It started on a Thursday night a few weeks ago. I remember because it was the first night I was raiding with a potential new guild in World of Warcraft and during every fight I could barely hear the leaders call out instructions over the thunder and lightning. And between being dropped by the server, the non-stop lag, and the power outages- I was intensely frustrated. Here I was, trying to do my best and gain entry into a raiding guild and every 10 minutes mother nature was all, "Nah- you... you suck and I'm gonna mess with your head for two hours. Muahahahaha!" Luckily the guild is full of lovely and understanding people and they welcomed me back. Yes, back- I was a member a few years ago but..... blah blah blah, this isn't about my WoW guild history so I'll just move on.... after a share a few selfies! (Yes, our characters in WoW can take selfies now)
Here I am in my Garrison's cave.
My character's race is Troll and she's a hunter. I named her Jinnee.
I think she's adorable!
Here I am during a pause in raiding. I about to take down that big monster dude in the background with my new guild mates.
In any case, the night before the lightning and thunder was so intense and the rain was coming down so hard and heavy that if you went outside, it would have bruised you. Wiley was wild-eyed and panting and I was getting a wee bit drunk because I was angry! Angry Sarah! Grr! Rawr! Drunk Sarah want to play video games! Drunk Sarah shakes her fists at the sky and curses the Gods! How dare they interrupt my assault against the evil Iron Horde!!
Hehehe...
The next morning I (and my hangover) ventured out to start my morning chores. It was clear skies and swampy lands. The barn was flooded. The chicken coop had flooded too. Both annoying, but nothing new for the morning after a storm. After I did my chores, Aaron and HIS hangover went out to do his chores. Then I get a text from him. Something like, "The pool pump shorted out" Then a few minutes later, "Did you see the cistern?!"
That last text surprised me and actually made me get up from my breakfast and look out the window. It's nothing new for the pool pump to short out in bad weather. It happens during EVERY storm. But the cistern... that's a 550 gallon round tank that is buried in the ground. How am I going to see it?!
Turns out it popped RIGHT out of the ground and was tilting at about a 45 degree angle. As I walked down the hill, jaw trailing behind me, I saw Aaron standing ankle deep in mud next to it and just staring. It was not anything we had ever thought would ever happen. Looking back, it makes sense, but right then we were aghast and on the verge of going, "Woahhhhh.... cool."
The cistern popping out of the ground started a domino effect for the whole aquaponics system. Once that went down, (or up and out as it were) everything else ground to a halt. Except for the fish- they kept swimming and eating and pooping and needing oxygen. Here's what it looked like:
This is how we found it.
As a reminder, this system is a loop. So the pump that was taking water from the cistern and putting it into the fish tank, pumped as much water as it could till it ran dry- which is terrible for the pump. So the fish tank wasn't getting oxygenated water, or any water at all. And the grow beds, where the water flows from the fish tank at one end to the cistern at the other, lost all their water and whatever was left in them just sat there. The reason they grow beds were not draining is because we use gravity to get the water from the grow beds to the cistern. That's why it's in the ground.
During this, the rain lessened, but didn't stop. Aaron had to find a place where he could not only rent a backhoe but a place that would deliver it right away. He had to re-dig the hold for the cistern and get that water moving to save the fish and vegetables. Luckily he did and was able to scoop out a new hole and get the cistern back in it.
That's the rain water level that we had to work with.
A new trench had to be dug for the pipes from the grow beds.
Aaron in the backhoe.
As Aaron was digging this hole, I was elsewhere and found out later that the ground was so soft that he and the machine started tipping over into the hole. He saved himself with some quick thinking and maneuvers. I'm glad he's ok! And that was only his second almost trip to the emergency room. Earlier, he had to cut the pipes that attached the cistern to the grow beds and almost cut his thumb off. That I WAS around for and screamed accordingly.
The list of bad things that happened on this day, if you want to keep track is:
1. Cistern pops out of the ground
2. Pool pump shorts out
3. Aaron almost cuts his thumb off
4. Aaron almost falls into a big hole he's digging while he's in a backhoe
I suppose we could include the flooding of the barn- even if the ducks didn't care and the cats didn't seem to notice. Oh and I forgot to mention that a portion of the driveway (we have a gravel driveway) got washed downhill. AND the lower field was converted into a big pond. Also, the tractor's hydraulic something or other broke and the ATV died. Hmmm. I think that's about it.
At least there weren't leeches.
The last time the green bean plants looked lush.
We ended up loosing the green beans but the tomatoes did well. Luckily, our green beans were on their last legs so it wasn't too much of a loss. There were a few fish deaths, small fish, but it's debatable if that was due to the flood or if it was that they didn't grow big quick enough to compete for food.
The effects of this flood lasted for weeks and really, we are still dealing with them some of them. One of the things that happened is that mud got into the cistern as Aaron was wrestling it back into it's hole. (Why he didn't ask me to help him, I don't know. Was I injured? I did have a back injury for a while this summer but I can't remember and that's why I have to stop putting off updating the blog. I forget stuff!) So with mud in the cistern, it means that there was mud in the system. It clouded the fish tank, got into the grow beds and did a few rounds like that till most of it settled into the grow beds. It clogs the pipes and makes a mess that we are still dealing with.
We decided to convert the float based grow bed to a media based one. So here are a few photos of the cleaning process.
This is after we scooped out all the muck and mud that had settled at the bottom of the bed.
Here I am using the wetvac to get the last bits of water and grime.
We used river rocks for the base of this bed and the clay balls on top.
All done and ready for new plants!
We will be planting a variety of hot peppers and bell peppers.
The boys making sure the job is done correctly.
Eventually the fish tank cleared up.
Look how big the Tilapia got!
And that is that. We are just now getting the peppers in the system and hopefully they'll be happy and productive.
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