Michael Kalbow

Thank you P.  We are planning on using a wood chip filter prior to the water entering the gravel filtration, and setting it up so that it will be easy to change the wood chips.  I like the idea of protecting in inlet and outlets of the water, and plan on doing so.  As for the gravel, I don't have any, so I will have to buy it and bring it in.  My thought was that the porous lava rock that is sometimes used in gas bbq grills has a tremendous surface area for bacteria to form on, so I was thinking that it might be better then the pea gravel.  

I like the idea of a constructed wetland, but how do you size one to be large enough so that it takes 5 days for the water to flow through it?  BTW, I was going to be putting reeds or cattails or the like into the ibc tote.

Howdy,

  We are building a house, and I've already had the plumbing rough in done.  The greywater and the blackwater are plumbed seperately.  I'm planning on using a gravel filtration system to clean the greywater before it passes into some swales and eventually into a stock pond, assuming it doesn't get absorbed prior to reaching the pond.  My question is this, does the species of rocks used as gravel matter?  Would I see a benefit in using lava rocks for instance?  Or should I go with expanded shale?  Or pea gravel?  Does it matter?  I'll be filtering through a 275 gallon IBC tote with baffles, forcing the water to travel the height of the tote through the gravel twice before being discharged.

Where can I get the plans for the shippable core version 1.3?

Is there anyone out there who has lived in a Yurt during a hot and humid Texas summer?  How do-able is this?  If we install a window unit A/C system, what kind of temperature can we expect to be able to maintain inside the Yurt during the heat of the day?  

Hey Deborah, I'm in Big Sandy, that's pretty close to Hawkins.

OK, so I'm pretty new to composting, especially the humanure variety, so my question is this. How do you know what your C:N ration is? Is it by weight? Volume? How do you know if your ratio is correct? Do you use a scale? I can just picture my wife sitting down to 'do her business', then weighing the bucket, then adding peat at a 30 to 1 ratio....

I have been using Spagham Peat I buy by the bag at the hardware store or garden center. As long as you keep everything covered with a layer of dry material, there is no smell, except for the smell of the peat. I'd love to find another material that could save me some money, but this isn't bad.

Yea, I was wondering about Pecans also. What about Almonds? I'm assuming that if it can hold a walnut it would handle pecans or almonds.

john mcginnis wrote:$800! for that?

$200 -- Harbor Freight floor press -- http://www.harborfreight.com/20-ton-shop-press-32879.html
$6 -- Bain Marie Pot 1.25qt pot -- https://www.stylesandstainless.com/proddetail.asp?prod=FP01-01L
$5 -- Muslin 1yrd -- Walmart
$10 -- Wood turned Oak follower block -- Your local tech HS, Add price of a pizza if your wish.
$0 -- A hole in pot -- priceless.

The other $579 USD I will fold in half and double my money if you please.

This is a permaculture site not a road to poverty.

Perhaps I'm dense, but I have no idea what you are saying... I can follow the links you listed, but what is an Oak follower block an what do I do with it? Why would I need a hole in a pot?