First SLL Meeting: A Long Task List and Some Questions...

Lot's to report from today! Today my fellow teachers (Bob and Maya posing for the camera with shy puppy in back) who will be working on the SLL met to discuss the project and look at a number of things that needed to be addressed. It was a great day for a meeting in the garden, so we sat in the shade and came up with a list of action items:

1. Can we get 110V power outside? If so, are we going to need to use conduit so that we are in compliance with code? (If we can't get power to the outside, then it seems that we might need to consider an "off-grid" solution which certainly has its advantages and disadvantages.) Bob is going to check on this.
2. Is the pipe coming off the roof the drainage pipe? If it is, can we intersect it for our rain catchment barrels? There might be code issues here too because it looks like the drainage pipe goes into the ground somewhere...Bob is going to see if he can get these answers from maintenance.
3. We decided to do away with small water pumps and instead are going to use gravity to supply the pressure. That means we are going to use solenoid valves to turn on/off the flow of water. I need to change my proof of concept to see how well this will work. It shouldn't be a big deal but I'm going to have to use a transformer.
4. We are going to build a platform for the rain barrels, but we needed to get the dimensions of the barrels first to calculate how much they are going to weigh when filled. Bob and I are going to check this out.
5. Maya is going to look at how we are going to secure and cover the 1/2 inch irrigation lines that will go from the catchment system to the beds. She has a contact in the community with a gardening organization that promotes sustainability in agriculture.
6. Maya is going to get the quote from Urban Farmer to see how much the irrigation lines and sprinkler heads are going to cost.
7. Besides working on the prototype, I need to start thinking about the PV system, and where we are going to mount that.

Well, it was certainly a big day, and we certainly have our work cut out for us, but we all seemed pretty excited about the project. The students will certainly be busy when they arrive back from break!