Heartzlink,welcome. I tried wintersowing for the first time last year. Before that I barely knew how to get a plant from the store and transplant it. Since then I became obsessed and read every book, every site, every piece of advice I could get my hands on. I had spent a few years trying to amend my soil. Decided last year that it was now or never. (still on my first cup of coffee. Bear with me) The wintersowing is basically foolproof. I use milk jugs, two liters, 20oz. bottles, anything that will hold dirt. Can't believe my homeowners association didn't complain last winter.I had 1/2 of my tiny plot of land covered with jugs which probably looked like trash to them. But come spring, I had the prettiest garden in the neighborhood. As for seeds swaps you might want to look into meetup.com. They have people from your area ( well, all area's but it goes by city) that that sign up for things that they are interested in and gardening is usually an option. I joined one here that was organized by "spencersmom" who sometimes posts here. Transportation is an issue for me so I haven't been able to go as much as I would have liked but the one I did go to was so much fun. A ton of great people. I just got back from the Richmond area a few days ago. Henirco County.Not sure if I spelled that right. We found a beautiful house for sale with 3/4 of an acre, which is huge compared to what I have now. And I mean HUGE! We are in the process of getting it and if all goes well, we will be moving there by next year. If all doesn't go well we will be looking into the Highland Springs area. That's where my mom is and she is getting older and I would like to be close. But the economy is in such a state that moving right now is not an option. Don't want to give up hubbie's job and our health insurance til I know we have something lined up and more in our savings. So, in closing, wintersowing is great, meetup.com to find people that enjoy gardening in your area and most importantly, spring will be here soon!

Thank you everyone! mydreamhome our neighbors have 5 GPM and they drilled down only 320 ft. but we are higher up on the mountain. The neighbors across the neighborhood on the other side of the pond from us actually had to dynamite to get the well. I have no clue what was done to find the spot for the well. We also had 4 geothermal wells done too, and all the wells are in one spot on the side of the driveway. Our lot is very very hilly so there was a limited area where the wells actually could go. We are paying the extra cost of this because we just had a well allowance and between doubling the cost + putting in the geothermal wells, we've got a shameful amount of money invested in wells already and really do not want to spend any more! Our inclination is to just go w/ the 4 GPM and we have 800 gallons of storage + a 150 gallon water heater, a 75 gallon water heater and a 50 gallon geothermal water holding tank. If we have an issue w/ water, our builder said we can just drill down deeper later, although it will cost more. GreenDesign, someone else on the other forum said that too. I wonder if it differs from place to place. I can't imagine our builder would have done something wrong, he is wonderful and extremely well respected here, everyone we talk to from the bank to accountants to tradespeople to random strangers we meet comments on how well built his houses are. And to answer the tub question, we went w/ the MTI caribe. I loved the customizability of being able to pick exactly what features we wanted and I loved that it was cheaper than the kohler! Did you get the kohler sok or a different one, I'm not sure how many there are on the market? Thank you bus_driver, that was very helpful!

Hi, TigerDunes, Thank you for your response. I'm thrilled to see that we shouldn't be expecting a minimum of $10,000 to $15,000!!! I posted at close to 1:30 a.m. Pacific Time, and I just got home from work about 7:30 p.m. so I'm just now getting online, after 8:00 p.m. Yes, we're sort of thinking we'd replace the furnace only, keeping the outside AC condenser. We're not at all opposed to replacing the AC condenser, but it hasn't given us problems, so if it would be a huge increase in cost to replace it, we'd skip that, at least on this go-round. If it's not a huge increase in cost, we'd replace it along with the furnace. Yes, we'd want a unit that's tax credit qualified. I have no idea what size and efficiency we're replacing. I looked for the booklet/paperwork on it before I came upstairs, but I can't find it. Used to keep all of those things in a drawer in the kitchen, but I discovered tonight that my husband repurposed that drawer for wine accessories... and he cannot remember where he put all of the booklets/paperwork, although he states he didn't throw the stuff away. I do know that the existing units (furnace and AC) have been sufficient to keep the house nice and warm in the winter and nice and chilled in the summer. There are just the two of us living here, and we both work full time, Monday through Friday. The set-back thermostat is completely programmed, both for summer and winter. The appropriate unit is programmed to come on approximately 30 minutes before I get up (takes me longer to get ready in the morning than it takes my Hubs), to warm/cool the house as necessary, and then it goes off (well, maintains a colder-in-the-winter or warmer-in-the-summer temperature) about 30 minutes before we leave for work, until about 30 minutes before we get home when it comes on again to again make the interior comfortable. Then it will cycle on/off as necessary throughout the evening until about 11:30 p.m. when it again shuts off and only comes on if it gets way too cold (winter) or way too warm (summer) overnight. On weekends it's programmed to not come on until about 90 minutes later than during the week, and will maintain the "morning temperature" throughout the day and evening and then shut off at 11:30 p.m. As for "normal winter temperatures" here... gosh... OK, I just Googled "normal winter temperatures for Sacramento, California," and one of the results had this to say: "Sacramento, CA climate is warm during summer when temperatures tend to be in the 70's and cool during winter when temperatures tend to be in the 50's. The warmest month of the year is July with an average maximum temperature of 93.80 degrees Fahrenheit, while the coldest month of the year is December with an average minimum temperature of 40.40 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperature variations between night and day tend to be relatively big during summer with a difference that can reach 32 degrees Fahrenheit, and fairly limited during winter with an average difference of 16 degrees Fahrenheit. The annual average precipitation at Sacramento is 19.87 Inches. Winter months tend to be wetter than summer months. The wettest month of the year is January with an average rainfall of 4.18 Inches." Another site said this: "The climate for Sacramento is Mediterranean with mild winters and dry summers. There is usually low humidity in the area. Light rainfall usually falls between December and February. Sacramento average annual rainfall is 17.18 inches per year The average winter temperature is 53.5 degrees F. The average spring temperature is 64.0 degrees F. The average summer temperature is 88.0 degrees F. The average fall temperature is 72 degrees F." It can, and does, get above 100 degrees in July and/or August. Every winter we probably have one or two nights where it gets down to the low 30-degree range. But as long as the house is somewhere in the low to mid 70-degree range in the winter, and no more than mid 80-degree range in the summer, we'd be happy. Does any of that help?

A well 6" diameter holds about 1 1/2 gallons of water per vertical foot. Subtract from 525 the static level of the water and subtract the distance from the bottom at which the pump will be placed for the usable depth of water. Multiply by 1.5. Let's say it is 445 feet x 1.5 for 667.5 gallons. That much is available without any additional inflow. and in the hour that it takes to pump that out, 240 gallons more will inflow. The average household uses about 200 gallons per day. And 4 gallons per minute is 5,760 gallons per day. Yes, I think your supply is quite adequate.