Help with pump ideas

I have a couple acres of fallow land that an old friends family owns. They have given me permission to do some growing there for next season. I am hoping to gradually work this land into a market garden/showcase for permaculture. This property is not grid tied, and there is a 12' shallow well already dug. I am wondering what would be my best options to draw water from this well. A friend at a local plumbing supply suggested a generator and a jet pump. This seems like my best choice at the moment, as I can not justify spending several thousand on a solar pump. I could possibly dig a pond on site, but that probably will not happen right away. Any suggestions?

What type of irrigation? Where are you?

An engine driven pump from harbor freight is under $200. Add a poly tank or IBC as the water tower (uphill or on blocks or mound of dirt). Run the pump until the tank is full, then the tank drains out through drip lines. Whole system under $500. Pump doesn't need to run long to fill the tank.

Let's not forget wind power to actually drive the pump and lift water out of a shallow well as you describe ... if you have sufficient wind at that location. Depending on your head distance to lift water up to a gravity feed system as R Scott describes, you could consider human power to drive a pump and fill a tank. Some might enjoy X minutes of stationary bike peddling if a gearing and chain sprocket drive could be rigged.

Or a bucket and a rope, for that matter. Twelve feet means a pretty cheap solar pump, too. It really depends on the specifics.

I just gave the HF pump example because it is a lot cheaper than the genny+jetpump, although the genny may have other uses for you.

If you are going to use something fuel-powered, make sure it is big/fast enough that you can run it while you are tending the crop and then shut it down (and possibly take it with you) when you leave.

You also need to figure out the value of your time if you have a man-powered system or something that takes a long time and needs babysitting.

Thanks for your help. I guess I should narrow down a few things first. I am in Canada, so the gas pump will cost more. I should be able to find a used one around here. I was thinking about using a cistern of some sort and doing drip off of it. More efficient then sprinkling, and I can leave it alone to water. Most of my crops will be root storage stuff and some nursery trees, so my watering needs won't be that high. I will be back if I have more questions!

Blayne Prowse : Assuming you are going to be living on this land to husband what you plant, you will soon gain some resources as you get to know your neighbors !

Try and find a way to spend a little of your time finding a local activity that needs volunteer help and get out there and make some new friends !

One of the first things you should do is try and pump your well dry! O. K., no worries! You can not actually do that. But you might be able to find, borrow, rent a
pump with a hard suction line that can be lowered down into your water table ! That and some larger than garden hose sized collapsable hose say 1'' or 1 and a 1/4''
hose, like for pumping out flooded basements You are trying to draw down the level of the water in the well below the bottom of your suction hose, while measuring
the total gallons pumped.

This can be done by timing the amount of time it takes to fill a 5 gallon bucket Xs the total pumping time.

After your pump has successfully drawn the water out of the well faster than it can run in, (and starts sucking air -causing the soft hose to collapse) You can then
measure the time it takes for the well to fill up again!

If you only ran the pump for 5 minutes, and let the well naturally refill by itself , then 3 minutes later you could again run your pump for 5 minutes you can figure
out the replenish rate for the well at this time of the year !

This will give you an Idea about the practicality of that water source, I expect that by re-diging the original hole and lining it wit a geo-textile to help screen out
fine silt and back filling with a dump truck load of washed gravel you can improve on what is there now!

What your actual flow rates will be in the middle of a drought in August, depends on your local water table, you can greatly improve its local capacity with the
careful introduction of Swales and terracing ! Good Luck, and keep in touch, we want to know how you make out! For the Good of the Crafts ! Big AL !

Allan Lumley at this time I will not be living on the land. There may be an opportunity for that in the future as there is a shell of a cinderblock home on the land. It is only about 2 kilometers from my house so checking in on it will be pretty easy. I will need to deer fence the plot(probably only 50x50 for this first year). There are multiple fruit and nut trees already on site which is a bonus. I feel like this well should produce water all year. I will chat about it with the land owner this weekend. I will be taking photos and blogging about the progress as it comes along at primalforestgardens.com. Thnaks for your input:)

Blaine Prowse : Until I got the chance to travel out of our corner of North America, Any lack of ground water was just an intellectual exercise !

There are Many Large areas In This country where a person interested in a building site, would put a refundable deposit down on that land, and
hire a driller, if the well doesn't 'come in' the would-be buyer gets his deposit back !

And in some locations the owner must prove water accessibility, The more flow per minute the higher the agreed price.

Our Adirondac Mountains are geologically a small part of the Laurentian Shield, Here we have found that The practice of 'Hydraulic Fracking' a
well ( this is where that technology evolved from ) can turn a dry well into a gusher, but it might also release Iron or Sulfur contamination!

When it comes to expecting an abundant water supply it is a little like expecting the proverbial 'Free Lunch !'

A little paperwork, look at your Name space and L@@K at mine, at the top right of this page, below the Permies Banner, and above the Permies
Video, is the Permies Toolbox, on its left edge find and click on the [My Profile] Tab, At the new page you will have help posting the information
you want to put out there to share with your Fellow Members, some may be near neighbors and homesteaders themselves, it also helps us share
information with you that is specific enough to your location and Climate.

Look at the Signature lines below the Threads posted by several of your fellow members! Many save that space for a link to their Web site/ blog

Finally, Membership has it's privileges, also on the left side of the Toolbox, find the [Search] Tab, when you click on 'Search' you will always be
set-up to do your search within the Archives of the Forum Thread you just left. Add a subject in the Search Field and check to make sure you are
doing a Permies wide search into the 100s of Thousands of threads posted by your Fellow Members !

For the Good of the Craft ! Big Al