low-tech gutters
A desert gardener first concerns himself with issues of water, so that’s where we began our season of classes this year. On Sunday March, 15th, permaculturist Bard Edrington, owner of Living Edge Landscaping and co-creator of Mother Nature Gardens, spoke to a small crowd about numerous methods to harvest water in the desert. He gave participants inspiring motivation and clear steps to develop a sustainable, desert oasis on their own property. He showed examples on sight of both passive rainwater catchment (earthworks), active rainwater catchment (a ferrocement cistern and two plastic barrel catchments), and the drip irrigation system they feed. 
Finally, he introduced students to our latest developments in water harvesting, the outdoor wash room. Because our crawl space is too small, we found it near impossible to run greywater from our indoor laundry room. So we took the laundry machine outside. For now, until the system develops, we run water from the outdoor hose to the machine. We have dug four seperate basins, 30″ in diameter, 30″ deep, and filled them with mulch. Then, we purchased a drainage tube that we can move from basin to basin so no area of our clay soil gets over saturated. We also can drain rinse water into a nearby rainbarrel to use for chicken water. Suddenly, we have more water in our backyard than we know what to do with. Whatsmore, I get to do my washing outside while I overwatch my boy and my gardens.
Open air laundry room
Greywater dispensing sponge
Tags: cisterns, drip-irrigation system, earthworks, ferrocement, greywater, outdoor laundry room, outdoor wash area, rain barrels, rainwater harvesting
