A Living Magazine - Tap Root: Day 12 - Training the Rain

I had noticed the day before that rain was likely in the next few days. When I woke up on this morning I decided to get ready for it.

One of the major things I forgot to do when I made the drop off of my equipment on that day I came up with my mom was to fill the 3 5-gallon water containers I bought. I was really feeling this oversight more acutely each day. I was on a mountain top, with no stream or well. Until I could get a rain barrel I would have to import water--not fun. I'd done it the day before; hauled a gallon of spring water up all those hills. A gallon of water weighs 8 pounds and takes up a lot of space in the backpack. That was not the way to go.

In a couple days my friend Jeff (whom you may recall as "the protector" and supplier from the 2014-2016 Journeys) would be driving all the way from Manchester, NH to visit. He told me he would bring a rain barrel and a wheelbarrow. Extremely generous, as usual, he was going out of his way to bring 2 of the most important things. 

For now though, I was determined to capture as much rain as I could with the containers I had, so after returning from town I set up this configuration...

I did not yet realize the requirements for the mechanism of training the rain to go into a container. As we will see, even when I had the barrel to work with, I continued to use a loose tarp as a channel. There were several problems I encountered because of this. 

There are some seriously windy days up here--often when it is raining. Loose tarps can act like sails, puffing up and lifting their scaffolding off the ground, tearing off of the ropes or screws that bind them, and (most irritatingly) have places that pool up instead of channeling water into the collection containers. All of those situations were still yet to present themselves. Until then, I considered my little system presented here to be rather ingenious. But looks aren't everything. 

Of the five elements necessary for modern human survival (water, food, shelter, heat and electricity) I had a few. And, some were permanent while other were temporary. The tent was shelter enough for a non-snowy environment, but would have to be supplanted by a seriously secure cabin by November 1. The self-production of food would not be possible until next year. Heat would come from a wood stove in the winter--assuming I could obtain one. I was happy to at least be getting the water collection system down. When the cabin was finally built, I would use the roof as my channel for rain. I'd used the system before, when I lived in that camper on my dad's property in North Saco. It worked incredibly well. Until the cabin was built though, I needed to perfect some kind of tarp arrangement.

The one thing I did have permanently and would retain even as I moved indoors for the winter was the solar system... 

Amazing how 1 solar panel and a small battery can provide a sufficient means of

delivering just enough power to charge my tools and electronic gear.

Although I'd planned to have a much more powerful system consisting of at least one more panel, three more batteries and a wind turbine, I was completely satisfied with what my current system provided. At least one of the five elements (electricity) was securely in place. I consider the purchase of the solar equipment to be one of the best decisions I made with the extremely limited resources I had available to invest in this land.

I sat staring into the fire before turning in. My characteristic tendency to worry was beginning to seep into my days here again. I had no money at all for construction. I still had a couple months to get my cabin built, but time moves quickly. Would I be able to buy materials? 

I had dropped off applications for work at a few places, but they needed to be able to contact me. I felt like I was dropping the ball by not getting back to them with a phone number. It made me look unorganized. I resolved to not make more inquiries until I could readily communicate with these and other businesses. Without the income of blogging and part time work, there was no way I would be able to build the conventional cabin I had designed.

When the fire burned down to a dim glow, I turned in for the night.

TASKS COMPLETED

* Processed more birch for the fire pit
* Built a scaffolding for rain catchment