I left our yurt and garden in northeastern Oregon a week and a half ago for a brief vacation in central Oregon and a few days in Portland to catch up on some work and see my son. I’m eager to get back, especially since our current gravity-fed water supply is not reliable in the driest part of summer, and I didn’t have time to observe how well the drip irrigation was doing before I left. Luckily a huge thunderstorm gave everything a good soaking the night before my trip and kind neighbors have been checking to make sure pipes delivering water remain attached to the tank.
I’m still experimenting with various plants in our short season at 3800 feet: most were looking very good before I left. Here are some photos I took in early July:
I’ll post more photos in the coming weeks (when I can get a decent internet connection).
How does the drip system work? Is it gravity fed?
Hi Patricia. Yes, currently gravity from the water tank provides the pressure (just barely enough) to move the water through the drip irrigation. And gravity from the spring above the water tank moves the water into the tank. Unfortunately, our most reliable spring is a bit downhill from the yurt. Our project in the next few weeks is to put in a proper springbox there and bury pipeline (perhaps to a tank higher up the hill or maybe just to the yurt) and then use a solar pump to get the water there. Not sure how all this is going to work. I’m glad Jerry is an engineer.