SOLAR CONES
ZUCCHINI = DINNER
RAISED BED WE MADE THURSDAY
GARLIC GOING TO SEED
WATER FILTER FOR IRRIGATION
This morning was goodbye for 5 wwoofers, but Chasity is returning midweek. Aya and Amy will continue their cross country adventure by bus, while Kathrin and Thomas will head further south riding bicycles. Coincidentally, Lorna and Carl also left, and drove east to Spokane for a wedding, leaving only Pascal and us to hold down the farm. With Lorna and Carl gone for the weekend, the three of us have a few chores to attend to, but mostly, we just have to water the plants, and feed and walk the pets.
When you live out in the countryside, and this house is very much in the country, certain luxuries city folk expect vanish. For example: public water. In rural areas, many people rely on well water, or creek water. Here, there is a pump that takes water from the creek directly behind the house, and pumps it up to a 750 gallon water holding tank, where it is gravity fed back down to the house. The holding tank is for the water use only at the house, but there is also a separate pump that extracts water from the creek further downstream and sends it into the fields for irrigation. Both pump routes require daily attention. The one that goes to the fields has a filter that must be cleaned twice daily. The pump that sends water to the holding tank for house use must be turned on and off twice daily. Unlike the creek at Coweeta Heritage Center in North Carolina, this tank has no electronic, automatic floating switch to turn on the pump when the tank is low and turn off the pump when the tank is filled. It must be done manually here at Twin Brooks Farm, and walking out 100 yards in pitch black night when cougars and bears stomp around is no picnic. The bonus of their system that relies on the creek is their water will never run out; wells can run dry, but creeks in Washington, with heavy rains, always flow ferociously.
We weeded, watered, fed the pets, walked the dog, and even ate some raspberries off the bushes, but we mostly lounged around and read today. So with no more daily activities to report on, let's get back to the farm house description. Today's focus is on the lights, in conjunction with the steps. As previously mentioned, light switches here are awfully challenging to locate. Normally one can feel around a door frame for light switches, but here such an act is fruitless. They are hidden underneath door latches, on load bearing beams, and some jutting out, not even on a wall (e.g., between the oven and the refrigerator on a shelf like structure). And we may be incorrect in saying so, but we have yet to find a light source controlled by two light switches. Normally one can turn on and off a light bulb from a few points, say, at the bottom, and also at the top of a staircase. Here this is not so. At night, a brave volunteer must climb the steps in the dark to turn on the lights that illuminate the rickey wood stairs so others can have visible footing. If you plan ahead and turn the lights on before it's too dark, you waste electricity, but if you don't, you have to feel your way as you ascend up the cobwebby steps trying not to fall over.
No comments:
Post a Comment