DIY Rain Barrel System Powered by Solar for my Homestead Garden

So I had a bit of an issue that I needed to solve. I needed a water source next to my garden, greenhouse, and soon to be chicken house area. My house, which is considered a 'barndominium' only has two exterior water sources and the closest one is a good ways away. I did purchase a long hose that would reach, but it's a pain to have to roll up every time, even with the nice box I got for it.

So I came up with a plan! I had some old water barrels that my Dad used for only god knows what that had been sitting upside down in the back for YEARS. So I decided to put them to good use!

I got the barrels cleaned out and dragged the hose over to fill them up so I didn't have to wait on rain to do the job for me. I also had a cooler that was laying around not being used, so I figured it would make the perfect housing for the pump and hoses that I bought for this setup.

The hose system was pretty cool and was one of those Amazon things that kind of popped out at me when I started looking for water pump systems. I planned on doing a drip irrigation system, but this was so much easier, lol.

All of the hose connections went on super easy using a quick release, snap on system. All I had to do was put on a couple of connections and make sure the hoses were going in the right flow direction.

Once I had it connected, I took it outside to see how it was going to all work and go together. I figured out where I needed to cut some holes in the lid to give access for the hoses and make it where I could pull them and then store them. So I went and got the big drill bit and went to work!

Once I got the holes cut for the hoses and attachments where I wanted them, I then had to cut a hole in the side for the power cable that I ran under the greenhouse and is now covered up by pine straw.

This way, when I need to plug in the pump to water the gardens, then I can just go into the greenhouse and connect the 12V cigarette adaptor into my solar powered battery system and power up the pump.

Everything fit in perfectly and the setup is complete! Or so I thought...

When I pulled the hose over the fence to water I realized that the wires were going to damage the hose. So I came up with a pretty fun plan and went to the Dollar Tree and bought a bunch of pool noodles to line the fence so that I won't damage the hose, or my hands, haha. The pool noodle can also serve as a visual point so I can see the top part of the fence when I am zipping around it with my drone, helping to avoid it, lol. Because I have never crashed into the fence before... LOL...

Now that is all finished, I finished spreading out the bails of pine straw I had to use as mulch for the area to make it look nice. I went ahead and finished all around the greenhouse as well, which was another little job I needed to handle.

So there it is, my little DIY homestead project for this weekend! Next up is to get the UV protectant back up in the greenhouse. My mom thought she was helping when I was putting it up and took off all the film from the plastic panels. So we ordered a roll of UV protectant film and I will get it installed.

Until next time...

Don't give a cluck, just run-a-muck!

Posted Using INLEO