Houston High and the huge Hose

It has been a strange year in the Valley where Wicked Raven Farm is located.  We have had some of the strangest weather that I ever remember having.  What started out as the coldest spring we have had in five years turned in to the coldest and clammiest summer that I can remember ever.  Even though we didn’t set records for rain it was cloudy and gloomy.  Like I always imagine London might be the way it is described in some of the tv shows.

That being said – we didn’t always have the rain we needed to water things and we still had to haul out the hoses.  And at the Houston High School Garden that means 400 feet of hose!  

Do you know how much 400 feet of hose weighs?  A ton!  We ended up spooling it in to a wheelbarrow and hauling it across the parking lot that way so that we could water and refill the rain barrels at the garden.  We are working with the welding group to see if we can develop a hose reel that will hold the whole shebang.  Its in the works.

Above left is about 3/4 of the distance between the garden and the school.  Above right is the hose in the wheelbarrow ready to spool out to the hose bib - at the school in the background.  Its right in the corner of the school that you can see.

We are also well drillers – yes- that is also one of my jobs.  Drill a well at the garden you say?  Yes!  That would be ideal but NO! says the company who’s gas lines run under the garden, and NO says the school district and NO says the State separation guidelines.  And all with good reason.

First of all, the garden is situated in a gravel corner of the school property, out back that used to be the school snow dump area.  The snow plow guys from the school were kind enough to work with us when we first started the garden to move the snow dump area to another location that works for everyone and our garden area will only be used as a snow dump in extreme snow years – when the other one gets full.  A snow dump is where the snow from plowing the parking lots at the school gets dumped and stays there in mounds sometimes until the middle of summer here – depending on how much there is and how warm the year is.  It can be a long lasting yard full of snow.

The reason it is a gravel area that was an open space in the first place is that it is a Gas line (main line) easement that runs along the inside of the fence here at the school.  We cannot put anything permanent on top of the area where the gas line runs directly, and certainly a well cannot be drilled there.  We have some of our tire tomato planters, our soil mixing station and our storage cabinet against that part of the fence, all of which can be moved fairly easily around the garden if it should need to be.

Secondly, there is a septic station for the school that is only about 100 feet from the garden area, and it’s a big one.  A well could not be drilled that would be outside the gas line easement and also outside the separation distance for the septic station – there is just not room.  And yes, this is the best spot for the garden, where moose can’t get easily to it, and kids still can, and it is within a camera view – for those little vandals when they get fired up – which has happened!

And lastly, we have drilled another well on the school property – for the baseball field sprinkler system.  If you didn’t already know it, Houston High has one of the nicest baseball fields in the State.  Almost all of it was made via donations and in kind work.  The Kramer Family, the Ruta Family, and us – Ace Water Wells – to name a few – and if you get a chance come on out for a game in the spring!

So for now we haul hose in the wheelbarrow, and we plan for the future where we will have a greenhouse and rain catchment system to assist us with our watering and go along with the hoses.  As always - things are a work in progress!  Happy Gardening and Happy Fall!