Kevin Elmore

Kim,

Any chance I could get some Tagasaste seed from you?  25 to 30 seeds will give me an idea of whether they will work here or not.  I live in far west TX near Big Bend National Park.


I will definitely pay you for postage, etc.  Just let me know.

Thanks,

Kevin

Yen,

I noticed from your initial post that the rains only occur a few times a year and they bring ~ 16,000 cm3 (4,226,752 gallons).  You want to capture ~ 4,000 cm3 (1,056,688 gallons).  Chris posted a link regarding Sepp Holzers "monks", but I think you will have to deal with a lot more water flow than a typical "monk" can handle.  Basically your pond will have to handle very high flow rates at very sporadic intervals.  You need a design that can send ~ 25% of the flow to the pond and the remaining 75% is diverted safely around the pond so that the ponds "spillway" is probably never utilized.

With clay like you showed in the photo, I doubt that infiltration losses will amount to much.  What about evaporation?  Where (generically) will this project be located?

Have you contemplated the equipment needed to perform this project?  This is a fairly large earth moving project at 4,000 cm3 (5,231 yd3)?

I have more questions, but answers to these will help direct future responses.

Thanks,

Kevin

Jim,

How big is your property?  Surely you can direct more water into a pond than what lands on your roof.  I don't know if your rainfall info is right or not, but another question is how much irrigation water will you require during the year.

Kevin

Tom,

Thought I would toss this out for you to look at.  There are lots of pages on specific heat of liquids and solids so this should just be a starter.  Specific heat is expressed as (BTU/lb per degree F)
-OR- (kJ/kg K).  The higher the specific heat of a substance, the more effective that substance is at storing/holding heat.

webpage on specific heat of materials

Keep in mind the specific heat of water is very high compared to most building materials.  When one looks at a traditional cast iron woodstove the specific heat of cast iron is .46 kJ/kg K.  Many high end woodstove manufacturers will add soapstone into their stoves.  Soapstone has a specific heat of .88 kJ/kg K which is twice a good as cast iron alone.  What is interesting is that coal has a specific heat of 1.32 kJ/kg K.  Water has a specific heat of 4.185 kJ/kg K.

I would think that using coal rather than salt would hold more heat, but if one can figure out how to use water it is even better.  The trick with water is it must stay below the boiling point, or it will change phases and go to vapor.  If that phase change occurs in a closed system you could have a steam explosion.

Hope this helps your thinking.

Kevin

Just got a few minutes to get a picture posted of using brush/dead ocotillo to help hold straw on a rocky slope.

Second picture shows how ants are creating a small "compost pile" at the base of certain plant species.  I am guessing it is a symbiotic relationship with the plant.

Kevin

Sam,

The pods look like they might be from a Chilean Mesquite.  For positive ID you will probably need to see some leaves too.

Kevin

Corby,

Thanks for finding this.

We already have an extensive collection of cast iron and our favorite pieces are the older ones where the mfr. took the time to grind the surfaces as smooth as a babies bottom.  I have also done that to some newer Lodge pieces, but it takes a lot of time and elbow grease.

Kevin

Caroline,

Glad to help any way I can.  Please post progress or updates as you go along.  If you have other questions post them because there are a lot of smart people on this forum.

Kevin