Water!

We realized early on in our endeavor to grow produce that we needed some sort of irrigation system.  Fortunately for us, we had an underground tile drain running thru a portion of our property that ran all year.  The easiest, cheapest solution to our water needs was to bury a 1,000 gallon tank in line with the tile drain.  The water would fill the tank and excess would flow thru the overflow pipe and continue on its way.  A small submerged pump and a pressure tank that sat at ground level and connected to a 1" line and we were able to get water where we needed it.  Then we connected 'trickle tape' to the 1" line for each row of crop we needed to irrigate.  Even in the driest year, we could still count on that tank filling at least once per day...which meant we had 1,000 gallons or more to serve our needs.

This solved our problem....temporarily.  At first we were looking for water only for the strawberries.  Then we added the black raspberries, tomatoes and finally sweet corn.  What we found was we didn't have enough water or enough pressure to irrigate everything and everywhere we needed. 

So early last summer we drilled a well.  To me this sounded like gambling: I was going to spend a lot of money with no guarantee of hitting the jackpot.  Fortunately we live in an area with high success of good producing wells.  We hit a good water supply at 160 feet.  *see my happy face*  Thirty gallons per minute is plenty of water for our small farm.  Now I have both enough water and enough pressure to go anywhere on the farm.

The second part of our water project was to bury a 2" PVC pipe through part of the farm.  We were finally able to do this a few weeks ago when we had nice weather for a few days.  From the pipe, we have 15 risers at various places that we can connect a 1.5" tubing that lays on top of the ground and we connect the 'trickle tape' into.  The trickle tape fills with water, then every 12" along the tape is a small slit that water seeps out of.  This allows us to water our crops slowly so the water seeps into the ground where needed and there is no runoff.  Plus, the water is where the roots are, so the water is only applied where needed.

This is a huge step forward in our management.  From one central location I can inject fertilizer into the line that will feed our crops for healthier plants and increased yields.  We have water where and when we need it.  Watering the crops is no longer a chore of being able to water just a few rows at a time. We will be saving electricity by being able to irrigate a larger area all at once instead of watering smaller areas over several days.  Hooray!