Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

i would like to see pics of self sufficiency type stuff. i would like to get water from my well with windpower, and find ways to cool my home with less power. i live in a place that gets about 4" of rain a year, and has no humidity, so saving water is a top concern, i use about 35,000 gallons of water a month in the summer, and i dont thingk i can keep that up forever. i would like to be using less than 10,000 gallons a month in the summer. most of the water is used to keep the plants around my home green, i lost my house 5 years ago to a wildfire, and i dont want that to happen again. i also mist my roof in hot weather, and thats a lot of water too. i think i can grow a surplus of food from my dirt gardens if i had too, ap is something im looking at to save water, and give me another source of meat.

Don't Worry about it Kevin.
There have been a lot of misconceptions about coconut oil. I put them aside when i moved to Indonesia and realized they all eat fried food at least once or twice a day and yet they are pretty much all skinny. And I have never seen anyone (except for some rich kids) that were obese SP. Everyone fries in coconut oil here except the rich that buy vegetable oil becuse it is more "healthy"

JT

Point well taken Jtjf!

MC, I understand what you are saying about the environment you living in having concerns about water usage and conservation. Those of us who live in areas where there is adequate rainfall, and plentiful sources of potable water take it for granted what other people have to do in more arid areas. My only comment is that we humans have, in some ways, caused the downfall of the natural environment of a lot of places. Specifically we move into desert regions and then try to "green" them up with plants and irrigation which is the exact opposite of what we should be doing. We need to look at plants which are from desert regions, as well as irrigation methods, that conserve the available water.

Joel and I talked about the "living/green" roof on your "What I found..." topic posting. The living/green roof, as I understand it, can be an asset to those living in a desert region. What you are doing is using plants, gravel and soil to provide both insulation and an alternative to man made products for a water proof roofing material.

Another thing which could benefit those, like you, who live in arid regions is the use of drip irrigation and deep mulching. The drip irrigation can reduce your total water usage by controlling excessive watering. The deep mulching can help reduce water loss due to evaporation. The biggest problem with soil gardens in a desert environment is that the soil is primarily sand and the water leaches away too rapidly.

While wildfires have always been a major problem in the American Southwest, the problem has been exascerbated by the building boom that has gone on over the past thirty years. More and more Americans are moving to the SW without apparent concerns about the demands upon water resources, and are attempting to promote environments of more wet areas of the country. Just look at the number of golf courses in the Phoenix and Flagstaff area! The SW is not capable of sustaining the demands for watering grass, just look at the diminishing level of Lake Meade!

Then as to the matter of home construction, too few contractors in the SW consider the use of Adobe or other materials which are both environmentally friendly and naturally fire resistant. In some areas of the SW it is my understanding that the P&Z codes favor home construction which require materials that have to be transported in from several hundreds of miles, and which offer less in the way of fire resistance and climatically favorable insulation.

Uh oh!, my scaffold is starting to creak! I guess I have just about gone over my soap box limit!
Kevin

where i live, there is a good supply of water for the size of the town now, but the city of las vegas wants to build a 45 mile pipeline to take our water. they want to limit our water use so they can take most of it. the plan is to put water meters on our wells. the water will go to rich people in las vegas first, we will get whats left i guess. when i water the trees on my land, a good bit of the water makes its way back into the ground where it came from, as does water from the house from the septic system. when it is piped away, it is gone for good. another problem is a home builder plans to build 55 new homes in town, that will almost double the size of the town. hopefully not many people will want to live next to nuclear test site. im sure i can cut my water use in half right now just by getting rid of most of my lawn and planting native wild flowers, but grass clippings are what i make most of my compost from. the home i live in is a energy star home with cf lighting thoughout and energy saving applances. my walls are made from 2x6s and my roof has almost 2 feet of insulation. i heat with wood and use a evaporative cooler for cooling.

las vegas is the only place in nevada that gets water from lake mead, most water in lake mead goes to ca. and az., most the rest of us rely on winter snowpack for our water. snow on the mountians melts and fills the ground with water.

mc keep fighting the good fight.

seconded TT...
nevr gfve up ! even when thr kights go out and i cant see the keys,,,
brb

Well MC, it sounds like you are trying your best. The big problem are all of those people who are living in LV and of course the less enlightened in your area.

I know it is sort of like a mouse standing up to a steam roller, but keep up the fight against LV taking away your water! (Remember, a mouse can shut the whole thing down by just crawling inside the works and nawing a hole in a hydralic line or electrical system. Of course a nest or two in the air breather also does wonders.) The SW is one area where water rights have long been established and protected, the only problem is getting it before the state and federal courts and having them impose an injunction to prevent an unlawful taking.

One possible solution for the mulch you would lose if you go to a gravel lawn is to pick up the clippings from those neighbors who still insist upon having a grass lawn. Another thing that could help is those plants which require extra water could be placed in buried containers to control the amount of water leaching back into the soil, or placing them near your pond gardens. (Sort of a mini oasis.)

Kevin