Gilligan Caisse

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts! The subject of drinking water and water in general seems to be more complicated that it should be. We would like a well to have cleaner drinking water than the district's water that we sometimes pay more than $300 a month for, which is more than we've ever paid for water. We would also like the well for watering all of our food plants and trees. However, spending $25-30k for well water that runs through and sits in plastic doesn't necessarily solve our drinking water concerns.

We have asked the well diggers about alternatives, but neither will use copper (or other) pipes, and won't offer an alternative to the pressure tank with the plastic bladder. I have seen some pressure tanks with rubber, but each one states the lower chamber bladder is a plastic blend.

Unfortunately, no, we don't have a metal roof. That is a very interesting thought though. We will need to replace our roof in the next five years, and since you mentioned a metal roof, we went ahead and got a quote. It's about $48k for a metal roof - $20k more for metal than shingled roof, but should last much longer.

It may make more sense to invest in the roof that will need to be replaced anyway, and collect the rainwater... we would need a much larger water holding system though.

Thanks again for your insightful replies, we appreciate each one. :)

We have been getting estimates to dig a well on our property. Each estimate includes PVC pipes and pressure tanks that have copolymer polypropylene bladders to hold the water. It seems like there should be better options, but maybe I'm just assuming that these are bad options.

Does anyone have helpful knowledge about this?
Do these plastic products contaminate the water?
Are there good options for a plastic-free well?
Is copper piping and no pressure tank an option?

The intent of digging a well is to have cleaner water than the water district provides, but it feels like the available options will contaminate any drinking water we pull up from the ground. Has anyone found safer options for a professionally dug well?

Thanks in advance!

Thank you, this book sounds interesting, and I was able to order it during the Chelsea Green sale as well. :)

What an amazing transformation with such beautiful results, nice job!

Thank you for all of the information you've shared, Joseph. As soon as I saw this post, I ordered your book and can't wait to read it! Your landrace crookneck seeds germinated well for me and I'm looking forward to the harvest and saving seeds. Thanks again! :)

Hi Greg, that is really interesting... and a little disturbing. Do you have a link to the information about seed varieties that no longer connect to mycorrhizal fungi? I would love to read more about this issue.

Wow, these are gorgeous! I had no idea that watercolors could be homemade. Does it take special machinery? I look forward to reading through your blog and looking at all of your amazing paintings.

Thank you for sharing that information, Nick. We planted red and black currants for the first time this past fall (from cuttings) so this information is very helpful!

Daron Williams wrote: Normally they can be transplanted in the first week or 2 of May but some years as early as late April. The last average frost day here is around May 10th but recently our last frost date has often been in late April. I always have to watch the weather to see when I should plant since it can be so unpredictable. But I did make some simple cloches using empty milk containers to help with any late frosts. But with the amount of fog we get it can be a bit of a challenge to know when to plant the warm loving plants. This year I'm trying a bunch of new varieties of tomatoes, peppers, egg plants and corn that are supposed to be relatively cold tolerant and good at germinating in cold wet soils. We will see but I'm hopeful!

I will likely plant my tomatoes in early May and hold the peppers and egg plants until the middle of May. Corn will likely be direct seeded in late April or early May depending on the weather. Got to avoid frosts but since I picked cold tolerant varieties I want to try getting them off to an early start this year. Still experimenting a bit.

I'm a little south of you so I'd love to hear an update on how your varieties worked out. Do you have issues with deer eating your corn, or is your area fenced?

Daron Williams wrote:I just got a greenhouse built this winter (un-heated) and it has been great using it to get my veggies started. I have almost 200 starts growing in it at the moment and the first batch (pictured below) are getting close to being ready to plant. I need to get my tomatoes, peppers and egg plants seeded in pots soon but I think I got another week or 2 before I want to do that. I'm using extra covers in the greenhouse to help plants get started and so far it's working great. Good germination rates and growth so far.

Those look great! When do you usually transplant your tomatoes and peppers outside in your area?