Sustainable System Series

west-coast-cloose

Nature is the great sustainable system. Humans have always altered nature to supply our own needs. How will the human family learn to live in balance? This question will be answered by the myriad of choices facing today’s generation.

“A community economy is not an economy in which well-placed persons can make a ?killing?. It is an economy whose aim is generosity and a well-distributed and safeguarded abundance.”
Wendell Berry’s 17 Rules For A Sustainable Economy

What is a sustainable system? Over the next few months I will try to answer that question for myself. I have dreaded writing this series because of very obvious pitfalls.

First, I want to make a statement about where I’m coming from. I started to study botany and ecology at university but I did not have the hardiness to become an academic. Nor did I want to transform my love of nature into what I saw as “pea counting”.

Nevertheless, I am a lifelong, autodidactic learner with a deep interest in these topics. I am also a reformed environmentalist. These days I have more in common with hunters, fishermen, wildcrafters, ranchers, farmers and gardeners than conservationists.

I do not see myself as a steward of the environment.?The human family does not possess this world no matter what some of us might think. The world possesses us. I will try to avoid the human condition of hubris.

I will focus on simple systems that the household can implement. I am not interested in grand plans or movements that want to force people, through government regulations and laws, into changing their practices. If an idea is?good, it will take root without force.

Actually, grand plans scare the living daylights out of me. If you wonder why I deeply fear grand plans, please read Ecofascism: Lessons from the German Experience. It is a cautionary tale. Governments have a monopoly on the use of force. If the environmental need is perceived as the highest good and the only value then, backed by the forces of government, even genocide is acceptable.

hand-split-steps

Appropriate technology and appropriate materials change with our environment. Here are some hand-split cedar steps. On the west coast, wood and water is never in short supply.

Nature is a beautiful example of a sustainable system. Everything lives, dies and is recycled in its time. It’s a messy, complicated process. Can the human family find a way to make peace with this system and live within its sacred balance? Or are we predestined to rise and fall and be recycled like everything else?

Back in December 2011, I wrote Dreaming in the New Year: “Maybe we need to learn how to tame our technology and harness our brilliance. All the answers are out there, we just have to apply them.” Tame our technology. Harness our brilliance. These words have haunted my nights and filled my dreams. What a simple idea with such complicated, possible outcomes. Here are just some of my experiments as I try to answer the question: “What is a sustainable system?”

Sustainable System: Gravity Water System
Sustainable System: Mason Bee Condo
Sustainable System: Solar Electric Fences
Sustainable System: Rocket Stoves

I would like to end this post with a TED Talk by Allen Savory called How to Green the Desert and Reverse Climate Change. Allen Savory talks about his own personal journey of discovery that has made him question current wisdom about climate change and solutions. Shaen has tried using Allen Savory’s methods here in Kamloops. If you would like more information please see Brittle Grassland Pasture Update: Photo Essay.

“To be truly radical is to make hope possible, rather than despair convincing.?
Raymond Williams

Sustainable System: Gravity Water System

gravity-animal-water-system

This is Shaen's gravity water system for the cattle. It is a simple system that does not require the use of a pump or energy.

During the cold winter months, Shaen had to carry water to the cattle since there isn’t an underground water system. In Kamloops, a winter watering system would have to be at least five feet down to avoid ground frost. In the winter, cattle need less water because they learn to eat snow. Neverthelss, carrying water is not a pleasurable task. Shaen put a positive spin on the chore by pointing out the massive shoulders he has developed since starting pasturing animals! By the end of the winter he found he could run a hose from our neighbor’s frost-free hydrant to the cow’s trough. He would then drain the hose completely before it froze.

About four weeks ago the ground warmed up enough to get the gravity fed water system operational. The water system is based on a well and a 3,000 gallon holding tank. The well will give about 500 gallons a day, so Shaen has to be very frugal with water use. Shaen uses 3/4 inch polyethylene piping for the main lines and 1/2 inch for feeder lines. By the time the water gets to the livestock trough, there is about 35psi of pressure. When making a gravity water system you will get about 1/2 psi for each vertical foot of height between your reservoir and the outlet minus the flow loss caused by the piping itself.

Just before Olivia gave birth, Shaen separated Olivia from our little Dexter bull, Piglet. This meant separating the water into two troughs. The larger trough is for Olivia and the calf and is a food grade plastic barrel cut in two. The water fills the first trough and as it overflows it gravity fills the second smaller trough on the other side of the fence. As you can see, just about anything can be used as a trough. As soon as possible, Shaen will replace the second trough with another food grade plastic half barrel. Troughs must be large enough that the animals never run out of water. Larger troughs are?harder for the bull to knock over but can be difficult to empty when the trough needs to be moved to a new location.

The white pail is filled with sea salt and kelp. Shaen adds Fertrell Dairy Supplement Mix. There is also a cobalt salt lick for dairy cows. Since there is still no pasture to eat, the cows are eating hay, barley haylage and alfalfa haylage. We also give Olivia a small amount of grain and a few over-wintered apples during milking time. Olivia loves apples and always gives Shaen a big lick after receiving this treat.

simple-water-system

Don't spend a fortune on plumbing and fixtures. This is a transit point between the 3/4" main lines and the 1/2" feeder lines. We use inexpensive two hour timers for the irrigation system.

water-sprinkler-head

This is Shaen's simple irrigation sprinkler system. A steel tube is pounded into the ground with a rock. The steel tube can be moved wherever water is needed in the pasture.

water-sprinkler-mount

The sprinkler is inserted into the top of the steel tube. The steel tube gets the sprinkler about three feet off the ground, increasing the watering area.