Water collection system

Hi Group,

We've completed our roof rainwater collection and gravity fed watering system which can now supplies our raised beds during dry periods. We invite anyone in the Charlottesville area to come by and take a look. We used a 40mil pond liner and have water coming from 3/4 corners of the roof. There is a spill over. We are currently using Mosquito Dunks (active ingredient Bacillus thuringiensis) with limited success. We will eventually need a cover. We did install an electric fence and this has allow the corn, cucumbers and beans to thrive. The groundhog would have done them in otherwise. The tomatoes and peppers are not doing too good but this is probably due to low light conditions.

If you would like to see the system and swap ideas feel free to send an email at kaj_511@earthlink.net

Kim

Online Food Storage Class

Hello All,
If you are interested in following along with an online food storage class, here's the link:
http://sharonastyk.com/

The first post for the food storage class was posted on July 8 and was titled Food Preservation - Class 2 - Welcome!. There should be a couple of posts on each Tuesday and Thursday throughout July. You can just scroll down to find the right entries.

You'll see in the outline the topics to be covered. There's some more unusual techniques like salting, lactofermentation and dehydrating in addition to canning (water bath and pressure). So even if you know a bit, there might be something new for you. Oh yeah, it's also free and you can read at your leisure (in your underwear at midnight if you so desire).

Some of you may already know Sharon Astyk's writings. If you don't, be forewarned she is an outspoken peaknik but also a fantastic farmer and food storage expert.

I participated in the first food storage class in the spring (posts can be found in the archive) and am a member of her yahoogroup (sharonfoodstorage@yahoogroups.com). It tends to be a very lively (and varied) discussion. In August there will be an Adapting in Place class as well.


So enjoy or delete!
Vicky