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Very Successful Well Test All life depends on water. Living here where the Desert Southwest meets the Rocky Mountains means that we tend to value water even more. Because we rely on our own water wells to supply all of our potable water needs, making sure that our water wells will be able meet the additional demand that will be placed on them with the addition of the 14 Phase 2 homes is vitally important to us. As Ben Franklin famously said, "When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water." We recently hired a hydrogeologic engineering firm to study the capacity of our best water well (#5). The study involved drilling a monitoring well a couple hundred feet from well #5, pumping well #5 at a much higher rate than our normal production for 24 hours, collecting data for the drawdown of the water level in well #5 and the monitoring well, and then analyzing the data. Our current water usage for our 24 Phase 1 homes averages about 2,000 gallons per day (gpd). With the addition of Phase 2, extrapolating out to 38 homes, we anticipate using about 3,200 gpd. To obtain county approval, we need to prove that our wells can produce about 14,000 gpd. (The reason for the huge discrepancy between the amount of water that we anticipate using and the amount that we're required to prove is that the government numbers are based on mainstream usage rates while we, living in the arid Southwest, tend to be very frugal in our water usage.) The actual production of well #5 during the 24 hour pump test exceeded 17,000 gallons, over five times the amount of water we anticipate using and easily topping the amount we are required to prove. To save money on testing, we didn’t test all of our water wells, only our best one. Adding those other wells only gives us even more water production. This is absolutely great news. While there is no guarantee that our wells will continue to produce at current rates forever, these test results give us considerable water security assurance. As additional water security, we have a water safety net in the form of a newly developed water pipeline running not far from our land that we could one day hook up to in the event that our wells run dry. Thus far, we haven't chosen that option because our wells are strong and it is far more economical to produce our own water than to hook up to the pipeline and buy water.  In addition to a great supply of potable water, we are also blessed with great irrigation water rights. Pictured here is our spring fed pond. Recent Progress Besides the hydrogeologic study, we have been busy on other work to prepare our Preliminary Plat application. Some of the other notable recent accomplishments include finalizing our Phase 2 site plan (includes lots, pathways, parking, greenhouse, etc.), working out emergency access details of our Phase 2 pathways and a secondary road with the fire department, and completing soils testing and receiving our geotech report. If you've been following our progress, you know that county approval and marketing have been our big focus areas. While our march towards county approval has been frustratingly slow, attracting 14 new community homebuyers has gone much better. We currently have 13 of our 14 spots in Phase 2 spoken for. A huge part of Phase 2 is to gracefully integrate our 14 new households with our existing 24 households to become a unified community of 38 households. To that end, we recently held our first ever, in-person community gathering of Phase 1 and Phase 2 – Heartwood SummerFest. I won't say too much about SummerFest here because Nisargo will be writing a Heartwood Happenings newsletter all about the weekend, but suffice it to say that it was a time of wonderful connection and fun. I came away feeling very excited about each and every one of the new Phase 2 households that will be joining the Heartwood community.  The Path Ahead Our primary work continues to be the work needed to submit our Preliminary Plat application. The application, which we hope to submit in the first week of August, will include details of our site plan and infrastructure (roads, water, sewer, parking, drainage, etc.). Our plan is to complete all of our design work and obtain all of our approvals this year so we're ready to break ground in spring of 2023. With a spot open in Phase 2, we will continue to put energy into marketing, but with the extremely strong interest in Heartwood, it seems likely that that spot will be taken soon.  Some kids, both young and old, getting silly during our SummerFest parade. Getting Involved If you're interested in a greater sense of peace and belonging in your life and a healthier lifestyle fostered by living in community and close to Nature, we invite you to get involved. There are currently no homes for sale or rent in Phase 1, but we do have one spot available in Phase 2. To learn more, go to our About Phase 2 webpage. Summer and fall are great times to visit Heartwood. Click here to go to our Plan a Visit webpage or click here to send an email to Sandy. She can help you reserve one of our common house guest rooms. With the very limited opportunities to buy or rent a home at Heartwood, staying subscribed to these newsletters is your best way to learn about available homes. When home sale, rental, or housesitting opportunities come up, we will announce them here in our newsletter. As always, if you have any questions, simply reply to this email. We're happy to answer any and all inquiries. We've posted answers to frequently asked questions on the Phase 2 FAQ page and also the general FAQ page. A Few More Water Quotes in Celebration ofour Fabulous Pump Test Results... “If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.” — Loren Eiseley “A man of wisdom delights in water.” – Confucius “Water is the driving force of all nature.” – Leonardo da Vinci One that reminded me of our county approval process... “A river cuts through rock not because of its power, but because of its persistence.” – Jim Watkins And one I found especially apropos of community... “Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” ― Ryunosuke Satoro Yours in Community,
Mac Phase 2 Project Manager
2 Comments
Rachael Love Cohen
9/9/2023 09:54:31 pm
Hi there! Curious if all your phase 2 lots have been sold? If not, we are interested! Leave a Reply. |