How We Get Water to Our Off-grid Homestead

Where do we get our water?

I'm addressing these kinds of things today. We actually don't have a well.

We have a hydrant where all of our water currently comes from. 

Our water does not come from a well; it comes from a spring a couple of miles up the mountain. You can't see it at all because of the snow drifts and can't even see it in the summer from here because of the fold of the hills.

As long as gravity works and pulls things downhill, water will come out of there. Because of that, we don't have a well, and it works regardless of power. That was one of the main things that we really loved about this property when we decided to purchase it this place. 

Staying off the grid

Getting our water from a spring has some pros and cons, but water is essential to life, and so is having everything else work without power. Recently we did run power into my husband's shop, where it does some more luxury things, but everything in our house is still off-grid.

We don't have any intention of having anything that's important to life, ever requiring electricity to run. We can heat, cook, eat, drink, and go to the bathroom with no power.

The hydrant in the winter

The reason I've had to chip ice around here, I think, is this is about an average snowpack for this time of year for us, but we have had below-average temperatures, so we've had ice buildup in places. It's not usually a problem where you get like a trip or two when you fill a bucket at the hydrant.

It built up to where I couldn't get a five-gallon bucket under there anymore. I used the ice scraper and chipped that down a good bit. That should last hopefully the rest of the year now because that is the first time I've done that.

How we get water to our homestead

How do you get water to your homestead? Share in the comments below.