First runoff. August 14, 2018

Yesterday morning the rain got really intense.

The tote is full and we had an excess, which the kids loved playing in. I imagine we'll be adding another tote soon and looking into some filtering options to make the water good for human consumption.

Jack Spirko, author of The Survival Podcast lives a bit south of us and on his property walk video today he said they got six inches of rain the last five days. We're probably close to that one direction or the other, but I don't have an exact figure.

Today's rain gave us our first runoff. Our soil was saturated as much as it could bear under current circumstances. It was really interesting to watch and acted different than I expected.

The south side kept drinking and everything from the well house southward drained off. The water started between the well house and the chicken coop and came down. Originally it went around the patio, but it soon ran over toward the house and up under the deck.

The water moved out the route we use to pull vehicles into the back yard. It was neat to watch as a literal wall of water rushed across the yard. Okay, it was a slow moving pool, but still. It ran straight out the north side to the ditch. Eventually it built up a few inches deep over the entire north third of the yard.

There's still a lot to learn and observe, but getting to watch the peak of this five day rain event yesterday morning was a blessing. As I learn more, I'll remember this to apply it to our two remaining focus points: water and soil. Of course, I'm still interested in a swale, but I don't know if we need one or how to implement one. It's something I'll be attentive to in my studies, but it's not something I'm set on doing unless we need to. I'm not digging a trench willy nilly until I know what's going on.

I do know this though: the more time I spend here, the more I love it. I can't wait to make some more progress, but it'll probably be some relaxation time while everything is drying out. I think Sam will be able to dig us a pond since the soil is soft...

Here's a parting picture of the kids watching the chickens after the rain:

Stay relevant y'all

Nate