After working one month on the Quinta Cabeca do Mato we retired for two weeks to the ocean, until we will have our next appointment with another eco-community.

Actually I am fed up watching and posting sunsets, so please pretend not to have seen the picture above and watch this:

Well, I am tired of posting images of our truck and our pets as well. So, please forget that picture, too, and take a look at something much more serious:

Any suggestions how to set a German word with these letters?

A Hydraulic Ram is a pump that converts kinetic energy into potential energy using the flow of a creek to lift the water higher than its original source. A waste water valve (the spraying thing in the video) frequently closes under the pressure of the flowing water coming through the inlet pipe (the metal tube in the video). This causes an overpressure in the pump, the so called water hammer effect. Under the overpressure a second valve, the so called check valve, opens and the water is pumped into the outlet pipe (the plastic tube). When the pressure decreases, the check valve closes, the waste water valve opens, the pressure of the flowing water can build up again and a new cycle begins. The metal cylinder is filled with air and works like a cushion to lower the stress of the water hammer effect on the parts of the pump.

This device does not need any external energy source. The result is a small but constantly flowing stream at the upper part of the outlet pipe.

A week ago we arrived at the eco-farm Quinta Cabeca do Mato, which is run by an English couple that moved here 28 years ago. Most of it got burned in the wildfires of October 2017. For more details see their blog http://quintacabecadomato.blogspot.com/.

Sylvia and I are helping the family to rebuild the place. During the heat-wave last week with temperatures above 40 degrees, Sylvia repainted the public bathrooms and I repaired a hydraulic ram pump (details in the next article) and helped roofing a new house.