Drip Irrigation on a budget

:) As I promised one of my nurse friends...I would show you how to make a drip irrigation system for under fifty dollars. I won't lie...this is not my idea. I stole it off of a guy on pinterest. But...I did make some mistakes and some "What the heck?" errors along the way, including taking pictures and upon transfer to my computer, yup...you guessed it..they got deleted. So... Let's wing this post!

First things first..Let's give ya a link to the original post where I was inspired by the inexpensive drip irrigation system. Link If you want to do the Martha Stewart version check that out! They have a filter, fancy hook in system (that I could never find) and other amazing things! But this isn't a blog for the perfectionist! :) tee hee.. this is a blog for the practical minded. Plus by knocking off some of the extras, your costs go way down!

This picture shows my main line out of the ground with the attachment to hook up to a garden hose. How easy is that? Just hook up and turn on for underground watering. Of course you can cut it closer or do it fancy....This works for me since I don't have to actually go into my garden to hook it up.

I went to Sprinkler warehouse  and bought my large main line which ended up doing a U shape through my six beds. This is a non-drip line. I didn't know it at the time that I had also purchased NON-DRIP poly tubing for the 1/4 inch sides off of the main line. So I had a system that didn't drip anywhere when turned on! ((yes not my finest moments)). I ended up fixing that with a wonderful needle and I poked holes throughout the main line and the side lines. I kinda got carried away since I didn't know what needed to drip and what needed to not drip! Side lines, yes...main line NO!

Here you can see the main line and the two side lines that I put on each side. 

This is my son helping bury the lines. BTW...bury the lines deep, almost three to four times deeper than you think because....well, you'll end up weeding them up if they get attached to a weed. Or like me...thinking I could hoe it...lol...I didn't cut a line, just ripped it up and had a time burying it in between produce coming up!

This is the Drip irrigation going...you can see all the water and how it just streams out. I never bought a fancy slow flow...or a filter. If you think your water is super gunky, then by all means do that! But your cost will go up! I bought a filter and slow flow and it ended up just leaking horribly! I threw it away.

So this is what you need:

-Main line (non-drip) 1/2 inch

-T's (I think I used a total of six (for my six beds) and I still have a bag full, I never used the single ones but if your bed is wide, purchase these too)

-You can use a small knife to cut the hole instead of a fancy tool but the tool was super cheap so I bought it! 

-Buy Electrical Tape to clamp off the end of the Main Line and the small lines, one roll

-Side lines 1/4 inch(make sure these are drip-lol)

-The end that attaches to a hose found in my first picture for the 1/2 inch main line, it screws in and doesn't leak (you can purchase them at your local Lowes) I never could find that piece anywhere on the sprinkler's website!

Determine how much you'll need:

Find out how big your beds are by putting a rope or string down along where the main line and side lines are and that's how much you'll need. Make sure you write down these lines cause you'll need to cut your side lines to length. Of course it comes in giant rolls of 100ft. If you have leftover, rock on, you can use it along another area of your garden.

What I wished I had known:

-Side lines were drip

-I wish I woulda put a third side line down the Main Line that was a 'drip' line. That way I'd have a total of three lines (because my beds are so wide). 

-I woulda kept the main line intact without puncturing it. As you can see from the pictures, the force is heavy and if the beds are fluffy soil, it will quickly shoot out of the bed and create a puddle if you have the pressure up which will ruin the bed! 

-I wish I wouldn't have bought the wasted filter and slow flow applicator. It did nothing but leak.

-Lowes has an ENTIRE section on sprinklers and the prices were not bad! You might even compare with sprinkler warehouse before purchasing!

Total time was about an 2 hours ...the longest part was digging so if you order your stuff online, go out and dig to save time once it all comes in! 

Happy irrigating on a budget!

Our Ferro Cat and the Neater Feeder

I wanted to share a very special story about our cat, Coal. He was purchased for twenty dollars at our humane society back in Colorado.  I had a mouse and chipmunk problem back home in the barn. I needed a mouser. When the lady went to put him in the cage she literally threw him in since he was so wild. They told me to leave him in the cage for a week to acclimate the cat to his new surroundings. After the second day I gave him some tuna and kept the cage open. I didn't see him for two weeks. I kept his bowl full of cat food which im sure the chipmunks loved. The strangest thing began happening with Coal. I saw him in a yard one morning. The sightings became more frequent. He began eating from his dish and slowly warmed up to my two year old. Perhaps it was her small size but Coal began hanging out. In addition his job description began to be fulfilled.  He was a little mouser.

I shared this story with Neater Feeder during one of their giveaways. My number was pulled and we were able to get one. The delivery was fast and prompt with no problems. In addition Coal can now reach his food at a comfortable height. The Neater feeder promotes a tidy spill area designed especially for a clean space. If my toddler hit the previous feeder food cascaded along our back porch. The water would mix in with the food and it was a mess. 

Using it roughly a week I have notice no spills on our deck. The food catches in an easy to clean tray below. The design allows my cat to eat at a more natural position and it is stylish with two silver bowls inside their feeder. My bowls are medium size and the feeder is for a cat. They come in two colors and multiple sizes all the way up to a large dog. This would be perfect for an eager puppy who goes wild during feeding or an older dog to aid in digestion. 

The price is also amazing! Click here for their website!  Btw I was not paid for this speal. I won their product off their promotion.  But it was perfect for Coal, my domestic-ferro cat. Have a rescue story? Post it below! I'd love to hear about your extended family!

Our final arrival for the year from Ruby

Our last arrival of horses made her grand debut. We have a little filly from Ruby. That makes two colts (boys) and one filly (girl). So now we have a total of eleven horses. :) You can see the afterbirth still attached to Ruby. The little girl was minutes born.

This little filly has a star on her head and white socks. Very beautiful markings.

We also found this snake lounging by the water hose. We don't know if it is a copperhead or just a boring snake. We chose not to investigate. 

My daughter took care of her calf.

And let me know she can be a cowgirl princess using daddies boots, hat, n rope. I hope you all had a great June! Happy fourth to all!

What I did in a month

Lots of things have happened in the Month of May ...and we are almost done with June so I wanted to share some random stuff of what we did...and saw during that time. Or at least over a day or so.

While I was redoing the elevated walkway around the working pens, Lucy found a new pole to slide down. Who needs playgrounds when we have a jungle gym right at home. She went up and down it, barefooted, about two hundred times. The moment we hit the bath she fell asleep on me while she was in her towel. 

I left this board up as long as I could so she could continue playing.

This is the final look after I finished with stairs replaced. Yes, it took forever to replace the rotted boards around the walk but in turn we now have a sound walk. And angles are not my strength!

My daughter got buried and my son made her into the Sphinx. You can kinda make out her two paws... 

My garden grew.

And is still growing.

We found turtles.

We played.

And snuggled.

We had a great month filled with lots of work and a little bit of play mixed into there.

Disinfecting wipes at a fraction of the cost

https://autumnsantics.wordpress.com/2016/12/16/all-natural-disinfectant-wipes/

Please visit my new blog to read this article!

Natural flea repellent for animals

One huge difference I am finding is the amount of fleas and ticks that accumulated on our pets since we moved from Colorado to Oklahoma. I didn't know that much about the little boogers cause in Colorado we just had a short season where they would survive (like a month cause that state is frozen!) ...here it's like they thrive!

So I decided to find a repellant that isn't as pricy as frontline (which I love but...come on it's just so expensive, esp for five dogs, and I don't know how toxic it truly is)

I searched around and saw that if you take two cups of fresh rosemary and boil it, cool it down with half gallon of water and strain off the leaves, you can use that.

In addition there was stuff with lemons, vinegar, and oil that I thought would work best.

After putting it on the dogs...the fleas did NOT like this mixture. But you have to apply it twice a day for it to be somewhat effective. Since my dogs run and play everywhere, it is hard to keep them coated with the mixture. This mixture did not work well on ticks. It did not effect them whatsoever. Back to the drawing board, eh? 

Our new arrival

I am always happy when it comes to new births! This baby arrived about 30 minutes ago. We missed it dropping but was able to catch the lick off and them recovering together. The baby was breathing and sat up long enough to get tired again and have to lay back down. I will give them about two hours of bonding time and then I am going to go out and treat the horses and give mama some extra loving.

Congrats Bonnie on your first baby! You are a tuckered out mama!

Bonnie, the new baby, and our other horse, Casey watching protectively (she hasn't had one of her own but she is super protective of the two we had this year). Ruby is the only other mama that hasn't dropped her baby yet. 

Several hours later... :) 

Did I mention that Bonnie rocks the house!?