We need a way to water our upcoming garlic field, carrying buckets of water over to it is not an option for a whole acre... lol
So a well is going to be drilled next to the field and a pump house will be constructed to extract the water from the well and bring it out into the fields for watering. And power will be ran out into the pump house to power the pump, and a light bulb to heat the pump house in the winter to make sure nothing freezes.
We hope not to need to use it much, with all the rains the area gets. But we do go through droughts as well so having a way to water is important. As we do not want to lose a crop over a later of rainfall.
First we must trench from the storage building where the power will be. Building out a solar array for that as well.
We do not trench very deep for the power wires. But for the water line from the well to the pump house will be very deep to keep it from freezing. The trenching attachment for the skidsteer has proven to be a valuable addition to my collection of farm tools. We have trenched hundreds of feet with it already.
Once the trenching is done, we start laying in 3 inch sleeving to run the wires and water lines through.
I unpack the pressure tank that will be in the pump house. It is 119 gallons, quite big. Most in homes are around 40 gallons.
Having this reduces the load on the well pump, and allows us to store and use pressurized water even if the power goes out for some reason.
With the 6x6 timbers put in, they are secured on the outside with 4 foot rebar stakes. I drove them in the ground using a rotary hammer, and a sledge for the stubborn ones.
My foreman brings over gravel and we start leveling the foundation.
Once done we cut the pipes to the surface level and plug them to make sure nothing falls in.
A few days later, the shed arrives. I ordered a prebuilt 8x8 foot shed. Its the smallest one the builder I used has.
I was amazed with the machine they used to bring it up on the foundation. Never seen such a machine before. Though I had to help him with my skidsteer to nudge it into place. So I guess its not perfect.
And now we have the pump house in place, next is to run power wires, insulate the shed, get the solar array built to power it all, install the pressure tank and water lines. And then wait for the well driller to do his work and complete the setup. I got less than a month to get that all done, so I will be quite busy for awhile.
Though once setup I will be thankful to have water whenever we need it, and no need to haul it over. Though that is always an option if need be. I do have a large water tote now, though the plan is surely to use the well and pump house instead. But having two ways to water is nice to know if one stops working.
This is a great investment! I hope your garlic will be amazing 🤞🏻
Ah thanks much, I do hope so.
That's awesome. Is it a marketable crop? HOw much are you planting?
Thanks, yeah I think it will be.
We are planting an acre of it.
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STOPAwesome feat achieved so far
You mean business with this garlic field
Way to go
With this down, others follows suit
Weldone
Much appreciated, its all coming along.
A back-up water supply is always a good idea, and you are doing a good job here.
!BEER
Yeah sure is, will be happy to have it when I need it.
Much appreciated.
Thank you, and only a pleasure.
!BEER
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Wow this is a very difficult job, using a pump to water it is amazing, hopefully the garlic results are as expected, my friends ❤️🙏
Yep.. it sure is.. thank you
You're welcome my friend ❤️🙏
Wait a minute, you do all this stuff by yourself or you take the help from an expert as well?
Its just me and my farm foreman doing this.
Good morning, dear friend @solominer
What a great job you're doing on this irrigation area. It's certainly a lot of work and expensive, but it's a great investment that will have very good results.
Well thought out, you've done a great job on the garlic planting area.
Have a beautiful day.
Hey there... I am really happy with how it is all coming along.. soon we will do more work on it and then plant later in the year.
That sounds fantastic, I wish you much success.
Have a beautiful Sunday afternoon.
Those Kubota's are versatile, and will last forever if you keep the greased up and maintained regularly.
Harvesting an acre of garlic sounds like a few days of stoop work :) Have you already secured a buyer or market for the garlic, or is that the next piece?
Yeah sure do love them, got a skidsteer, tractor and UTV by them.. all great vehicles. Yeah we grease everything along with skidsteer every 10 hours of use.
One of the companies that sells garlic equipment said they can buy from us, but we are also looking at other options for people to buy from us.
Greetings... Always good to have an irrigation system for the late rains issue, excellent work as always, what a blessing that you have ample grounds for all your projects, hope that looks perfect for you with the pump room.
Sure will be nice to have that is for sure..
thank you.. hopefully it all goes smoothly.
Es maravilloso ver como la ciencia ayudaba mejorar la agricultura. La incorporación de un tanque presurizador en su sistema es una idea geneal.
Lamentablemente en Cuba, se está muy lejos de ver algo así. Si estuviera en el Oriente de Cuba y le enseñara este post a mi papá, se quedaría con la boca abierta. El no solo no dispone de una turbina en su finca a unos 8 kilómetros del pueblo y unos 3 kilómetros de las líneas eléctricas más cercanas. Sino que jamás se imaginaría un sembrado con agua presurizada.
Espero leer muy proto el post sobre la siembra de su primer campo de ajo, con agua presurizada y la puesta en marcha de todo lo que acá nos ha mostrado.
Éxitos en su proyecto.
!HUG
Yeah without power it is alot more work. Our backup plan is to use a water tote with a few hundred gallons of water and drive it around with a transfer pump and battery to water everything.
But hopefully our solar array and pump house does fine.
That is pretty cool. I was surprised you weren't going with an old school windmill to pull the water up, but it makes sense that you would choose to expand your solar implementation. I hope your garlic thrives once you are able to get it in!
Around here the winds are too much for a windmill I would think. We get 60 MPH gusts... so yeah solar is the plan.
thank you, me too.
Dang, that seems to be more the norm lately. I don't remember consistent winds like this when I was younger.
Two ways of watering are indeed better than one.
A pressure pump from a well is quite an ingenious design 😂
Yeah I am really glad I went that direction.
Hi, the garlic field looking good, seem like you got everything covered from solar energy to massive water tank, its impressive how even at small scale farming has change thanks to technology just a few decades ago lots of process were still done in the "old way" knees on the ground, I think your garlic field is perfectly set up to keep the garlic in good condition even when the weather is dry I hope everything continues to go well and you have a good harvest
Ah thanks.. yeah glad to have such machines and equipment.. should make the job much easier.
Solid work on the pump house foundation. The structure looks strong and well-planned. Great job laying the groundwork.
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thanks, it is all coming along.
Wow the project is really cool. All the preparations made to create this irrigation system are very detailed and careful. hopefully everything goes smoothly and can help maximize the garlic harvest later. continued success with the project.
Ah thank you, it has been quite the project.
This is an investment that makes a lot of sense from any perspective. Particularly as the climate forecasts undoubtedly indicate that we will either be hit by long periods of drought or torrents of water from above. While garlic doesn't necessarily like wet feet, it doesn't like to be left out in the dry either. Where do you get (pump) the water from? Spring, groundwater or mains?
Yeah do not want a drought to wipe out my crops.
We will be having a well drilled, so we can access fresh water.. probably a few hundred feet deep.
Wow, you can do everything now you can do I really like seeing your writing and posts that you do
Yeah man doing lots around here.
Man you're on yet another mission I see. It's great that you're taking the whole garlic farming seriously, I mean who doesn't like garlic right?!
I see why you're going to all this effort though, irrigating that field for the garlic is obviously going to be important and your efforts now will save carrying all that water! Can I ask once you have hooked up everything and the pump is working do you intend to get that water piped into the field which will then be attached to some sprinkler system or not? I'm still trying to figure out how you will water the field once the piping, pump and pumphouse are operational.
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Hah yeah really moving along here. Hopefully it ends up being all worth it.
Yeah we still need to get a watering system. But worst comes to worst if we have a water hose we can get it done in a few hours just walking the one acre. Its not preferable but it is possible. But if we can find a system of watering through out the fields that is the plan.