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We have a bit of sunshine today, and the fog is clearing. The final count was 7" of rain in 72 hours, with over 11,000 gallons of water caught in our tanks. Needless to say, we are very happy, but we look forward to a few days of sunshine. http://velacreations.com/blog/sunshine.html

we got another 2.7" of rain last night, which translates into another 4,400 gallons into our tanks. That's 8,400 gallons in 72 hours!

How to make a huge rainwater cistern We had less than 1" of rain between October 2012 and July 2013. But, now that July is here, the rain season has started, which means that it is Spring, here! We received about 2.5" of rain in the last 48 hours. The rainwater cisterns are filling up! We...

exactly!

Why are you insulating them from the cool temperatures of the ground? The rabbits need to be in contact with the thermal mass of the ground to get the greatest effect. Here's my version: http://velacreations.com/blog/rabbit-dwelling.html Also, read this...

The soil is on top of the gravel, not mixed with it. The gravel is the reservoir. Yes, the gravel wicks some moisture up, but the plant roots come down into that layer, as well. The system works, we have gone through several summers with it outproducing regular beds, and many people use this...

The gravel isn't the wicker, the high compost soil on top of it is. The gravel just supports the weight of the soil and gives space to store water under the surface. It's basically a huge self-watering planter.

The gravel creates a water reservoir under the plant soil. so basically, it is to create a space to fill with water. If you look at the page, we use vinyl tarps to create the pan and prevent water from leaving. We live on clay, as well, but found that creating a space under high quality soil...

We live in a very dry climate, and all of our water comes from rain catchment. It typically rains from July through October, but the rest of the year is dry. So, we have to be extra careful with our water use, and especially for growing food, we look to increase our water efficiency as much as...

no, morels are super hard/almost impossible

you can get spawn from a variety of places, including cloning from a store-bought mushroom (look at my instructions for cloning to cardboard)

These mushrooms like light, not dark. The growing medium is just straw, very easy to do.

Mushrooms often get overlooked in the grand scheme of gardening, just because they're not plants. However, they are extremely beneficial to your garden's soil, are highly nutritious, and make a tasty addition to almost any meal. While it's true that some species can be a little tricky to grow...

TBH's produce more wax because you typically harvest the whole comb, vs using an extractor with a Lang. That being said, if you cut out the comb in a Lang frame, then it will produce the same amount of wax. 1. It has a sheet metal box on the inside to radiate the heat around the wax. This is...

We've been raising bees for a while in our top bar bee hives. With a top bar hive, you produce a lot of extra wax. To use that wax, you need to melt it and filter it. This solar powered wax melter is perfect for the job. Just throw in your comb and put it in the sun! You'll need some basic...

thank you for the kind comments!

As expected, we are getting a lot of negative feedback from animal rights activists on this article. While this doesn't surprise us, it is surprising as to how hateful some of these people are. Some people get it, though, and that's who we wrote the article for! Thanks to everyone for their...

We have a new instructable on how to tan and process rabbit furs. In this example, we make a a rabbit fur hat. http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Rabbit-Fur-Hat-from-scratch/ Learn more about how we raise rabbits: http://www.velacreations.com/food/animals/rabbits.html

thank you! yes, these tanks are very useful. We don't have a well or anything on our property, rain catchment is our only source of water. We have 2 of these tanks for the water supply to our home. They work great, and are a lot cheaper than other options.

We recently completed our newest rainwater cistern. It cost about $1,600 to make, and took us about a week. It holds 6,000 gallons of potable water, and can be made by just about anyone. We start by leveling a site and making a ring of bricks. The bricks serve as a foundation for the metal...