Mac Johnson

As a disabled vet I suffer from aches and pains.  Part of the reason for going down the permaculture route was the discovery that my diet was partly to blame.  Along this journey, I found one thing that has consistently helped with my arthritis and inflammation pain.  I add turmeric to my daily tea and to my daily kombucha (I take this for the stomach problems from contracting dysentery on a land far from home years ago).  I'll also add turmeric powder or paste to food and beverages to help with acute pain.  Plus, it tastes great in curries and soups.

I'd had a similar experience with my berry bushes.  And then deer that would eat my apple saplings flush to the ground in a particularly harsh winter.  My best success in fruit harvests is to also plant for the birds and deer.  They eat my stuff less if I give them lots of elderberry bushes, hackberry trees, service and winterberries and all kinds of yet unidentified berries/nuts(?) that I nurture in wild grow areas.  My conditions are different, upper midwest (4b), so maybe not the same plants.  I can't even grow most of the cherry trees here, but I found a few sour cherries to plant.

The deer love wild plum and will dig through the snow for dropped fruit while leaving my trees alone.  Of course, I've noted over time that has meant I've attracted more wildlife especially deer (something that I really like until they strip my harvestable linden leaves; they still love these leaves when they can reach them).  

I'm just starting my first Rocket Oven I plan to use to melt glass (maybe some light metal scraps) this summer and a larger RMH in my garden shed soon to be reading/writing hut.  I'm curious to see how yours turns out!  I always forget photos of the process.

As a science nerd, I wanted to share this study and related research concerning dynamic accumulators like comfrey.  It's been a poorly defined term for a while, but the universities are starting to take it seriously.  The article doesn't really cover the best ways to utilize it, but the, rather, science behind the concept.  

https://smallfarms.cornell.edu/2022/04/new-findings-further-the-study-of-dynamic-accumulators/

Nancy, I'd be looking at 18 m of head at the worst with the longest run being 130-150 meters.  I'm looking for "creative" ideas if possible.  Love the peristaltic pump idea.  I would be tearing apart and rubberizing all the seals if I used an old motor someone has laying around.  I got the idea from someone here that made a fountain pump out of a 2-stroke mower and small wind wheel.  The heads would require extensive reworking to make a 4-stroke work.  Could be out of my depth, but I'm willing to try.

Jay, To be clearer, I'd be making the dry creek beds with a lot of clay, field rock, and the John Deere.  They would be dry when runoff isn't traveling from one pond to another.  John W. is right in that I'm looking to collect winter runoff and then be able to refill in times of drought.  One of the other big reasons for these smaller ponds is to create a wildlife area and a Duck habitat for my layers.  My ground is almost all sloped prairie with 3-12% grade sloping in one general direction.  Soil runoff is a problem in spots.  I've done some work to control the worst of it, but haven't put a bigger plan into place.  Trees are slow and affect the prairie look we've come to love (we have ~200 trees on 7 acres as it is).

John W., Thanks for the reference!  I have some of this material already on the farm.  

John D., These were the approaches I initially thought of.  I've maintained both types in years past at other people's farms before I could get my own.  I've spent most of my career as an engineer of types and love a good Rube Goldberg machine.  Working metal, wood, plastic, glass, electronics, cnc programming, etc. is all stuff I've comfortable with.  

The Venturi effect? Like with compressed air?

Thanks everyone for the responses!  Super excited to get going on this project!

Hello all!

First post.  I've had 7 acres in eastern SD for several years now and began a very loose permaculture initiative.  Mostly some raised beds, forestry, rain barrels, and some fruit trees and bushes.  Raising kids, making money, serving in the military has made it difficult to dedicate the time necessary to really develop the land.

That's all changing now.  I'll be retiring from the military and with fortuitous savings I'll be able to retire soon (at 41!).  Now is the time to get serious!  My plan is to install a network of small ponds (3 or 4) for water catchment connected by dry river beds flowing down my property to a larger pond (30' x 50').  I want to run PVC pipe under my dry creek beds resupplying the ponds up the slope (60ish feet of head) for periods of drought and occasionally aerating the water.  

Now, I could get a well pump and spend some money, but I'd like to be more creative if possible.  I'm in the middle of one of the biggest inland wind farms in the country.  They knew what they were doing when it came to building here.  High consistent winds year round.  I'd like to use this resource, if possible, to pump the water uphill and/or from the small ponds to groves and planted areas.  I have one double windmill pump from the early homestead I'm going to see if I can restore and implement.  Probably going to water the pasture livestock if I can get it to work.

Some other ideas I thought of:
Homemade diaphragm pump (low volume) with windmill
Using a repurposed v6 or similar to use the intake to take water in and the exhaust to dispel the water turning the crank and timing chain by belt/chain driven windmill

Anybody else have any experience with this and know of the problems I'm likely to encounter or have other, better, ideas?