After we purchased this property, the boys found this well near the old homestead. Thankfully it's been surrounded by barbed wire. Can you see it back there?
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| Can you see the barbed wire back there? |
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| Cooper with the brush mower clearing a path to the well. |
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| Landon and Barrett getting ready to try and pump water out of the well. |
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| Barrett was trying to get the end of the hose into the water. The hose didn't want to stay; it kept curling up. |
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| The top of the water was about 6-8 feet from the top of the well. |
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| The boys figured the water in the well was about 20 feet deep. |
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| Still trying to get water out of the well with the pump. |
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| After working for about 1/2 an hour to get the pump to pump water, Landon decided to take it apart to see why it wasn't working. When he opened it, we could see why. This pump came from a friend of ours who went to clean out a mans apartment who no one had seen for a while. Unfortunately, he had died in his home. |
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| And here was the problem; at least a big part of it!! The inside of the housing was coated with tar! |
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| After cleaning out the housing, he was still trying to get the pump to work. It's not sucking up water. |
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| Shane came to offer his advice (a meeting of the minds). |
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| Landon priming the pump. |
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| Finally, we struck liquid GOLD!! |
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| This bucket is stuck in the concrete and there is a hole in the bottom of bucket from corrosion. Maybe this was a holding spot for the bucket that they used to get water out of the well? Any ideas? |
This well hasn't been used in over 100 years and there is still water in it. We wanted to try and pump water out so we could see if it filled up again. And if it did, then we could use the water to water our garden that we would like to put in near the bottom of this hill.
After working on this project for almost 2 hours we finally got the pump to work and when it worked,
boy did it work. We were all standing near the well when the pump finally kicked in and some of us got soaked because they didn't have the hose connected and,
boy was it COLD!!
Sandy
July 11, 2014
After viewing your blog my faith in trusting one's instincts to actually pursue a childhood dream even after you had an established city/suburban life. Although I strongly feel you and your family were not the "typical" 10 children group. I am the only child-city slicker background guy--who knows you from the Thursday farmers market in West Chicago--Rich!! Your vendor neighbor. Looked at Shutterbugboy blog did not see how to comment to him personally. The boy shows some natural skill and ability to create a picture where most folks see a potential picture. To me that is something you can't teach--so Sandy let the man shoot!! I especially thought the individual portraits of his sister were exceptional. The poses and where posed were great. She should take credit for being very photogenic. Your goal of being farm to table and being self sufficient is great. I guess I will have to buy more donuts to speed up the process or you can diversify your selling menu with eggs, goat milk, mushrooms, etc. Dream your Dream!! See ya Thursday!! Rich
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