Adventures of a Ranch Garden: In Which We Attempt to Turn an Old Diesel Tank into Water Storage

Call us crazy (we like it when you do that), but we really think this just might work. My Uncle owns a ranch, and I'm an avid gardener. He has ample space and no one to work it, while I have itchy fingers. Not in a bad way, though. I want to garden. I'd been living in a small condo with no yard to speak of, except a small 8x12 square of dirt that only reaches 12" deep before hitting gravel base, for the last 5 years of my collegiate education before moving to Oregon. My fingers are itchy to garden. To paint the landscape with flowers and plants and to create an oasis. Cliche, I know, but it's true. I want to create something other than drawings on paper. My Uncle allows me to do that. Our only problem? Water. The small well that feeds water for the house isn't enough to take care of a garden all summer long... so together, we schemed. It runs in the family, I guess. Here's our solution.

We take the rainwater the comes off the roof of his shop, seen below...

And store it in an old diesel tank that he can no longer afford to fill with fuel. Again, feel free to call us crazy. My uncle went ahead and moved the fuel tank and hooked it up to the rain gutter, like so...

But, won't diesel kill the plants you're trying to water?? I can just hear it now... Yes, it could, in large quantities. However, in our tank, there was only a little left at the bottom and to help remove it and the residue left behind, we filled it with Dawn dishsoap (You can also use Simple Green cleaner) and then let it fill up with rainwater and emtpied it (that's why the tap is open and water is coming out in all of the pictures). We'll continue to do so until May/June when the water coming out of the tank is clear of all signs of diesel. 

You can see the suds in the puddle at the bottom of the above picture. That's from the dish soap. 

We felt that this was a safe alternative to storing water for our garden later this summer. The shed, and the tank, are elevated enough above the house and the garden plot that we'll have enough gravity pressure, so we don't have to use a pump!

What do you think??

You can see the forums here on how to remove diesel/gas from a tank (and whether or not to use it for watering your garden/plants):

Candle Power Forums

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Homesteading Today

Case Study: Four Seasons Farm

Who: Barbara Damrosch and Eliot Coleman, authors of many garden books, including The Garden Primer, Four Season Harvest, The New Organic Grower, and The Winter Harvest Handbook. 

Where: Harborside, ME

What: Four Seasons is an Organic Farm is an experimental market garden that produces vegetables year-round. It has become a nationally recognized model of small-scale sustainable agriculture. The farm hosts a farm stand, local events, and scientific lab for the authors to research more gardening methods. Eliot first arrived in Cape Rosier, Maine after graduating college in 1968. He worked with renowned homesteaders Helen and Scott Nearing, who later changed into his life-long mentors. He wanted to learn to live off the land, and small-farm life sounded like an adventure. Within the Four Seasons Organic Farm, Eliot and Barbara work a quarter-acre home garden, along with many other cultivated acres that supply the farm stand and their wholesale restaurant business with produce. They also raise chickens, using portable coops, on the property and mentor young farmhands who want to lean more about organic farming. According to the New York Times, the Four Season Farm grossed $120,000 last year from crops grown on 1.5 acres. The majority of their winter crops are grown using hoop houses that are equipped with wheels, or are small enough to be moved by two people, that allows crops like onions, leeks, carrots, spinach, and other cold loving greens to thrive. Once the produce is harvested, the soil is amended with compost and replanted with another crop. When May rolls around and temperatures get higher the hoop houses are removed and seeding begins.

Why: I chose to do a case study on the Four Seasons Organic Farm because of the ideals of Eliot and Barbara and their history. They’ve developed a system that allows them to grow food year round from old time methods and experiments. The New Organic Grower has inspired many people to grow and start their own farming methods, and I see it as a definite contributor that could change the direction of this project. Working with the seasons, not against them is key to this succeeding.

Books to Read: The New Organic Grower, The Garden Primer, and Four-Season Harvest.

Additional Resources and Photo Sources:

http://www.marthastewart.com/893167/four-seasons-organic-farm

http://www.fourseasonfarm.com/

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/23/garden/living-off-the-land-in-maine-even-in-winter.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Case Study: Foxfire Book Series

Who: Started as a English class project with teacher Eliot Wigginton, then changed into a school produced magazine, which then  changed again into a large learning/ non-profit organization.

Where: Southern Appalachian Mountains

What: A 1966 student-produced magazine, in which students chose to interview and collect stories from elders in their community. The students began their experiential education by capturing oral history, craft traditions, and other material about their culture and writing about it for their English class paper. The subjects and stories range from hog dressing, basket weaving, log cabin building, gardening and more. This magazine then morphed into a series of books that collected those stories and interviews and compiled them into a book to preserve the culture of Southern Appalachia. These books were used as the basis to return to ‘simple life’ backed by the members of the 1970’s back-to-the-land movement and became very popular. A series of 12 books were published, and since then, many additional ones have been published as well as specialty books. Foxfire has since morphed into a large organization that is devoted to preserving the ‘hillbilly’ way of life, often found in Southern Appalachia. There are classes, non-profit charities, and a learning center specifically created for the preservation of this unique American culture under an overall cover of the Foxfire Museum. This museum serves as a host for innumerable photos, audio tapes, videotapes, and more collected materials on the culture of Souther Appalachian. This serves as a pre-cursor to the modern day homesteading movement.

Why: In High School, my dad had several of these books that he held onto, which then, when I was in high school, he gave them to me to read. I was fascinated and never knew of such things that were done. My dad then told me stories of how he and his dad would do similar things, like dressing out deer and other animals that they would hunt and how my grandma made the best cheese in the county. I wish that I had thought to collect those things. That I had gathered not just memories of those people, but of how they survived on the land. My grandma at one point refused to teach me how to make cheese because I would never know the need to do it. That with modern culture the way it was, there was always going to be another way for me to get cheese. This instigated my need to preserve those ways. More and more, we are loosing those traditions and way of life. Those things may one day become relevant again.

Additional Resources and Photo Sources:

http://www.outpost-of-freedom.com/library/

http://www.foxfire.org