Water is the problem. I’m on a well that is deeper than hand powered pumps can manage. Insufficient rain and creeks.
I’m stocking soups and the like that need no water. There’s a weight penalty, but all these things involve tradeoffs.
You can tie a clear plastic bag or ziploc to the end of a branch and let the evaporation collect. If one tree yields 3 cups a day, that’s three cups, anyway...
Then pull your water up by hand
No fun but works
My hand pump is located at 170 feet with a static water level of about 80 feet. Is yours deeper than 300 feet?
Also, is there a concern that the soups may be too salty? It might be best to buy very low salt soups and plan on adding salt as needed.
You mean you’re supposed to add water?
Dang, I’ve had some freeze dried stuff when I was a kid...it was kind of crunchy...as I recall, it actually looked more appetizing than MRE’s. I think I’m glad we didn’t add water.
Build ya an air well Slim......;o)
http://www.rexresearch.com/airwells/courneya.gif
Mine is like the pic I linked to. On humid days I can fill the cistern up, it’s 200 gallons. make other water traps like dew tarps etc and then make your rain gutters work for ya with some water barrels under em. A 12 x 12 tarp with 1/2 inch of rain will produce 30 gallons.
http://www.rexresearch.com/airwells/airwells.htm
link here is the main page of some good ideas for water on the homestead.
Stay safe !
I have a deep well also. When we first moved into the house intense water usage would draw it down and we had to wait for it to recharge. I put in a buried 1400 gallon cistern which I fill from the well as a buffer. I then pump from the cistern to the house. In a SHTF situation I have a generator and sufficient gas to allow me to fill the cistern several more times. After that the roof will become our water source.
Have you looked at treadle or pedal pumps? Some of them will work at deeper depths than most hand-powered ones.
I love the system that Dorothy Ainsworth set up. She wrote about it here: http://www.dorothyainsworth.com/wind/windmills.html
Apparently not everyone is familiar with NM climate. I had a 450 foot well that could not be considered dry because it recovered 11 gallons in 5 days. This was on my first home purchase in NM. Where I grew up you could hit water with a shovel.
