Water catchment is in place.

The water catchment system is finally in place. It is ready to supply water to my tree nursery stock as well as vegetables that I hope to have growing in it later in the summer.

I have a thousand litre tank suspended above my Greenhouse. It catches water from the south side of my barn. In a good rainfall that thousand liters can fill up in about an hour. The tank feeds into a sand and gravel filter that I have elevated to near the roof of my Greenhouse.  I have that running towards a water barrel that is elevated above the floor so that I don't have to bend over to fill up buckets of water.

Having the rain barrel elevated will also allow a future installation of a 12-volt sprinkler system. Ultimately I would like to have the sprinkler system running off and Arduino computer module. That might get up and running this summer. For right now I am glad that the catchment is in place for the next big rainfall.

We had a little rain the day after I got it set up, and all seemed to work out quite well. I got about 20 liters that I probably used up feeding some of the plants that I have started already. Currently we have sea Buckthorn, Birch Pear, Gallery Pear, Autumn Olive, Chinese Quince, Persimmon, Sweet cherry, Chokeberry, Fuji Apple, Japanese Quince, Black Cherry, Bartlett Pear, Medlar, Date Plum, and Siberian Pea Shrub all waiting to germinate. 

To start them I ignored the normal stratification process of placing them in a controlled temperature environment. I figured this would work fairly well, with the temperatures dropping only to -2 - 3 over night. That being said, we did have a few nights where it went 2-8 with the seeds in the greenhouse. It was a little challenging, and I hope the effort is worth when does pay off with a reward of many many trees to plant in the spring.

I also have several batches of wildflowers germinating in various pots and trays. My Hope was to use the natural process that they're used to in the weather to germinate and it seems to have been successful. Pretty soon I will cut them out of their trays and place them in various places around the property to try and get more wildflowers growing here to feed the bees.

Speaking of the Bees, they are looking really strong and healthy. Today was a great day with the weather being dressed right and the pollen is starting to pop out on some of the early growth trees. I think it might be coming from some of the basswood trees, willow trees, or other early pollinating trees. It does not matter to me, I'm just happy they're getting some fresh food. That will start The brood rearing process and allow me to split my hives this spring into more these.

The basic process is that you take a hive take several frames of bees, eggs, and larva, and place them in a new hive. Then with the purchase of a new queen, you insert the new Queen 3 or 4 days after you've created this new hive. This has a double positive effect on the original hive as it allows for more space and prevents the original hive from swarming, or leaving the house. It also cuts down on the varroa mite problems that may be going on in the hive at the time.

So not only do you get to double your money so to speak, you also help out the original Hive. It's a win-win situation.

Our laying hens are out in the fields scratching like mad at anything that might hide a warm or a grub. It is wonderful to see and I know they are getting great protein but it is awfully hard when they're in my garden. I work really hard to get mulch to lay down around my flower beds, vegetable beds, and trees, and when they start digging and scratching it's all I can do not to strangle their little necks. 

At any rate I know it has a net positive result as they fertilize the area, as well as feed themselves a little bit so that I don't have to feed them as much. Again it's a win-win situation. Nature doesn't have any losers, it's just the cycle of life.

Bee Stoic!