http://www.edibleacres.org
If you search float valve garden hose you can see many options online. I think I found a 6 pack either ebay or (hopefully not) Amazon, but I can’t remember… This could very well be something that could be fabricated from parts since the idea is simple, and I’d love to hear if folks have done that.
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Edible Acres is a full service permaculture nursery located in the Finger Lakes area of NY state. We grow all layers of perennial food forest systems and provide super hardy, edible, useful, medicinal, easy to propagate, perennial plants for sale locally or for shipping around the country…
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Happy growing!
38 Comments
Perfect video for my drive to the farm this morning!
This is awesome, I’ll be working on my system soon, which has been very inspired by yours so thank you for these videos!
Food coloring to find a leak?
Oh! Yes please! A video on the pump + solar panels would be great! This sounds like a perfect solution for our garden
Ibc totes are great of course, car washes often have 55gal drums that are empty, and if you live out on the plains, sometimes the wind just gifts you a tank or two from a neglected prop3rty upwind(got a 1000gal tank that blew in a few years back myself)
Otherwise Craigslist or fb marketplace for used stock tanks or the like
Getting ready to set up my rain barrels – this is just the video I needed!
Is some sort of mosquito prevention needed, or is the water in use so often no larvae grow?
You can often stretch a garden hose end over a 1/2" NPT fitting if you heat it first. A heat gun is ideal, but the careful use of a torch will work. If you use a hose clamp or a wire tie when the plastic is still warm, the seal is usually quite good. Doing a few in a garden context, I would whittle a branch to easily start in the hose then getting larger to stretch the warm hose.
We are halfway through building an aquaponics/wicking bed setup in IBCs. 10 of them cut in half plus a full one for the fish. It's built on a slope, so the fish tank water flows through each bed until it hits the lowest point. Then after filtering through the wicking beds it gets pumped back to the fish.
Mosquito heaven.
Great. Evolving water system! Yes much warmer and less rain inthe our area. Last year late March allApril and early May were a monsoon then hhot 100 degrees and drought mid June. Your water handling is great hands on easy to set up
I am digging a new honey bee yard a pond as a water source because of you.😮💨Wish I had a tractor.😂 The first video of yours I watched was you working on your irrigation system.
Smart on the T's, it's always nice to have that access with out removing the water line.👍I wouldn't have thought of the float values that's a good idea.
Using the float valves for simple automation is straight up genius.
Good systems and backups. We currently have 2 IBCs to collect off our house and 55 g drums in & near the garden. We have a much larger tank we plan to collect from our garage. Hope to get it in place this month to collect before summer's dry spell. I like your float valves in shorter tanks. Don't want mosquito breeding, so may try that with netting over it. No pond. Thanks for the vid.
When all your water storage is full, approximately how many gallons(or whatever unit) do you have? I enjoy the low pressure/low power used movement around your property.
What are you doing about Mosquitos
Good day. I'm a 58 year old male from Cape Town ,South Africa. You have inspired me to start a food garden. NEVER planted anything but I am sure I will succeed. Fantastic program. Keep up the good work. Regards, Anthony.
Great to see how you repurpose all sorts of roadside finds, and plan for water overflows
There's a good chance you'll be able to find free swimming pools on craigslist and just run hoses from a main cistern. The main issue is the condition of the liner and if it's in good enough condition, not allowing it to dry out and crack. But, I'd suspect that the cost per gallon of water storage would be much lower than your tank system even if you had to buy a new liner, and it gives you additional aquaculture space.
You are the best.
Continue the good work!
Love you guys
I collect the AC condensation runoff from our house (4 unit house, we rent 1 unit) ,5 gallons a day during the summer. It’s all I can gather outside, but it helps. Especially since I have to carry water down from the second floor every day.
Love the cascade system here, def want to use the concept when I get into some space for really growing. Thanks for the run down!
Perfect timing! I was searching for a rainwater storage system! Thank you for all your inspiration! 🙂
Some of my favourite “waste” comes from a local brewery. They receive some of their ingredients in food grade 200 litre blue barrels, which I happily take off their hands. Two or three lined up and plumbed together could serve as a free alternative to your metal troughs. They have detachable lids, which might be handy where you don’t want critters getting in.
Most large food processing places will have these blue barrels. And like our local brewery were doing, they’re probably putting them into the rubbish.
you are the bob ross of permaculture lol
Hey Sean, would you be able to make a video about how you manage your nursery stock year after year especially since your model is so much different than most other nurseries, where you’re growing all of your stock and not purchasing it wholesale
I put a few minnows in each tank to eat mosquito larvae. Its also a good place to raise floating duckweed for chickens. If you have a tank for the chickens you can screen half of it to keep them from eating all the duckweed. I have large rain tanks but the local float valves have holes too small to gravity fill troughs. I'll look for the ones you bought. Lastly, using full flow hose ends make a huge difference in the system. I used to use spigots but switched to hose ends.
Super inspired by your work ! Taking the absolute most challenging site to its maximum by using the simple low tech solutions. My your tribe increase . Here in south central Pa. I have an optimal south facing well drained permaculture project 10 years in . Question on squirrels who have every years stolen all my apples peaches and pears . We are essentially a wild life paradise backing up to many thousands of acre forest . Any ideas on limiting the squirrels thievery? We have 3 apples 2 peach 2 pears . They take them when not mature . They also took most of my goose berries . I have a a boarder collie on site also she has some impact on them . Thanks for your amazing work . Also if only the Christians I knew were as thoughtful and compassionate as you ,,well ,,I’m humbled .
I use round plastic tubs for rainwater capture. Tis limited, but I rent so it is the best I can do. I twist up wreaths of unwanted vines to float in the water with a cheap solar floating fountain. The wood fiber needs to changed out every couple of days, as it starts to sink. I had tried loosely stitching/tying wine corks &/or twigs to the edges of tulle. It looked great on the Instagram! But the first big thunderstorm tangled them all up into a hot mess. haha Lesson learned, stick to what is cheap, easy, & readily available.
The heat was unbelievable today in the 80s. I don't know how agriculture is going to cope with it this summer. Water from the roof here would have bird poop in it, also small seeds from wild strawberries.
Thank you for continuing to produce such valuable content, You are honoring the internet!
have you noticed any stress on (mostly herbaceous) perennials as the spring comes earlier and more dramatically with anthropogenic climate change? there's a couple plants I've been urban foraging the last decade or so in Chicago, I've noticed every year they seem more stressed in the spring as I check on them to make sure that they have made it through the fall. biologically, I'm not sure what's happening, but I'd love to read someone's paper on it.
Super!
Absolutely brilliant. Thanks for sharing this valuable content! I would love a video on the pump & solar panel set up.
If you want to help out the bees, add water hyacinth (if it's legal where you live). I had some in a small pond and the bees were on it ALL day. The space between the bloated parts of the plant seem to be ideal for bees to hold on while dipping their head to get a drink.
Last year I connected my regular rain barrel to an IBC tote using only gravity and solved most issues I had with the rain barrel.
https://youtube.com/shorts/xSfbprpmCuM?feature=share
It solved the issues I was facing with my rain barrel and had ample supply of water whenever I needed it.
Thank you so much. Your very knowledgeable and I am learn and being reminded of so much.
You might want to paint your float valves and other plastic parts to provide additional UV resistance. The sun will degrade the plastic, it will become brittle, and then fall apart after a few years of sun exposure.