Water on the homestead: Starting our journey to self-sufficiency

[@tamakoa-homestead]

How did you go about finding, or getting, water on your homestead when you first started your homesteading journey? I would love to hear from you 🌻 If you would like to support Tamakoa Homestead's journey then please consider buying us a coffee 👉buymeacoffee.com/tamakoahomestead

[@neutonrenda2303]

We grew up with a tank on top of a stand, gravity feeding our house for most of my life. Now that we've 'upgraded' we have no water with the load shedding. The funniest part of it was when we visited anyone with pressurized water it would be an absolute cluster every time we would spin open the taps lol.😂👍

[@tamakoa-homestead]

Hahaha, yeah, the joys of modern day living and the stronghold of governments on our very survival! There are actually quite a few of those raised water tanks in the area and as you say, it works like a charm and it is very much what I am going for too, so time will tell how well it works and whether I will need to elevate it any more. I'll be sharing all that here with time 🌻

[@tracymann9472]

Congrates on getting water, put a in line filter on inlet water to tank to keep sediment out, put one on the outlet as well if you planning on having washine machine and geyser ets, you will save yourself a lot of problems and money down the line.

[@tamakoa-homestead]

Hey Tracy, thanks so much for that super advice! I will 100% take you up on that. What would you suggest using? Would something like stockings work? I know they used to put them at the end of pipes for french drains? 🌻

[@tracymann9472]

@@tamakoa-homestead rather use the Y type filter think they are called Azud your local Agri store will have them nice and easy to remove mesh filter and clean you don't have to replace the filter had mine now for about 8 yrs

[@tamakoa-homestead]

Oh awesome, thanks so much for sharing - I'll go look for these this week and get onto preventing sediment ASAP. Thanks again 🙏

[@neutonrenda2303]

That's so awesome, you'd only have known that it was possible by trying it out, so well impressed that you did. It makes all the difference having that. 👍

[@tamakoa-homestead]

Yeah, I am very much someone that believe in if you don't try something you will just never know and that every failure is an opportunity to improve and get better. Sometimes it hard when things don't work out, but hey, that's part of the journey, right 😀

[@garyleonard4009]

Awesome and so important milestone for the homestead. 👏👏 know for the next project

[@tamakoa-homestead]

It really is a huge step and even though it's a small tank it's the start and gives us the ability to stay there slightly longer. Next up is getting ancient grains in the ground so I can still get a good harvest this year, get some fruit trees in the ground and start the house build. Quite the list if you ask me 😂 As long as I have positive people like you by my side I can make it happen. Thanks for following and sharing your thoughts with me 🌻

[@garyleonard4009]

It's a pleasure and cannot wait for the next video.

[@tanyahunt.southafrica]

Wow, congratulations on this milestone. Baby steps, but an important one.

[@tamakoa-homestead]

Thank you so so very much 💚 it is a massive milestone indeed and as you correctly say, baby steps. Thanks for taking the time to leave me a comment with your thoughts 🌻

[@neutonrenda2303]

The water is epic, I have known that you planned on trying this method, I didn't realize just how well it was going to work for you. Just imagine, you could be arriving to a full tank next time.👍

[@tamakoa-homestead]

Yeah, I must say, I was super surprised at how well it worked and just how much pressure there was from such a small elevation. It's really awesome! I also went back this past weekend (next video coming in a couple days) and it was full, which is amazing. I just put the hosepipe back into the ravine so the water can continue to flow down 🌻

[@AlgiereRanch]

We just found your Channel! Excited to watch some other videos! We are on the just starting our journey!!! 🙏

[@tamakoa-homestead]

Oh yaaaay, I am so excited you found my channel too and thank you for your support 💚 I'm going to check your channel out now as I love following others that are also on their own journey to reaching their dreams 🌻

[@francelvaneeden6033]

i am so happy for you. one thing very important is to close all holes into your tank with a siff. preventing critters and insects contaminating your water

[@tamakoa-homestead]

Aw, thank you so much 💚 Yes, you are absolutely right. Keeping them out is super important and luckily the tank has the main hole at the top closed and I will have to cut a hole and add mesh if I move this tank to the next to house one day where I will be collecting rain water. Thanks for taking the time to leave me a comment 🌻

[@ronaldlucas5360]

Enjoyed the video

[@tamakoa-homestead]

@@ronaldlucas5360 thanks so much for taking the time to let me know you enjoyed it 💚

[@neutonrenda2303]

Exciting times, I can't wait for you to start your house.👍

[@tamakoa-homestead]

Me too...it's been suuuuuuch a long wait with so much anticipation and I am literally a week or 2 out and cannot wait...lots to learn and lots of mistakes to be made 😂

[@Thuy_Dailylife]

Thank you for the energy you convey

[@tamakoa-homestead]

Oh wow, thank you so much 🌻 it's lovely to hear that you could experience my excitement through the screen and I hope that the videos to come carry just as much excitement for you watching 🌻

[@Thuy_Dailylife]

@@tamakoa-homestead like like

[@Shaz-on-Adventure]

Fantastic, well done 💦

[@tamakoa-homestead]

Thank you so much, it was such a relief that it worked and paid off 🌻

[@ijax1884]

Keep up the good work😊

[@tamakoa-homestead]

Thank you so very much and with motivational comments like yours it most certainly helps with the motivation levels 🙏

[@whitetrim1]

Congrats!

[@tamakoa-homestead]

Thank you so very much and I hope you enjoy the future content I'll be sharing on this homesteading journey 🌻

[@shannonalaminski2619]

Dear God, get on with it!

[@tamakoa-homestead]

Sure 😂

[@ReinhardSeifert-e4l]

Or how many months will this water flow? How is the situation in the dry season? Good luck with your projects!

[@tamakoa-homestead]

That's a really good question and thank you for asking! The overflow that I featured in this video will probably stop running around late spring, early summer, depending on the rainfall for the season. I have luckily been there for a full year now and I know that the waterfall above us, which we have water rights to in our title deed, flows year-round. We are also quite lucky in that there is quite a bit of rainfall through the summer so I need to make sure I capture as much of that as possible. Thank you so much, I really hope you continue to enjoy the future content I will be sharing 🌻

[@ReinhardSeifert-e4l]

We have a small hobby farm in Alentejo,Portugal with a similar climate as your area. Wet, cool winter and long, hot and dry summer. We have a borehole and several PVC water tanks, each 10 m3, 4x 5 m3 and 2x2m3 to irrigate the trees in summer and give water to the animals (15 aberdeen-angus cattle and lots of various birds).

[@tamakoa-homestead]

@@ReinhardSeifert-e4l oh wowz that sounds amazing! There are a few people around me with boreholes and we will see if we can possibly work together as we need to go 80m+ to find the correct quality water which is incredibly expensive. I'll have to see how the water catchment goes and take things from there. So glad you have your reliable source of water that is working for you 🌻

[@darrenadams5219]

We want more video's please

[@tamakoa-homestead]

Consider it done 😄 For now I am posting a video weekly due to time constraints, but I am hoping to post more videos in the near future. I already have the next video lined up that I will be posting at the end of the week so lots of content coming, that I hope you will continue to enjoy 🌻

[@muljon5320]

Where's your homestead based. Looks remote.

[@tamakoa-homestead]

It is quite remote. Not sure if you are based in South Africa or not? It's about 40km outside Oudtshoorn right at the foot of the Swartberg Mountain Pass. We can actually see the pass from the land. It's about 10km or so from the Cango Caves so remote, but not too remote 🌻

[@jamessanders4310]

You have water...until it freezes.

[@tamakoa-homestead]

Haha, yes, that's always a possibility but hopefully it will never get that cold that all the water inside the tank freezes, but time will tell I guess 🌻

[@louiseswart1315]

We are just spoilt. We lived a while where water pipes are frozen early in the morning. We just saw that all dishes and showering are done in the evening, bucket of water in the bathroom and another one in the kitchen and used the washing machine after 11 in the morning, problem solved. And we had a few faucets on the irrigation crack before we learned to leave them open so all water can drain before they freeze.

[@jacquesvandenberg7363]

Water is so important congrats. Bit worried that your tank is not on flat surface you may need to build platform for it, or put some sand at the bottom. Is the source of the water on your farm, recommend you look at damming it up with agreement with neighboors and confirming with water regulations?

[@tamakoa-homestead]

Hey Jacques, thank you so much for your valuable comment, I really do appreciate it! Yes, water is a big thing and I am also really trying to not step on any toes and be mindful of the surrounding farmers, being "newby's" in the area. This smaller tank I want to eventually move next to the house as it is nice and small and without a flushing toilet should last us a fair amount of time. It will then also be mainly rain catchment based, but that will be trial and error for sure. In terms of the water catchment, I agree that this could be a concern. This is also why I am only using the waterfall overflow and it only flows when there is a lot of rain or at the end of winter once the water table has risen. This is the water that flows directly through our property and I have not seen anything about the use of this water, but I can only assume no-one relies on it because it is very sporadic and seasonal. Our main water for personal use would come from the waterfall that run year-round. We have title-deed access that is classified as Schedule 1 water use, which apparently means it does not need to be registered or notified. We just not use it for agricultural use, though. We are looking at using some existing boreholes as a small community with sharing so there is still lots of water talks happening and it is a topic I will keep sharing as things evolve as it is so important for people to know how to work around water, especially with neighbours and farmers 🌻

[@jacquesvandenberg7363]

@@tamakoa-homestead Impressed with how much homework you have done (some content for your next vlok maybe?), it is great approach to talk to neighbours on regulations and water sharing. I seen so many fights between neighbours around water and broken fences.

[@tamakoa-homestead]

Thank you and yes, I've really been digging through documents and rules to try to be as compliant as possible, but also be hyper aware of the people around me. I'll most certainly be doing a lot more videos on water, especially in the summer months, and share how I have approached it. Thanks for the suggestion 🌻

[@janew5351]

This is not Alberta!

[@tamakoa-homestead]

Sorry, I am not sure what you mean by that - do you mind letting me know? 🙂

[@elizabethmesora2558]

Alberta is a Province in Canada

[@tamakoa-homestead]

@@elizabethmesora2558 yeah, I am aware of that but I'm not sure what meant by " This is not Alberta!" as I don't talk about it?

[@ban9640]

i advice u not to put ur kid at the back in saudi arabia its againist the law

[@tamakoa-homestead]

Luckily I don't live in Saudi Arabia 😁 it's also a very small piece of road in a completely rural area so all good, they have the best fun (responsibly) on the back 🌻