winter water: the spring

Keeping spring water running in the winter is largely a matter of knowing when to shut it off -- or rather, when to take out the hose.

The spring that supplies the guest house with water runs through an overground pipe down one hundred fifty yards of steep hillside. In warm weather the only maintenance it needs is the occasional clean-out after a rain -- in spate times, the spring basin can fill up with silt, fouling the screen that filters intake. But in winter we have to watch the weather forecast assiduously.

So long as the temperatures stay above 26 degrees or so, day and night, the moving water resists freezing. When night temperatures consistently drop below 25 degrees, though, and don't rise above freezing during the day, it's time to cut out the hose before it freezes solid. We unhook the line -- it's a simple quick-connect -- and drain the hose carefully as we descend the hill, so that in a few days, when temperatures rise, we can hook it up again right away.

Most things are worth taking care about, and the clean, delicious spring water that supplies the guest house is no exception. Come to our April conference, a purely local production of folks starting from scratch, to talk about water, fence, grass, cows, and growing food without inputs.