Extreme Backyard Habitat - CH 6: Water

(Click on "My Extreme Backyard Habitat" on the left table of contents and scroll down to Chapter 1 - read this series going up.)

Over the winter of 2010 - 2011 I had the pleasure of being in Florida rather than buried in 3 - 4 feet of snow at the Mountain Home (the Viking's Lair). This wonderful trip gave me some time to think and solve garden problems. After serious evaluation one of the biggest problems is the water.

1. This area is called the High Mountain Desert. The house sits about 7,800 feet above sea level, in the northern mountains of New Mexico. Much of this State's water comes from snow melt rather than rain. As a matter of fact the Ranchers and Farmers in this area (in the whole State) have to buy Water Rights.

2. At our homestead we have a well. This produces all the water we need, but the water is nasty hard. Most of the rock on the mountain is high in iron content, that naturally bleeds into the well water - and - the sulfur smell is really icky (icky is a technical term for strong, hee hee). Because of this we have filtration systems in the house. The first stop is a water softener that uses - you guessed it - water softener salt. The water than goes through a filter for the washing machine, outside hose, shower, toilet, etc. - and a reverse osmoses system, for drinking, at the kitchen sink. Last year I watched as plants died and / or their growth was stunted from using the soften water out of the hose (even through the first filter). I was watering plants with salt water (I can't believe I did this).

Two things are needed badly; 1) A rain catchment system. 2) A way to out gas the water directly from the well. From that point my brain went into overdrive thinking of all these technical, difficult, expensive solutions.

Then, a few days ago, I was going through pictures and stumbled upon this one. What the Ranchers and Farmers in this area do is build a series of ponds (they call tanks) that catch the water and hold it until they need it. This also gives the cattle (and wild life) a place to drink. They build little ditches from the top tanks to lower ones to control the water overflow and continue to store it.

As a matter of fact our lake (Heron Lake) is just a controlled State water tank created by a dam. The water from our lake flows into a series of other lakes all the way down the State of New Mexico.

You guessed it - I had a major DUH moment. Why should I re-invent the wheel? In other words - if the Ranchers, Farmers and State of New Mexico have already solved this problem ... why should I try to do something different? A series of ponds (or tanks) from the top of our property to the bottom of our property would be able to catch, store, and flow all the way down. And, as a bonus, I can attach a hose directly to the well to fill up top ponds, this water flowing over the rocks and down would be able to out gas in a natural way. Yes, the water would still be high in iron but every single plant on this mountain is already accustomed to and designed to drink this water.

Gardening may not start this year, lol. It looks like tank (pond) building is going to be my number one priority. As a bonus I can move some of those beautiful Cattails you see in the upper picture to around my little ponds. This project I will definitely be photographing and blogged as it happens.

Herbal Blessing To You,
Sandy Marie