OUR JOURNEY TO LIFE IN HAWAII, INSPIRING OTHERS ALONG THE WAY
Newsletter: Issue 8 - April 2025
In this Edition
Happy spring! Hope you enjoy our newsletter which shares our motivations for completing our first project of the year, including a ~3 minute music video summarizing 3 months of effort (January - March).
Agriculture Water Catchment System
In the short time living the Island life, we’ve gotten to experience some of its unique weather conditions. According to a hawaiilife.com article dated August 12, 2022, the Big Island of Hawaii “is one of the most unique and ecologically diverse places on the planet. It’s no surprise that based on the Köppen classification system, the Big Island of Hawaii consists of 4 out of 5 major climate zones and 8 out of 13 sub-zones.”
When we first arrived, it seemed like we could expect regular, predictable weather patterns with sunshine and warm temperatures in the morning followed by clouds and cool rain in the afternoon. That pattern gave way to unpredictability soon afterwards with longer periods of dry conditions. Now to simplify😉, we get periods of wet and dry conditions accompanied by hot and cold temperatures, depending on the time of year. The activity of Kilauea volcano does seem to affect weather conditions as well.
Many of us who are living on the Island depend on the rain to fill our water catchment systems, which supply all of our water needs. Our standard 10,000 gallon water tank seems to be sufficient under normal conditions; however, long dry spells must be considered when living off grid. Fortunately we have options during those times, such as county supply locations were we can go to pick up water for free or we can pay to have water trucked in to fill our water tanks.
Apart from all of the household needs for water, establishing a farm requires additional agricultural water resources, especially for newly planted trees. This past fall was one of those dry times that required us to address this need. We purchased a 275 gallon IBC (Intermediate Bulk Container) at a local Home Depot and made 3 trips to the county water supply location to get us through this dry spell. As is in most instances after our 3rd trip, the rain returned and quickly filled our tank; however, this got us motivated in designing and building a separate water catchment system from our rec center roof strictly for our agricultural needs.
