THRIVING after the FALL

The Index · A subject

Water

Water for the house, the animals and the garden, and how to make it safe to drink.

8 documents · 4 chapters · 97 rows

In the chapters

Documents 8

Calculators

Water for house and herd

In the Workshop

The well

In the log 97

  • 57 confirmed
  • 18 amended
  • 3 partly confirmed
  • 16 unresolved
  • 3 dropped
  • 39 marked for safety
  • I10 unresolved Safety Cast iron drum cracks when water hits it hot or the fire is built against one side; never quench in the drum
  • I6 confirmed Safety Grinder: guard on, never above rated speed, never a cracked wheel, light pressure; safety glasses; cotton or wool, never synthetics; water and sand at hand
  • I7 confirmed Safety Charcoal fines blown into the tuyere can flash; fresh charcoal spread thin in the open 24 to 48 h with water at hand or it can heat and ignite in a bin
  • I8 confirmed Safety Never quench an unknown steel in water: it cracks; warm oil
  • K1 confirmed Safety The oil quench flares at the surface every time; the can is steel, tall, 5 litres or more, lidded, no water near; leave the blade in, lid on, never water on burning oil
  • K2 amended Safety Molten iron on a damp mould or a drop of water in the crucible turns to steam a thousand times its volume and throws the iron back; everything dry, leather, face shield, …
  • K6 confirmed Safety Never quench a file, spring or blade in water
  • W9 dropped Safety Linseed rags heat themselves and ignite at about 120 to 150 °C; lay flat outdoors or in a tin of water
  • G12 dropped Safety Chlorinated water sterilises the filter; water over about 50 NTU must be settled first; the skin sleeps below 10 °C (15 to 30 % activity at 0 to 5 °C) and the housing …
  • G7 confirmed Safety A smouldering char pit gives off carbon monoxide; never cover with earth and leave, never indoors; quench with water
  • G8 amended Safety Biosand filter removes >4 log helminths, 3 to 4 log protozoa, 1.5 to 2.5 log bacteria (95 to 99 %), 0.5 to 1.5 log viruses (70 to 90 %); it is not a steriliser and …
  • F2 amended Safety Hot-water loose smut: 51–55 °C 10–20 min (Bench: 52 °C 15 min after 4 h cold soak), one degree over kills embryo; cold plunge
  • F6 amended Safety Potassium soap: KOH lye handling (add flakes to water), 55 g KOH for 250 g oil, pH ~9, >2 % burns, dusk, never on bloom, kills bees wet, hard water scum
  • F71 amended Safety Tomato seed ferment 24 to 72 h, never over 72 (sprouting), pH 3.8 to 4.2; hot-water seed treatment 50 °C (value lost, standard) 20 min brassica, 25 min carrot and …
  • A13 amended Safety Colostrum 3–4 l (10 % BW) within 2 h, second feed at 12 h, gut closure absolute by 24–36 h; calf that missed it scours and dies in week three; scours: 1 l warm water, …
  • A14 amended Safety Avian influenza housing orders (Stallpflicht) every autumn since 2016, virus enzootic in wild birds of the Mark; roof and wild-duck-free trough the defence; three hens …
  • A16 amended Safety Whey from salted cheese poisons a pig without other water (salt toxicity); raw potato and sprouts carry solanine and raw starch passes unused, boil and discard water; …
  • A74 unresolved Safety Limewater: 1 kg slaked lime per 15 l boiled cooled hard water, lime into water; eggs under 24 to 36 h, unwashed, candled, points down, 5 to 8 cm cover, lard film, 8 to …
  • A76 amended Safety Salmonella killed at 70 °C held 2 min throughout; never wash an egg (cuticle); a warm egg into cold water draws contamination through the pores; onset 6 to 72 h; dirty, …
  • B13 amended Safety Scald safety: 200 l at 62 °C from a 50 l copper lit at four; over-scald >62–63 °C cooks skin and sets bristles (only remedy skin the pig), under 58 no release, loosening …
  • B14 unresolved Safety Fat fire: tallow catches at ~200 °C and above, a wood fire under an unwatched kettle reaches it in minutes; lid or sand, never water (fireball); kettle never left, never …
  • B20 confirmed Safety Anthrax: a hide from an animal that died on its own of nothing visible is not skinned; anthrax spores in old grazing soil and in a hide for years; such an animal is not …
  • B22 amended Safety Burial of slaughter waste forbidden (TierNebG); knacker (Tierkörperbeseitigung) route; after the fall burn what the law says to burn, bury the rest deep away from the …
  • E11 unresolved Safety Garden pond the commonest drowning site for small children in Germany; drowns in a minute in 20 cm silently; fence 1.2 m with child-proof gate from the day it holds water
  • E12 unresolved Safety Ice: walk only on ≥ 15 cm clear black ice on still water, never on rivers, inflows, outlets or reeds, never alone; rescue from the bank with ladder, plank, pole or rope; …
  • E18 amended Safety Grass, silver and bighead carp not native; do not breed in still water; not legally released into open waters in Germany
  • C4 amended Safety Discard signs (lifted lid, leak, cloudiness, bubbles, spurting, off smell); disposal by burning or deep burial; wash surfaces with lye water
  • M9 amended Safety Calf vell: salt at 15 % of its weight plus half its weight in water, 18 to 21 °C, 3 to 7 days; dry below 21 °C; grind 1:8 in sour whey with 4 to 5 % salt; keeps 6 months …
  • D8 amended Safety Any herb picked low to the ground gets hot water for at least five minutes against the fox tapeworm; eggs survive freezing
  • T1 amended Safety Lye (KOH/K2CO3 from ash, causticised with lime) burns skin slowly and painlessly at first, blinds in the eye; strong clear lye looks like water; first aid water in …
  • T2 confirmed Safety Potash/lye into water, never water onto potash (exothermic spitting); eye covering, sleeves, mittens, vinegar jug and water bucket before starting; nobody under twelve …
  • T5 confirmed Safety Linseed-oil rags self-heat as the oil cures and ignite spontaneously; lay flat outside or put in water
  • T54 amended Safety Bottle cutting: single score, oil-soaked string burnt about a minute, cold-water plunge, wet grinding, no fire polish without annealing; lead crystal rings 3 to 6 s, …
  • T59 unresolved Safety Horn: boil 60 to 90 min, strip 18 by 4.5 cm by 3 mm in hot tallow 15 to 20 min, pressed 10 to 15 min, edge scraped to 1 mm; beaker plugged with a wooden disc (book's …
  • T6 unresolved Safety Beeswax flash/ignition ~200 °C and above; render in water bath, never over a bare flame reaching a dry pot; never water on burning wax
  • T9 confirmed Safety Never open a hot pit or pour water on it; 573 °C quartz inversion (1–2 % volume change) cracks pots if passed fast on heating or cooling; damp pots explode
  • J2 confirmed Safety Well at least 30 m from and uphill of privy, midden, pig and stall; sand filters nothing; nitrate from manure reaches the well within a season; nitrate causes …
  • J3 confirmed Safety Water for infants and the sick boiled from any well; the village's cleanest well is the one furthest from stalls and middens
  • J8 unresolved Safety The three narrows demand daylight-to-dark heavy labour at 490 kcal/h in June to August heat: water, salt (Ch 11's 8.5 kg is for the year), rest at midday, and the risk …
  • H24 confirmed Household: 116 m², 11,600 kWh heating, 3,200 hot water, 800 cooking
  • H39 confirmed Seasoning: one summer for ash and birch, two for beech and oak; cracks, hollow knock, no hiss; 20 % water; a third of the felling weight lost
  • I35 confirmed Agricola 1556 drew the forge's ancestor with water bellows; Moxon 1683 the London smith's hearth
  • I36 confirmed Brake drum: 23 cm inside, 5 cm deep, 7 to 11 kg; 50 mm flange, 15 cm nipple, tee, 12 cm ash pipe with cap or water bucket; grate of 6 to 12 mm plate with 10 mm holes; …
  • K13 confirmed Sheffield water-driven grinding wheels by the 1500s; Huntsman 1740 crucible steel, first homogeneous steel in Europe
  • K27 confirmed Brandenburg sandstone Findlinge as 600 to 1,000 grit whetstones; water balance; chef's knife on to 3,000 grit, cleaver left toothy
  • K34 confirmed Green sand: 80 to 83 silica, 3 to 5 sodium bentonite, 3 to 5 calcium bentonite, 4 to 6 sea coal, 2.5 to 4 water; squeeze test
  • W18 confirmed Anneal at dull red about 600 °C (forge 600 to 800); water quench does not harden copper, spalls the black cupric oxide, red cuprous oxide remains; pickle in 10 % citric …
  • W27 confirmed Tinning window: pan a little above 232 °C, about 250 to 280; water drop skates; flux burns and tin goes yellow then purple and beads if too hot; steps if too cold; 0.45 …
  • W31 confirmed Biringuccio, De la Pirotechnia 1540: lute of lean clay, horse dung, egg white, hammer scale, linen strips and flour; rye flour and water as the modern lute
  • W44 confirmed Rotary quern older than Rome; Vitruvius De architectura X.5 on the water mill c. 25 BC; post mills in Brandenburg villages from the 1200s; Sanssouci's Historische Mühle …
  • G18 confirmed The Spree ran for a century on water pumped from the Lusatian lignite pits and shrinks as they close; Berlin drinks mainly bank-filtered river water; the 2018 to 2023 …
  • G40 unresolved Fizz tests: vinegar on a rainwater paste fizzes above about pH 7.5 (free carbonate); bicarbonate fizzes well below 6; tap water gives false readings
  • G48 confirmed DIN 1989-1 sizes a rainwater tank for a 21-day dry spell; bury 80 to 115 cm; bentonite sealing 5 to 15 kg/m² into the top 150 mm, sodium bentonite swells 15 to 20 times; …
  • G50 unresolved Ollas: unglazed pot buried to the neck sweats water at the rate the roots draw; described in the Fan Shengzhi shu, first century BC
  • G52 confirmed Biosand filter: 0.9 m tall, 0.3 m square, sand D10 0.15 to 0.35 mm, bed 45 to 55 cm, 5 cm standing water, 400 to 600 l/h/m² (0.4 to 0.6 l/min), 10 to 12 l pours, …
  • F39 confirmed Tomato: sow indoors mid-Mar 1 cm, prick out, plant after Eisheiligen, strip 20 cm, 1–3 leaders, water base morning
  • F73 confirmed Summer grains: millet sown 20 May to 5 June, 75 to 90 days, 1.5 to 2.8 t/ha, 250 to 300 kg water per kg; hulless barley 20 March to 10 April, 95 to 110 days, 2.2 to 3.5; …
  • O46 confirmed Inulin 1.5 kcal/g; tuber 80 % water, 15 g/100 g → 22.5 kcal; 2.6 kg per 600 kcal hour; body figures from one blog
  • O48 confirmed Blackberry leaf oxidation 2–6 weeks warm, black, caramel/melon; blend 3 : 1–2 : 0.25–1; steep times chamomile 35, Lamiaceae 5–10, rosehip 6–8, pine 10–20, linden 4 g 30 …
  • A32 confirmed Winter 165 days (1 Nov–15 Apr) at 12–13 kg hay = 2 t hay at 15 % water; hay meadow on sand two cuts 3–4 t/ha = 0.6–0.8 ha; whole about 2 ha per cow; heifer adds half; …
  • A56 confirmed Turn: Red List breeds with per-head subsidy; water buffalo on the Tegeler Fließ, Heck cattle at Hobrechtsfelde for the birds; hens legal in Berlin gardens, a hundred …
  • A58 confirmed Bench details: teat dip iodine or strong brine; cool milk below 10 °C within an hour; broody test on china eggs two nights, candling at 7 and 14 days, chick crumb or …
  • B31 confirmed Cow's last morning: 12–24 h off feed with water; tied short, head at hip height; handler at the shoulder is not the shooter; gun behind her line of sight
  • B34 confirmed Legging: ring at hock and knee, slit inside of legs, feet off at the break joint below the hock; fisting to keep the fell; knife edge to the hide; hide off the back last …
  • B43 confirmed Wellfleisch: head halved, brain out; head, feet, tail and belly trimmings simmered 1.5 h in salted water, eaten at noon with sauerkraut; cheeks, head meat, rind, tongue …
  • B45 confirmed Casings: small intestine ~20 m, stripped, turned over a stick under water, scraped with the back of a knife, rinsed, salted, keeps a year, soak an hour; Krause (large …
  • B48 confirmed Hen: shut without food overnight with water; carried by the legs head down; cone = bottomless bucket on the shed wall at chest height
  • B54 confirmed Fat: cow 30–40 kg fat and 40 kg bone; pig 12 kg fat and 10 kg bone; render within 12 h or hold ≤7 °C (Reg 853/2004); suet 86–90 % lipid, trim 62–76 %; dry rendering …
  • B57 confirmed Broth: bones cracked, roasted ~200 °C 30–45 min (62: 204 °C 35–45), water 1:2 by weight (own), 1 tbsp vinegar/l (own; 62 names acid without dose), 85–95 °C (62: 85–96) …
  • B59 confirmed Hide salting: a third to half its weight in salt, fold flesh to flesh after 24 h, resalt, keeps months cold; soak 2 days; lime 1 kg slaked lime/20 l, stirred daily, 7–14 …
  • E29 confirmed FAO pond tables: 400–600 m² pond 1.00 m water, 0.30 freeboard, 0.80 top, 2:1 slopes; settlement 5–20 %, built 15 % higher; core trench 0.5–1.0 m wide, 0.3 m into firm …
  • E31 partly confirmed Brandenburg ponds freeze most years, 20–30 cm in a hard winter about one in five; water densest at 4 °C; carp overwinters in mud at a few heartbeats a minute; suffocates …
  • E37 confirmed Hältern: 10–14 days unfed in clean cold water removes the mud taste (geosmin/MIB stored in fat), ~10 days
  • E47 dropped V-weir figures (30–45°, gap 30–50 cm, stakes 5–8 cm at 8–10 cm, wall 15–20 cm above water, 4 m stream, banks inward, permeable) from a survival website
  • E51 amended Scaling under water, gilling, vent-to-throat cut, kidney scrape, fillet through or over the ribs; yields trout 55–60 %, salmon ~70, flatfish ~30; pin bones pulled …
  • E52 unresolved Fresh-water yields carp, pike, perch, zander 40–50 %, eel ~70 % gutted and skinned; pike Y-bone strip ~10 % of fillet; carp/bream/roach scored every 3 mm (Einschneiden); …
  • E54 confirmed Brine conversion: 70–80 °SAL = 18.5–21.1 % = 1.88–2.23 lb/US gal = ~225–270 g per litre of water; matches Ch 11's 220–250 g/l; never above 90 °SAL; brine < 15.5 °C; …
  • R5 confirmed Rye starter: false rise day 2 to 3; Berlin hard water delays pH drop to day 4; climax by day 14 at 100:1 LAB to yeast
  • M22 partly confirmed Ghee under 0.3 % water; "the Indian subcontinent and half of Africa for four thousand years"
  • M26 confirmed Saturated brine: 26 parts in a hundred of brine, about 360 g salt per litre of water, grains left on the vat floor as the cue; half a day (12 h) per kg of wheel
  • M33 confirmed A Brandenburg sand cellar is cold enough and too dry for cheese; water carried down
  • M38 confirmed Nettle: 20 g young leaves steeped in hot water into 2 litres of milk, fresh cheese only
  • M41 confirmed Mozzarella: 200 ml whey per 10 l for 1 h at 35 °C; cut to hazelnuts; cook to 38 to 40 °C; ripen 2 to 4 h; hot-water strip test; stretch in water at 80 °C
  • D16 confirmed Mash: 12 l water at 72 °C on 4 kg cracked malt settles to about 66 °C; hold an hour; iodine test; sparge with 10 l at 75 °C
  • D23 confirmed 1516 Bavarian law: barley, hops, water; also a grain rule keeping wheat and rye for bread; the north did not follow it for four centuries
  • D39 partly confirmed Mead: 1 kg honey to 3 l water gives about 13 % ABV; 3.3 kg for 10 l; nutrient from skimmed froth, pollen or 100 g raisins; honey's own yeasts stall; pitch live sediment …
  • D45 confirmed Still: 10 to 20 l pot, coil 5 to 7 m in cold water; wash at 6 to 10 % ABV, racked clean; fill two-thirds; heart in 200 ml jars; 10 l at 8 % gives about 1 l at 40 %
  • T29 confirmed Clay tests: ribbon past 5 cm, ball survives a night in water (same as Ch 10's pond tests); processing by slaking, sieving, settling; 20 % sharp sand temper; wedging; …
  • T30 confirmed Firing stages: 100–200 °C free water, 450–600 °C dehydroxylation (irreversible), 573 °C quartz inversion, 800–900 °C bonfire/pit earthenware, > 1,200 °C salt-glaze …
  • T40 confirmed Leaching barrel: hole 5 cm above base, stones/sticks/straw, rainwater not well water (lime kills lye), 1 bucket ash → ¼ bucket lye, run again or boil down; 2–5 % slaked …
  • T43 confirmed Household of four: 10–15 kg soap/yr, ~7–8 kg tallow, one winter's beech ash; hard water 14–25 °dH by Berlin district turns soap to scum; wash in rainwater or rinse with …
  • T57 confirmed Bleach cycle: lye with lime 8 to 12 h, grass 7 to 14 days wetted every 2 h, buttermilk sour 1 to 10 for 24 to 48 h, repeated 4 to 8 times, lye never over 3 % on cloth; …
  • J19 unresolved Household year (own): field 1,500–2,000, kitchen ~1,100 (3 h/day), milking ~300 for three goats (twice daily over two lactations), wood 30–50, tools 156, pig 32, …
  • J30 unresolved Animal water (own): cow in milk 60–100 l/day, more in July; goat 5–10; pig 8–15 by weight; laying hen ~0.3 l; house dairy wash 20–40 l/day; household with goats ~300 …
  • J31 unresolved Water table on the sand islands 2–10 m down; dug well 1–1.5 m across lined with fieldstone, brick or concrete rings, to 1 m below dry-season water; windlass bucket 12 l; …
  • J32 unresolved A village well serves a dozen households; a village of 75 has 6–8; the Dorfteich waters the herd and fights fire and predates the well
  • J33 unresolved Brandenburg well water: iron-brown, hydrogen-sulphide smell from peat, varies over 100 m; stains linen; stand and pour off the top for washing