23:27 SAST 2013:<br /><hr /><br /><table border="0" class="imageplugin" align="left">
<caption align=bottom>Vulcan</caption>
<tr><td><a href="http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/mikro2nd/veggies/P1010352_zpsa55de4a4.jpg"><img src="http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/mikro2nd/veggies/P1010352_zpsa55de4a4.jpg" width="300" alt="Vulcan Lettuce" border="1" /></a></td></tr>
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<table border="0" class="imageplugin" align="left">
<caption align=bottom>Vulcan</caption>
<tr><td><a href="http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/mikro2nd/veggies/P1010353_zpse5c908ff.jpg"><img src="http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/mikro2nd/veggies/P1010353_zpse5c908ff.jpg" width="300" alt="Vulcan Lettuce" border="1" /></a></td></tr>
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Deeply ruffle leaves, with colour ranging from light green at the stem to deep bronze-red edges. Vulcan is a little hasty to flower, and best harvested as whole lettuce.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/braamekraal/~4/Fpx0-7o9Qfw" height="1" width="1"/>12013-06-01T13:23:27ZMike Morrishttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/PageInfo.jsp?page=VulcanLettucehttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/wiki/VulcanLettuceLaviLettucehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/braamekraal/~3/x0eMAPH2O5U/LaviLettuceMike Morris created this page on Sat Jun 01 15:19:18 SAST 2013:<br /><hr /><br /><table border="0" class="imageplugin" align="right">
<caption align=bottom>Lavi</caption>
<tr><td><a href="http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/mikro2nd/veggies/P1010354_zps938d2480.jpg"><img src="http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/mikro2nd/veggies/P1010354_zps938d2480.jpg" width="300" alt="Lavi Lettuce" border="1" /></a></td></tr>
</table>
<table border="0" class="imageplugin" align="right">
<caption align=bottom>Lavi</caption>
<tr><td><a href="http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/mikro2nd/veggies/P1010357_zps3736db99.jpg"><img src="http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/mikro2nd/veggies/P1010357_zps3736db99.jpg" width="300" alt="Lavi Lettuce" border="1" /></a></td></tr>
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Lavi is characterised by its very long, narrow leaves with somewhat ruffled edges. Lavi prefers cooler weather and is a bit prone to bolting in heat.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/braamekraal/~4/x0eMAPH2O5U" height="1" width="1"/>12013-06-01T13:19:18ZMike Morrishttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/PageInfo.jsp?page=LaviLettucehttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/wiki/LaviLettuceBronzeArrowheadLettucehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/braamekraal/~3/c9a-uZfIfA4/BronzeArrowheadLettuceMike Morris created this page on Sat Jun 01 15:12:43 SAST 2013:<br /><hr /><br /><table border="0" class="imageplugin" align="left">
<caption align=bottom>Bronze Arrowhead</caption>
<tr><td><a href="http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/mikro2nd/veggies/P1010363_zpse5a830c7.jpg"><img src="http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/mikro2nd/veggies/P1010363_zpse5a830c7.jpg" width="300" alt="Bronze Arrowhead Lettuce" border="1" /></a></td></tr>
</table>
Deeply cut, oak-leaf type, with bronze coloured leaves. Excellent flavour with a soft texture. Prolific and tolerant of continuous harvesting of leaves, and also as a cut-and-come-again lettuce.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/braamekraal/~4/c9a-uZfIfA4" height="1" width="1"/>12013-06-01T13:12:43ZMike Morrishttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/PageInfo.jsp?page=BronzeArrowheadLettucehttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/wiki/BronzeArrowheadLettuceCimmaronLettucehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/braamekraal/~3/LauYVthQ2zc/CimmaronLettuceMike Morris changed this page on Sat Jun 01 15:07:51 SAST 2013:<br /><hr /><br /><div class="diff-wikitext">[{Image src='http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/mikro2nd/veggies/P1010351_zps27e8d895.jpg' width='300' alt='Cimmaron Lettuce' caption='Cimmaron' border='1' link='http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/mikro2nd/veggies/P1010351_zps27e8d895.jpg' align='right'}]<br />Bronze coloured leaves, shading to green towards the stem end. Soft texture with a well-developed midrib. Not-quite semi-heading just before they produce flower spikes. Quite heat tolerant/bolt resistant. Stressing the plants seems to deepen the colour. Good flavour, though nothing particularly unique. These are a staple salad ingredient for us.<br /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/braamekraal/~4/LauYVthQ2zc" height="1" width="1"/>2http://mikro2nd.net/farm/Diff.jsp?page=CimmaronLettuce&r1=-12013-06-01T13:07:51ZMike Morrishttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/PageInfo.jsp?page=CimmaronLettucehttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/wiki/CimmaronLettuceGreenOakLeafLettucehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/braamekraal/~3/Q1yP97hg8QU/GreenOakLeafLettuceMike Morris changed this page on Sat Jun 01 15:00:17 SAST 2013:<br /><hr /><br /><div class="diff-wikitext">[{Image src='http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/mikro2nd/veggies/lettuce-oakleaf.jpg' width='320' height='240' align='left' class='vegpic' }]<br /><br />Seed source: Mom, bought in France, 2008.<br /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/braamekraal/~4/Q1yP97hg8QU" height="1" width="1"/>2http://mikro2nd.net/farm/Diff.jsp?page=GreenOakLeafLettuce&r1=-12013-06-01T13:00:17ZMike Morrishttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/PageInfo.jsp?page=GreenOakLeafLettucehttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/wiki/GreenOakLeafLettuceDeerTongueLettucehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/braamekraal/~3/alcGtWTZpLk/DeerTongueLettuceMike Morris changed this page on Sat Jun 01 14:59:29 SAST 2013:<br /><hr /><br /><div class="diff-wikitext">[{Image src='http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/mikro2nd/veggies/lettuce-deer-tongue.jpg' width='320' height='240' align='left' }]<br /><br />Resistant to bolting in the Summer heat. <a name="change-1" /><strike><font color="red"><span class="diff-deletion">Distinct, unique flavour -- very tasty with a crunchy, fleshy, fresh-flavoured midrib. </span></font></strike><a class="diff-nextprev" title="Go to next change" href="#change-2">>></a>These lettuce don't get particularly large, but are quite happy for us to steal outer leaves continuously over several weeks, so they're really quite productive. <a class="diff-nextprev" title="Go to previous change" href="#change-1"><<</a><a name="change-2" /><font color="#8000FF"><span class="diff-insertion"><br /><br />Distinct, unique flavour -- very tasty with a crunchy, fleshy, fresh-flavoured midrib. </span></font>I try to never be without Deer Tongue in my <a class="diff-nextprev" title="Go to previous change" href="#change-2"><<</a><a name="change-3" /><font color="#8000FF"><span class="diff-insertion">salads, finding their uniform colour a nice addition to all the other variegated lettuces I usually use to fill the salad bowl.</span></font><strike><font color="red"><span class="diff-deletion">salads.</span></font></strike><br /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/braamekraal/~4/alcGtWTZpLk" height="1" width="1"/>3http://mikro2nd.net/farm/Diff.jsp?page=DeerTongueLettuce&r1=-12013-06-01T12:59:29ZMike Morrishttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/PageInfo.jsp?page=DeerTongueLettucehttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/wiki/DeerTongueLettuceLeftMenuhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/braamekraal/~3/z0oOQyCc8ZM/LeftMenuMike Morris changed this page on Tue Mar 13 12:18:38 SAST 2012:<br /><hr /><br /><div class="diff-wikitext">[Home | Main]\\<br /><br />[Mike's Blog | http://blog.mikro2nd.net/]\\<br />[Contact Us | mailto:mikro2nd@gmail.com]<br /><br />[About the Farm | About]\\<br />[About us | People]\\<br />[History]\\<br /><a name="change-1" /><font color="#8000FF"><span class="diff-insertion">[PermacultureDesign]</span></font><strike><font color="red"><span class="diff-deletion">[Permaculture]</span></font></strike> Design\\<br />[Projects]\\<br />\\<br />[VegVarieties]\\<br />[PlantingRecords]\\<br />[Seed]\\<br />[Accomodation | BrambleCottage]<br /><br />__Indexes & Search__\\<br />[RecentChanges]\\<br />[Tags | CategoryCategories]\\<br />[Find pages|FindPage] \\<br />[Index | PageIndex]<br /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/braamekraal/~4/z0oOQyCc8ZM" height="1" width="1"/>28http://mikro2nd.net/farm/Diff.jsp?page=LeftMenu&r1=-12012-03-13T10:18:38ZMike Morrishttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/PageInfo.jsp?page=LeftMenuhttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/wiki/LeftMenuMainhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/braamekraal/~3/4K5f5mWYzT4/MainMike Morris changed this page on Tue Mar 13 12:18:38 SAST 2012:<br /><hr /><br /><div class="diff-wikitext">!!!Welcome...<br /><br />...to the ever-unfolding story of __Braamekraal Farm__ - one family's adventure in self-sufficient living, Earth care and smallholding-scale Permaculture design.<br /><br />__Braamekraal Farm__ is a 1.7hA (4 acre) smallholding in the [South Cape region of South Africa | http://maps.google.com/maps?q=-33.9305+22.9725&ll=-17.644022,28.125000&spn=69.012664,107.208984&t=k], nestling in the foothills of the Outeniqua Mountains. When we bought the land in 1994 it was overworked, eroded, neglected pastureland, worn out from too many years of cow hoofprints crushing the soil, too many years of plough-furrows straight down the hill.<br /><br />We had to [design|HouseDesign] and build the house and all the supporting infrastructure. We did most of the work ourselves. Our homestead and garden was designed using <a name="change-1" /><font color="#8000FF"><span class="diff-insertion">[permaculture|PermacultureDesign]</span></font><strike><font color="red"><span class="diff-deletion">[permaculture|Permaculture]</span></font></strike><a class="diff-nextprev" title="Go to next change" href="#change-2">>></a> principles, and work goes on day by day, year by year, to add more to the design, to improve it, and to fix our mistakes and integrate and extend our lessons. ''Is it really __work__ when you're having fun?''<br /><br />Our "ultimate" goal - our yardstick of self-sufficiency - is to enjoy Pizza Dinner entirely from homegrown ingredients, including flour for the pizza-base, [oven | PizzaOvenProject] for cooking it, and beer. We still have some way to go :-)<br /><br />This is our journey; we welcome fellow travellers.<br /><br />!Read on...<br /><br />[About us|People], about some of the other denizens [other denizens | NeighoursAndNeighbourhoodLiesAndLegends] of the area, or about the [history | History] and [permaculture design <a class="diff-nextprev" title="Go to previous change" href="#change-1"><<</a><a name="change-2" /><font color="#8000FF"><span class="diff-insertion">|PermacultureDesign]</span></font><strike><font color="red"><span class="diff-deletion">|</span></font></strike> <a class="diff-nextprev" title="Go to previous change" href="#change-2"><<</a><a name="change-3" /><strike><font color="red"><span class="diff-deletion">Permaculture] </span></font></strike>thinking that informs the ever-evolving design of the farm.<br /><br />!Join Us!<br /><br />We would especially like to help and encourage others who, perhaps, dream of Taking The Big Leap Of Faith that is required to start on such a journey. Exiting the fake-wealth, race-to-keep-up-with-the-neighbours economy of suburban existence takes a bunch of courage, so we would like to offer our on-going en''courage''ment. So welcome to the dreamers of reality, and to the beginners who will teach us new tricks. Contact us [directly | mailto:mikro2nd@gmail.com] or through [the blog | http://blog.mikro2nd.net/] and tell us how we can help, how we can improve this website-story.<br /><br />!A Note About the Name "Braamekraal"<br /><br />Lest I be charged with theft, let me be clear: The name "Braamekraal" is really the name of the entire neighbourhood, and goes all the way back to the Woodcutter days. We've borrowed the name for our tiny farm, too, since, with the influx of townies over the past 5 or 6 years, the history is in grave danger of dying through neglect. Almost no descendants of the Woodcutter families remain in the area, and we'd hate to see the old names lost.<br /><br />The name "Braamekraal" means literally "Bramble kraal". "Blackberry Village" might substitute, since [Wiktionary|http://wiktionary.org/] defines a "kraal" as "A rural village of huts surrounded by a stockade" or "An enclosure for livestock." The word "kraal" shares the same Portugese roots as the American word "corral". Parts of our farm, along with many others, are infested with ancient tangles of bramble, and bramble bushes line parts of the road, giving us a nice source of Blackberry Jam each Summer.<br /><br />----<br /><br />We __[blog | http://blog.mikro2nd.net/]__ the day-to-day happenings at Braamekraal Farm, and love to hear from people who are interested in self-sufficient living, Earth-care, [permaculture|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture].<br /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/braamekraal/~4/4K5f5mWYzT4" height="1" width="1"/>20http://mikro2nd.net/farm/Diff.jsp?page=Main&r1=-12012-03-13T10:18:38ZMike Morrishttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/PageInfo.jsp?page=Mainhttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/wiki/MainPermacultureDesignhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/braamekraal/~3/5k4UvpgUsrU/PermacultureDesignMike Morris changed this page on Tue Mar 13 12:18:38 SAST 2012:<br /><hr /><br /><div class="diff-wikitext">%%quote<br />One way to understand permaculture is as a post-modern integration of elements from different traditions and modernity that involves continuous change and evolution. -- ''[David Holgren | http://www.futurescenarios.org/]''<br />%%<br /><br />I don't intend to get into a "''What Is Permaculture''" story, here. For that sort of thing, take a look at our [PermacultureOnlineResources], the ["Permaculture Design Manual" | http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0908228015?ie=UTF8&tag=httpmikronet-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0908228015] or ["Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability" | http://rcm-uk.amazon.co.uk/e/cm?t=httpmikronet-21&o=2&p=8&l=as1&asins=0646418440&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr].<br /><br />Rather, this area of the website is focused on<br />* explaining some of the [Permaculture design | CategoryDesign] aspects of [Braamekraal Farm | Main]<br />* recording some reference information that we have found difficult to source elsewhere in a unified, accessible form, and<br />* maybe even waffling about some of the theory and philosophy that drives our ideas around Permaculture.<br /><br />!Reference Pages<br /><br />* __[Indicator Plants | IndicatorPlants ]__: We don't really need expensive laboratory soil analyses most of the time. If we know enough, the plants growing in any polyculture will tell us exactly what the mineral and nutritional profile of the soil looks like in any area. If we know enough! The difficulty is that this sort of information is spotty, hard to find and very fragmented. So here goes our effort to record the bits and pieces of data we ''do'' run across...<br />* __[Vegetable Varieties | VegNotes]__: Recording, as we get the urge, our findings on vegetable varieties we grow at Braamekraal, including information on the plants' nutritional needs, flavours, seed-saving, companion planting and cultural practices. Keep in mind that our findings will be quite specific to our [ecoregion | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecoregion]; YMMV.<br /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/braamekraal/~4/5k4UvpgUsrU" height="1" width="1"/>6http://mikro2nd.net/farm/Diff.jsp?page=PermacultureDesign&r1=-12012-03-13T10:18:38ZMike Morrishttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/PageInfo.jsp?page=PermacultureDesignhttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/wiki/PermacultureDesignIrrigationWaterSupplyhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/braamekraal/~3/JsB4VFFXZYk/IrrigationWaterSupplyMike Morris changed this page on Tue Mar 13 12:06:41 SAST 2012:<br /><hr /><br /><div class="diff-wikitext">!!!Irrigation Water<br /><br />We have three Earth-dams on the farm, all quite small! They were originally intended only as watering-holes for cattle, not as bulk irrigation storage.<br /><br />!The Dew Pond<br /><br />In the Northeast corner of the farm, the highest point on the land, is a tiny pond. About 20kl at a guess. We were told that this pond, despite its small size, had never run dry. The claim makes some sense, since there is a good underground "stream" of water in that part of the property, but the actions of our neighbour next-door have destroyed that. Said neighbour decided that his driveway got too boggy in wet times, and dug a cutoff ditch near the top-end of his land, which has had the effect of cutting of the water-supply to this dam. I tried putting a diversion "bump" across the road, which would have diverted significant amounts of runoff water into the dam, but other neighbours complained that it acted too much as a speed-bump for their low-slung BMW! Nett result: the pond is pretty useless to us.<br /><br />!The House Dam<br /><br />To the West of the main house is another small dam -- perhaps 80kl capacity? It is the main irrigation supply for the [vegetable garden | VegetableGarden]. For a few years I tried to water by siphoning from the dam, but their is insufficient drop once the dam is less than almost-totally-full, and I eventually relented and installed a pump. Another branch of irrigation pipe from the pump takes water to a tap near the Southeast corner of the house. In dry times we run this dam to ''almost empty'' as we water the veggies. The plan has always been to fill it up from the Big Dam when need arises, but it has never come to that yet, in part due to the high cost of renting a pump.<br /><br />!The Big Dam<br /><br />The Big Dam is in the Southwest corner of the farm, at the lowest point on the property. Originally about 1/3 the size it is now, we had it enlarged to (??)500kl capacity. It's catchment is the entire hillside to the North, plus our own land, and it is directly in the path of the stream, though the stream only flows after very heavy rains. <a name="change-1" /><strike><font color="red"><span class="diff-deletion"> </span></font></strike>There are another three dams upstream, two of which have been made quite recently, and they, too, have had a ''significant'' effect on how quickly our dam gets replenished.<br /><br />In Summer it serves as our Swimming Pool, too, and the water stays deliciously cold below the top, sun-warmed layer. ''I'm pretty sure there are fish down there, too!''<br /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/braamekraal/~4/JsB4VFFXZYk" height="1" width="1"/>2http://mikro2nd.net/farm/Diff.jsp?page=IrrigationWaterSupply&r1=-12012-03-13T10:06:41ZMike Morrishttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/PageInfo.jsp?page=IrrigationWaterSupplyhttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/wiki/IrrigationWaterSupplyHouseWaterSupplyhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/braamekraal/~3/DG3A_07xejM/HouseWaterSupplyMike Morris changed this page on Tue Mar 13 12:00:30 SAST 2012:<br /><hr /><br /><div class="diff-wikitext">!!!Household Water<br /><br />When we acquired the farm, we took on a blank slate. There was no infrastructure beyond a few rusty fences.<br /><br />Water supply was an important problem we had to solve.<br /><br />The usual suspects were all examined as possible solutions. Since the property lacks a reliable running stream or spring, the choice comes down to either borehole water or harvesting rainwater.<br /><br />!!Borehole?<br /><br />Ground water hereabout is deep. I am told that there is very brak water about 85m down. To get good borehole water involves drilling to about 100m depth (so we're told.) That means very expensive stainless-steel linings for the bore, ''very'' powerful pump, and therefore 3-phase power -- more expense. A cursory investigation into borehole water showed that it would cost more than building the house! Not worthwhile in an area where rainfall can easily and adequately supply anybody's reasonable needs.<br /><br />!!"The Sky is Falling" %%small ''-- [Vitalstatistix|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitalstatistix#Vitalstatistix]''%%<br /><br />[{Image src='http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/mikro2nd/farm/DSCI0010.jpg' width='320' height='240' align='right' alt='Bulk water storage tanks' caption='The three big water tanks, though only the new one visible -- the other two being hidden behind the Elderberry plants to keep the sun off the tanks, prolonging their life and keep the water cooler.'}]<br /><br />Like everyone else in the area, we catch ''all'' our household water from the roofs of the house, carport and [cottage | BrambleCottage]. This precludes a live-roof design, despite its obvious thermal and multiple-use advantages. We designed the house to have a metal roof -- best choice for rainwater-harvesting, and cheap, since it minimises the cost of roof-support timbers, allowing us to specify quite lightweight rafters, spaced wide.<br /><br />For the first ten years we were here, we coped perfectly well with only 10000 litres of water storage for a family of four, using an automatic washing machine for clothes washing (though no mechanical dishwasher!) At no time -- even during the scariest drought time: __four months without a drop of rain__ -- did we ever draw our water storage below about 60% (or 6000 litres.) In late 2005 we added a third storage tank, increasing our storage to 15000 litres.<br /><br />!!Life Support<br /><br />%%quote<br />"Anything that supports that much life must be healthy!" -- ''Archchancellor Ridcully''<br />%%<br /><br />[{Image src='http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/mikro2nd/farm/th_DSCI0009.jpg' width='160' height='120' align='left' caption='Ancient dust-trap beside new improved dust trap.'}] The roof design is deliberately simple, so we only have two gutters to deal with. At the end of each gutter is a dust-trap, designed and built by us. For the first 8 or 9 years we had small (1000 litre) metal water tanks serving the same purpose, but they eventually corroded so badly that they were useless and had to be replaced.<br /><br />[{Image src='http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/mikro2nd/farm/DSCI0008.jpg' width='240' height='320' align='right' alt='Detail of dust trap.'}] Water flows from the gutters into the dust traps through a fine mesh, supported by a strong grid; this keeps pests small (mosquitoes) and large (rats) out of our water supply. The mesh has to be removed and cleaned once in a while -- every couple of months -- and the traps need to be cleared of accumulated mud/dust%%strike , so they're due for an upgrade to get a stop-cock at the bottom-end of each trap/%. Since the picture was taken, the home-made dust-traps have acquired a stop-cock in the base, making a periodic flushing of the trap a simple job.<br /><br />The dust traps overflow into a 50mm PVC pipe that runs (mostly underground) to the first of three 5000litre bulk-storage tanks. Tank Number 1 overflows into no. 2, and no. 2 into the recently-added no. 3 -- the only tank visible in the picture.<br /><br />!!Design Decisions<br /><br />!Underground Storage<br /><br />My initial plan was to bury the bulk-storage tanks. We even had the (very large!) hole dug deep enough to accommodate them. My brother-in-law helped me lower the (two) tanks into the whole. They're not so heavy, but very difficult to move about due to their sheer bulk.<br /><br />No sooner were the tanks in the ground than I realised my folly! Any small problem with the pipes, any large-toothed mole, and you're guaranteed 5000l of muddy water and a couple of days work with a spade!<br /><br />So out the ground they came, chop, chop.<br /><br />!Size Matters<br /><br />Two reasons for choosing 5000l tanks over any other size.<br /><br /># Cheapest cost per storage-litre. 10000l tanks are available, but are more expensive.<br /># Also desirable to partition the storage so that, in the dreaded event of something going wrong -- a drowned rodent, a hung-over gardener with a less-than-well-controlled garden fork, and the inevitable eventual necessity of replacing ageing tanks, stopcocks or pipework -- most of the stored water can be salvaged.<br /><br />All three tanks connect to a common supply line, all with stopcocks as close to the tank outlet as possible. Only one stopcock is open at any time, supplying the house water. At no time do we allow water to flow from one tank to another. This means that, at all times, at least 2/3 of our water supply is safe and isolated from the other 1/3 -- just in case there is ever a problem. (There hasn't been in over 16 years, now, but you don't take chance with your drinking-water!)<br /><br />!!Backup Plan<br /><br />I should also add that the toilet is fed from a totally separate tank (on a gravity feed), filled from the carport roof. The carport tank also supplies the cold-water taps in the bathroom (bath and handbasin) so that, in the event of a prolonged power outage (and no pump to fill the header tank) we can ''still'' get cold water inside the house, as long as that tank holds out. I don't believe we have ever used more than about 10% of its capacity.<br /><br />All the redundancy in this design reflects the permaculture basic: ''Essential functions should be supported by more than one element.'' And water is -- after air -- the most essential need for life. So, if one water-tank becomes contaminated, the others are isolated from the problem; if the main water tanks run dry, there's still ''some'' form of water supply in the house from the carport-tank.<br /><br /><a name="change-1" /><strike><font color="red"><span class="diff-deletion">!!!Irrigation Water<br /><br />We have three Earth-dams on the farm, all quite small! They were originally intended only as watering-holes for cattle, not as bulk irrigation storage.<br /><br />!The Dew Pond<br /><br />In the Northeast corner of the farm, the highest point on the land, is a tiny pond. About 20kl at a guess. We were told that this pond, despite its small size, had never run dry. The claim makes some sense, since there is a good underground "stream" of water in that part of the property, but the actions of our neighbour next-door have destroyed that. Said neighbour decided that his driveway got too boggy in wet times, and dug a cutoff ditch near the top-end of his land, which has had the effect of cutting of the water-supply to this dam. I tried putting a diversion "bump" across the road, which would have diverted significant amounts of runoff water into the dam, but other neighbours complained that it acted too much as a speed-bump for their low-slung BMW! Nett result: the pond is pretty useless to us.<br /><br />!The House Dam<br /><br />To the West of the main house is another small dam -- perhaps 80kl capacity? It is the main irrigation supply for the [vegetable garden | VegetableGarden]. For a few years I tried to water by siphoning from the dam, but their is insufficient drop once the dam is less than almost-totally-full, and I eventually relented and installed a pump. Another branch of irrigation pipe from the pump takes water to a tap near the Southeast corner of the house. In dry times we run this dam to ''almost empty'' as we water the veggies. The plan has always been to fill it up from the Big Dam when need arises, but it has never come to that yet, in part due to the high cost of renting a pump.<br /><br />!The Big Dam<br /><br />The Big Dam is in the Southwest corner of the farm, at the lowest point on the property. Originally about 1/3 the size it is now, we had it enlarged to (??)500kl capacity. It's catchment is the entire hillside to the North, plus our own land, and it is directly in the path of the stream, though the stream only flows after very heavy rains. There are another three dams upstream, two of which have been made quite recently, and they, too, have had a ''significant'' effect on how quickly our dam gets replenished.<br /><br />In Summer it serves as our Swimming Pool, too, and the water stays deliciously cold below the top, sun-warmed layer. ''I'm pretty sure there are fish down there, too!''<br /></span></font></strike></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/braamekraal/~4/DG3A_07xejM" height="1" width="1"/>5http://mikro2nd.net/farm/Diff.jsp?page=HouseWaterSupply&r1=-12012-03-13T10:00:30ZMike Morrishttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/PageInfo.jsp?page=HouseWaterSupplyhttp://mikro2nd.net/farm/wiki/HouseWaterSupply