Water is one of the most basic substances for life. Our house is attached to city water. If last year’s weather pattern continues, we are going to be getting a goodly amount of rain water which, given a good rain barrel system, should be adequate for small scale farming.

However, for stock, and just to assure an uninterrupted flow of water, without having to run a water bill into the hundreds of dollars a month, it would be nice to have another source. We have the potential for that on our place, in the form of an abandoned well, and an old cistern. The first of these two projects, that I plan to work on, is going to be the well.

As you can see by the pictures, the well has been long neglected. There is nothing left of the actual electric pump and little left of the housing for it. Around the area there had been some type of buildings, fencing and unidentified stuff. Was I to hazard a guess, some of it had once been a pig lot.

Next to the drilled well, about four feet back toward the house as you look at the picture, is the original dug well. You can see the block walls around it that were added much later. Below those walls, is a round, stacked stone dug well, about four feet in diameter and heaven alone knows how deep.

So we have found them. Now what? I have some experience with local water. I was raised in a home with four rooms and a path, our water was provided by one full time and one part time mountain spring. That experience and simple logic tells me the first question is whether the water is worth getting out of the ground? Is the water potable and how much might there be?

At first glance, looking down the dug well, I believe there is a considerable amount of water in the ground. However, both questions can probably be addressed by a call to the local Agriculture Extension Office. Our office serves two counties, and I have not been in touch with them yet. I will call and introduce myself on Monday.

The next question, assuming the water is good and plentiful, is how am I going to get it out of the ground? My plan is to have both an electric and a manual pump. If it is still usable at all, and if the water is clean, as I expect it is, I would like to put a strong top over the dug well. Then drop a hand pump through, it and have that for our back up system.

I believe the old electric pump and separate well was attached to the large water spigots by the barn, the chicken coop and a couple other places. If I can get them working again, I will have water sources near where I need them, which will save some hauling. What I am going to have to do is learn about pumps and such, then find someone with whom to work. This will include internet sources.

That is the status of the well project. Since these pictures were taken, we have already cut out the saplings, knocked down some of the brush, started removing the scrap metal and wood and raked the area for smaller scrap. The trees and larger saplings are adding to a wood pile.

The next step in the water project, I think right now, will be a rain barrel system and after that, assuming I am really motivated, I am going to open that old cistern and see if I can make any use out of it.

If anyone reading this has any suggestions, I will be happy to hear them.

Oh yes, a late Happy New Year and God’s blessings on your efforts in the coming year. Until next time, “Don’t look back, there is no telling who is catching up with you.” Satchel Paige.

Ed

If you intend to use all modern methods, including fertilizers and pest control items that you need to wear a space suit to put down, and GMO crops and stock that are scarier than a Stephen King book, then what I am about to talk about really is not for you.

What we all seem to be looking for, and what this blog is about is doing it the old way: farming and living in a way that has kept us healthy and sane for hundreds of years. This would indicate that we would need information about how to live and farm like our ancestors did.

Of course, the internet can provide you with much of what you need to know for free. We do not ignore that resource, but there is a real possibility that we may end up not just wanting to do it “old school”, but having to do things that way because the “new school” has let class out. It is not that farfetched that the day might come when the internet and all the modern methods go away. In such a case, you would need your information in book form.

There are many sources for this information, and we have begun to accumulate a fairly credible library. This includes everything from military Field Manuals about survival, through herbal medicines, to how to build a chicken coop. Perhaps it is the bias of a born and raised Smokey Mountain hillbilly, but my acquisition for the library was a set of the Fox Fire books.

The Fox Fire series started as a school project in a northwestern Georgia High School, designed to preserve some of the stories, recollections and skills of the Appalachian ancestors of the young people involved. Since then it has grown into a cottage industry.

As I stated, we have already acquired a number of other books on self-sufficient living, but were I limited to only a baker’s dozen, it would be FM 21-76: The Army Survival Manual and the Fox Fire Books.

The survival manual speaks for itself. As for the Foxfire series, would you need to know how to build a cabin, build a buckboard type wagon, weave baskets from various materials, make a quilt, make barrels and make a water-powered sawmill? Would you like to know how to make a banjo out of a cigar box or a gourd? Do you enjoy a good ghost story? That is a sample of the things found in the Fox Fire books. Basic plain living, for simple people is the theme of the books; how it was done and how it can be done again. You can find a full set of the Fox Fire books here.

I got my set of the books as a birthday present from Connie but they arrived piecemeal. The Fox Fire volumes are available both new and used individually through Amazon.com or you can buy them as a set new from the internet address above. A new set runs 216.00 plus shipping. Used copies are considerably cheaper, and the kinds of folks that these books are written about would be proud of you for saving the money.

You buy books that tell you how to live off the grid so you can do what you want to now, and maybe what you have to in the worst case scenario. Fox Fire is a great asset with that, but it is also a wonderful source of wisdom, wit and creativity when you just might need all of those things most.

Ed

When friends show up at your new place, you want to give them the “nickel tour” so let me walk you around our little five acres. First, understand that I am not just looking to tell you things, I am looking for advice as well. As you read this, look at the pictures, and if you have any advice you believe might help me, feel free to speak up. If you are anywhere in the Braymer, Missouri area and want to get in contact, we would welcome it.

I described our house in my first post as our new house. It is new to us but, is actually fifty-one years old. We have three bedrooms, Two and a half baths, a fair sized kitchen, living and dining room area combined, and a den. There is also a half basement that includes a garage. All told, a decent living area.

This is still the front of the house, but walking towards the road. Those two creatures following me are rumored to be dogs. The cat at my feet in the next picture is called Marshmellow, and he thinks he is a dog. Don’t believe me?

If you want to know anymore about dogs, cats and their perils try here.

This is the two car detached garage. It has a work bench and some great space which we need to use better. Hey, I am working on it.

One of the previous owners was something of an electrician. Everything: barn, garage, basement and this poor old chicken coop is wired for lights. How amazed do you imagine I was when I stuck my head inside this thing and saw a light switch? Almost as amazed as I was when I found it worked.

These pictures, of course, are of the barn. It is really a very well constructed barn with two stalls to the left, three feed rooms and another milking stall to the right, a full loft and an added lean-to area for farm equipment. As can be seen across the place our previous owners left me a lot to clean up. You would be amazed when I tell you that over half of what was in the barn is now gone.

These last pictures are of the land itself. In the first one you can see a small tree line, this is where the old well is located. It appears that the old well house burned and the pump has been removed. I am thinking, if the well turns out to still have water, a manual pump and stock tank. As you can see, the place needs a lot of clearing along the fence lines, some additional fencing, a lot of basic clean up and work I have not even considered yet.

But there it is. I think it has a lot of potential.

God Bless

Ed