Maria did a great job explaining what she and Harold Snell, the septic wizard,  agreed to do to repair our aging septic system and keep water flowing to the farmhouse and the toilet. I can’t profess to understand it.

She decided to draw the plans to save the septic. It worked for me.

In Maria’s sketch, you can see the house on the right, then a pipe leading to our two small septic tanks (both in excellent condition), and on the left of them, a “beehive” receptacle for catching water from the septics and then permitting it to drain and seep through to the ground below the pasture, a leach field.

The beehive is the problem; it’s clogged, as we discovered yesterday, keeping the water from flowing and causing the water to the house to back up or block. Finally, I get it.

It’s the beehive, mot the septic (so far) that needs to be replaced, and a new leach field to be dug out in the pasture and well away from the house.

The soil there is mostly pebble, the perfect soil for seeping. Our septic system was built in the 1950s. Harold Snell says our ceramic septic tanks are superior to the new ones and much longer lasting than the concrete tanks sold now. It’s a big and expensive job to lay new lines from the tanks and into the pasture deep below the ground.

Harold Snell would like to keep the existing tanks, as they work very well when not blocked, and only two of us live in the house. The blocking, as Maria’s sketch explains, is a big project, the yard will have to be dug up and so will the leach field out in the pasture.

We don’t know what it will cost, but it cost $1,000 to inspect and test the system yesterday. I think I’ll stay in the now. This work cannot be done until early Spring or Summer. And yes, I’m guessing it could have been worse. It could always be worse.

Climate change is testing the farmhouse; we’re keeping up so far. Thanks, Maria, it’s great living with an artist. She and Harold might run off together; I wish I had a video of them talking septic.