Septic system maintenance

When we first moved into our house at Nanango we thought we should probably get the septic pumped out, this went on the list of things we should do and quickly ended up near the end as we found more and more urgent jobs that required our attention. Finally, 18 months later, with the evaporation trench getting a bit soggy, we decided it REALLY was time to get it pumped out and booked in a contractor.

a typical septic arrangement

Septic systems come in a few different shapes and sizes, ours is a large underground plastic tank, which all our waste water flows into. The solids are supposed to sink and the liquid drains out of an opening near the top (but underground) and into a large evaporation trench (attractively located in our house yard!). The evaporation trench should be a gravel-lined shallow pit, with grass etc growing on top, in which the pipes branch out so that the water can spread out and evaporate (also called the leach field). Its pretty hard to tell whether or not its working as designed, and according to this report, many systems are not working because people don't know how to maintain them.

The "suck-truck" operator was very knowledgeable on the subject and gave us a few tips. He said that the tank should be sucked out about every 3 years or so to remove the accumulated solids, this depends on the size of the tank and the number of people using it. If the solids build up to the top of the tank and start to be transported into the evaporation trench it will eventually block up and you will have to dig up the whole thing and start again. Not to mention the potential for pathogens to accumulate near the surface of the trench.

He also told us not to use any chlorine. This will just kill the microbes that are working to break down the sludge and it will have to by pumped out more often. Some toilet cleaning products claim to be "septic safe" while still containing chlorine, so he recommended to use natural cleaning products (bicarb soda and vinegar) instead. Just another reason to ditch the chemicals! The only bleach we use is in cleaning the beer fermenters, so that is now being tipped outside instead of down the drain.

So if you have a septic system that hasn't been pumped out for a while, its probably worth getting a suck-truck out to do the job, then at least you know you're not going to block up your trench and have expensive repair work instead! The other advantage for us is that most of our grey water goes to the garden instead of filling up the septic tank.

Do you have a septic tank? Any tips for maintaining it?

The new Eight Acres website is live!

Very soon this blogspot address will automatically redirect to the new Eight Acres site, but in the meantime, you can check it out here . You will find all my soaps, ebooks and beeswax/honey products there, as well as the blog (needs a tidy up, but its all there!). I will be gradually updating all my social media links and updating and sharing blog posts over the next few months. I'm very excited to share this new website with you!

Farm update - August 2017

Its been cold this month, and very nice to have the fire going every night. Here's a photo of my boy in his cape, great for late night woofing at things. Most of July we were either preparing for the butcher to come or putting meat away. Its always a big job, but its only once a year, and its all done now. My lovely neighbour came over to help, so it was fun to have the company and work together. Taz was a champion once again as she helped us to move cattle in the yards ready to load for the market. Gus is not at that level yet and had to stay home (he cries when he gets left behind, but he just gets in the way and scatters the cattle). We have had a few sprinkles of rain here and there, but also plenty of cold nights, so the grass is mostly dead and dry, waiting for the warmer weather to revive our summer-active pasture. Gus in his cape Taz after she helped to move cattle Food and cooking It was all about beef in July and we are v...

Neem oil for insect control

** Sign up for my weekly email updates here , you will find out more about soap and our farmlife, straight to your inbox, never miss a post! New soap website and shop opening soon.... I also make neem soap, neem insect repellent and neem salve, all available in my Etsy shop .** A few weeks ago now I was watering the garden just after dark, torch in one hand, hose in the other, when I was attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes (mozzies). I could feel them biting me, but there wasn’t much I could do with both hands in use and I really needed to finish watering. When I came inside I found that I had several bites on each leg between the top of my gumboots and the bottom of my shorts. These proceeded to itch, swell and annoy me for several days. At this time of year, when the mozzies start biting, as I do have such a terrible reaction to the bites, I usually reach for my bottle of conventional insect repellent, typically containing DEET (N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamid...

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