Comments for My Fair Share

Comment on Exploring Community Connections by Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 17 May 2010 12:47:41 +0000

Thanks for dropping by, Darren

I have been watching and learning from Rob at OneStraw for a fair while now. Quite an inspiration in many ways, and challenging in many others. Mind you, I prefer our winter which is warmer than his summer.

Got both of your comments – thanks for persisting.

I’ll be sure to wander over to green-change for a look-see.

Bryan

Comment on Exploring Community Connections by Darren (Green Change)

Darren (Green Change) — Sun, 16 May 2010 23:16:29 +0000

Just dropping you a line to let you know I discovered your blog via One Straw. Seeing that you were Aussie as well, I’ve subscribed and am following your progress with interest.

Keep up the great work!

(PS – I’m getting errors submitting this comment. The first one said I entered the wrong captcha code, then the second attempt said I entered a duplicate comment. Hope this gets through…)

Comment on Exploring Community Connections by Darren (Green Change)

Darren (Green Change) — Sun, 16 May 2010 23:14:41 +0000

Just dropping you a line to let you know I discovered your blog via One Straw. Seeing that you were Aussie as well, I’ve subscribed and am following your progress with interest.

Keep up the great work!

Comment on Pitcher this: using clay pots to conserve water. by Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 16 May 2010 09:36:05 +0000

Hi Nichole

I agree with you – it seems like the effort to grow a few vegies has become an enormously commercial enterprise; I feel like I am constantly being told that before I go to the garden I must first go and buy something else… The pots have worked well, although our long dry spells (last year we had maybe 250 days without rain) tend to mean that they need refilling a lot – I am toying with the idea of some sort of underground connection… but don’t know what that would involve just yet.

Thanks for dropping by – and sorry for my delayed response.
Bryan

Comment on How we used our grey water to reconstruct a wetland. by Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 16 May 2010 09:32:30 +0000

Sorry for the delay in responding, Dave. Happy to share our experience.

Plumbing the grey water into the dunny would be easy enough I think – although since our house is “high set” it would be a gravity-defying feat for us. But, I think it would be doable.

Our water goes through sand, gravel and then into more gravel with compost and plants growing and it can still smell. I took a pH test the other day and the soil within the “wetland” was very alkaline (pH of 11) so I suspect that might have had something to do with it. Interestingly, the smell never comes from the surge tank closest to the house, so I would be happy to run water directly from their into a downstairs toilet (if we had one) and don’t think it would smell.

The sand helps to get rid of the “pieces” – hair, toenails, bits of food, etc, and it also seems to do a great job on grease and fats and things like that.

Hope it helps – let me know how it goes for you.

Bryan

Comment on How we used our grey water to reconstruct a wetland. by Dave

Dave — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 23:27:32 +0000

Hi Bryan,
I am trying to design a system to filter my grey water for re use in toilet flushing,
I hope the sand filtered water will not smell,
why do you have the water go through the sand before the gravel.
Dave

Comment on Pitcher this: using clay pots to conserve water. by nichole

nichole — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:24:13 +0000

thank you for this post. i would have never thought of using pots. those ollas are expensive and i’m sick of forking out money for things to garden with. trying to make it as frugal as possible.

Comment on Convenience of Community by Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 04:09:45 +0000

Sorry to hear of your leg, Margaret. The gift of giving is a wonderful thing, so maybe it is your turn to give that instead?! Thanks for popping in.
Bryan

Comment on Convenience of Community by Margaret

Margaret — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 10:38:58 +0000

I broke my leg a month ago and am definitely on the receiving end of care at the moment. It’s not that easy when I would much prefer to be on the giving end of he bargain.

Comment on How we used our grey water to reconstruct a wetland. by Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 07:31:43 +0000

Hey, I would love to hear about how your own tinkerings have been going.

I guess the best indicator of the sand is the colour of it! It has turned from coarse sand to black sludge. I guess that means that it worked quite well. Perhaps the only problem was that my surge tank was too small, meaning that there were times when there was water entering the system faster than it left. I have since moved to a simple system that is a larger single tank. This has gravel of different grades at the bottom, rising to sand at the top. The grey water enters directly into it at the top, and out from the bottom.

Before I put the sand in, the water coming out of the “wetland” was quite acrid and stinky. With the sand as the first filter, this has stopped and, interestingly, the growth in the wetland has accelerated. I am not sure what it is that the sand removes from the water, but it seems to be better when it does.

Glad to share ideas – how about a guest post on this blog to show what you are up to – no pressure, but the offer is there if you want it.

Bryan