Water is the hard part here. In the dry season there is too little. In the wet season the rain often comes three or four days in a row, and most of the land is on a slope, so the water runs straight off into the creeks.
In 2020 we tried a few small, cheap things. Most of the ideas come from permaculture.
A swale
A swale is a shallow trench dug along the contour, with the soil heaped on the downhill side. It slows the water down and lets it soak in. We dug a small one in the garden. After heavy rain the water moved more slowly, and the soil stayed damp for three or four days longer.
A grey water filter
Kitchen water ran through a bucket of gravel and plants before going back into the ground.
A banana circle
A pit filled with organic matter, with bananas and other water-loving plants planted around the rim. Ours takes grey water from the bathroom and the outdoor shower.
A drinking water filter
Blue barrels of gravel, sand and charcoal, one feeding the next. We copied the design from the Pun Pun Center in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
A raised bed
A vegetable bed under insect netting, watered by a slow drip from a bucket.
Water from the air
In July 2020 we put a small temperature and humidity sensor out at night and logged the dew point, to see how much water the air might give. It was an idea, not a working device.
Notes and photos were first posted on our Telegram channel: grey water filter, banana circle, drinking water filter, swale, raised bed, dew point.