Thursday, May 3, 2012

Pray for Rain

Please pray for us. We need rain desperately. The creek is dry and we've been having to use our drinking supply to keep the garden and livestock alive. Normally the 500 gallon tank will last us one month but with having to use it for everything else, we get about 2 weeks out of it. Even with double-tasking the water supply (using dishwater to water the garden) it isn't going to stretch too far.

Right now we simply do not have the infrastructure in place to expand. We may have already expanded too far with a large garden this year. We do not have a well or a pond yet and are relying on harvested rainwater and water deliveries. 1000 gallons of water delivered only costs me $50, so we won't go dry but I do not want to have to use that forever. I had hoped for more rain than we're getting.

We have not had more than a few drops the entire month of April. The forecast between now and Monday calls for scattered thunderstorms with a 30% chance of rain. We've heard that forecast before though and I had to watch big black clouds soar by without dropping anything on us. 1 inch of rain will give us over 300 gallons collected off the main roof but would also refill the creek and soak in the garden beds. We could use a good 3 inches here.

Life won't be so precarious when we have more infrastructure set up, and we also missed harvesting most of the winter rainfall in collection tanks and pond (no pond). But for now we need the rain in order to thrive and expand. Otherwise, we're just holding on to what we've got for this year. We'd still consider that a deep blessing, but it would be very nice to expand out our first year.

5 comments:

Gorges Smythe said...

Prayers will be going up for you.

kymber said...

my friend, Mr. Smythe (above) sent me. i will pray for rain for you...i will pray.

jeramiah said...

mr. ernest i'd like to offer some advice if i could. the most important to survival and thus independence is water. imho instead of frig and solar and buying high priced delivered water, why not put down a well. not sure what part of tx. ur in but i put my own down here in la. with that same 1000 gal. of water and a rented or borrowed gas powered trash pump, and some pipe a well can be had. but of course i don't know your location. try this site if u like (http://www.drillyourownwell.com/using-a-mud-pump.htm ) sorry i can't do links. lastly,but most importantly, i would like to encourage you, keep of the fight brother. i know the independence and Godly life u are striving to provide for your family. keep up the faith, nothing is as difficult or rewarding as doing what God has set u out to do, even if no one else agrees with it. i pray God blesses u and your family. Peace.

Xa Lynn said...

I wish I could send you some of what we're getting - I don't think we've gone more than two days without getting dumped on. Yesterday, it was bad enough that my husband passed the tornado-chaser van on his way home. We don't have all the infrastructure to deal with it, either. We do have a well, but it is dependent on having electricity, which goes out in the storms, so we are saving for the genny. We need a pond and rain barrels, too.

Prayers.
Xa Lynn

Ernest said...

Thank you all for your prayers.

A well is in our future, and soon. I have the money put back for it now but there's a long waiting list and only a few qualified well-diggers. There is no aquifer here though so you're basically going down to find groundwater, which is often contaminated by the oil and gas industry. My neighbor up on the hill above me can't use his well at all because it's pumping salt water (what the oil and gas people are pumping into the ground) and the neighbor below me has a 300 foot well that went dry last year. So a well is good, but not as reliable as rain. Had I moved faster during the winter we would have collected during the heavy rains then and still be using that now. So this is my tardiness at work.

Ultimately I intend to have three sources of water: rainwater collection, a pond, and a well. Connecting up to the rural grid water supply is no good as it is heavily metered and they control your usage. You'll be fined if they see you using excess water except on specific days they set aside.