Friday Favorite: The Big Berkey
For a few years now we’ve been using a Big Berkey Water Filter for all of our drinking/cooking water. It’s one of those workhorses in the house that you don’t notice, but you’re so glad it’s there. It’s my Friday Favorite because I got my water test report from our water supplier yesterday.
This filter is great because it filters just about everything out of the water, heavy metals, VOC’s, radon, etc. They are very similar to the filters we used in Colombia growing up to filter our collected rain water for drinking.
In our Big Berkey we use the Black Berkey filtering elements and they remove or reduce the following:
Pathogenic Bacteria and Cysts (E. Coli, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Giardia, Cryptosporidium, Raoltella Terrigena) – Reduced to > 99.9999%
Viruses (MS2 – Fr Coliphage) – Reduced to > 99.999%
Parasites – Reduced to > 99.9999%
Harmful or unwanted chemicals such as herbicides and pesticides
Chlorine – Removed to Below Detectable Limits
Detergents
Organic solvents
THM’s (Trihalomethanes – Bromodichloromethane, Bromoform, Chloroform, Dibromochloromethane) – Removed to Below Detectable Limits
MTBE’s (Methyl tert-Butyl Ehter) – Removed to Below Detectable Limits
Other VOC’s – Removed to Below Detectable Limits
Cloudiness
Silt
Sediment
Radiologicals: Radon 222, Removed to Below Detectable Limits
Nitrates & Nitrites
Heavy metals – Up to 95%
Iron
Foul tastes and odor
Our water here is drawn from very shallow sources, and thus there are a lot of contaminates in it. Most of them are reduced to “levels below that which would harm a healthy person” but that doesn’t give me much consolation. Some of them are quite high and above the limit listed as “safe”. I’d rather filter my water so I’m not drinking all these baddies! Since our water also contains arsenic and fluoride we use the additional Fluoride/Arsenic filters in addition to the Black filters. I really don’t want to take any chances with the arsenic.
One of the things I love about the Berkey is that it’s a gravity filter. I fill the top chamber and it filters down into the bottom. It will store about a gallon of water in the bottom reservoir. We also keep a gallon pitcher of filtered water on the counter. That way, whenever I need a lot of water for making soup or pasta I’ve got it ready.
We love our Berkey so much and the great water it provides us that it always travels with us when we hit the open road. There’s nothing better than having good, tasteless, odorless water wherever you are!
Even if you have great water, keeping a good filter in the house for emergencies is a good idea, it can be a small camping type one or a gravity feed one like the Berkey. If there’s ever a natural disaster or a water main break that disrupts or contaminates your water supply you can use it to filter water to drink. I like knowing that it doesn’t matter what happens, I can put the water from my rain barrels or from the lake through my Berkey and have safe drinking water.
Do you have well water or city water? Do you keep a water filter for emergencies?
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Older is Better
I’ve been wanting to get Mr Chiots a White Mountain hand crank ice cream machine for quite a while. I looked at the new ones, but after reading some of the reviews, I decided a vintage one would be better quality. For the past couple months I’ve been looking for a used one for sale that was in great shape. Last week I finally found on over on Yesterday & Tomorrow store on Etsy.
It’s a 6 quart beauty in almost mint condition and I scored it for only $110! It came beautifully packaged a vintage pillowcases with lovely crocheted lace (and they sent it’s pair). Needless to say, Mr Chiots is really excited to make sure it works.
I love it when I can find something vintage instead of buying new, generally I find that it’s much better quality than a new one. Every now and then I get impatient and buy something new and usually I’m disappointed with the quality. I’m very thankful for places like Etsy that make it much easier to find great vintage items.
What’s something you’ve purchased new that you wish you had been able to find an older version of?
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Quote of the Day: Barry Cornwall
Oh, the summer night
Has a smile of light
And she sits on a sapphire throne.
~Barry Cornwall
Earlier this week we had a wonderful summer evening after a weather front moved through. It pushed away all the hot sticky humid weather and cooler drier air moved in. I happened to be watering a few areas of the garden to keep the plants alive and it was perfect.
There is something wonderful about using a sprinkler, I love the sound of the water falling and the click when it changes directions. Reminds me of the occasional time we played in it growing up.
Are there any other things you experience in the garden that bring back fond childhood memories?
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Friday Favorite: Us
Mr Chiots and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary earlier this week. The funny thing is that we both completely missed it and realized it the next day. We’re not really into celebrating birthdays and anniversaries so it wasn’t a big deal: there’s plenty of fun throughout the year to make up for it. In our 14 years of marriage we’ve lived in 4 different places, the last 10 years here at Chiot’s Run.
We’ve been from sea to shining sea, we’ve watched sunrises and sunsets, laughed, cried and simply enjoyed life. Most of all we have lot of great fun here at Chiot’s Run. Since we both work from home, we’re here 24/7 together, laughing, joking, and loving it – definitely two peas in a pod!
We have big dreams of places we’ll want go and things we want to do, we’re most excited about driving to Alaska someday. Here’s to many more wonderful years and lots of new adventures along the way!
What’s one place you want to go that you haven’t made it to yet?
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Poppies for Remembrance
I always remember people selling little red paper poppies at the Post Office when I was a little girl. My mom usually purchased one since my grandpa was a veteran of WW II. There are no poppies in my garden, so these are my mom’s.
I did some research and found that Moina Michael conceived of the idea of wearing poppies for remembrance. She made some to wear herself and sold them to her friends to raise funds for servicemen in need.
She also wrote this lovely poem:
WE SHALL KEEP THE FAITH
Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet – to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.We cherish, too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders Fields.And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We’ll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.
In Flanders Fields we fought
This Memorial Day weekend, take some time to remember those who have fought and given their lives so give the rest of us the freedoms we so enjoy! Our flag is at half staff until noon in their honor.
How do you celebrate Memorial Day?
