The lower olive grove and the dozer used for clearing the access tracks. At the top of Reinhardt’s block is a natural spring which is where the village derives it name (Glykovrisi = Sweet Spring), which provides all of his house water and farm irrigation. It also feeds a large concrete cistern half way down the hill, which is the village water supply. Although there is a cyclone fence and double gates surrounding it for security, they are never locked and it is quite normal to see the shepherds taking their goats and sheep in there for feeding on the surrounding grass. The local area is predominantly limestone and hence they get quite a build up of calcium on anything connected to the water. The village council decided to clean out the water cistern as water pressure had dropped somewhat and they thought it may be in the valve or feed pipe at the cistern becoming calcified.

I made this drawing in less than a hour. It is a design for a irrigation controller which checks the soil conductivity and opens waters the plant if the soil is too dry. The parts listed in the schematic should cost less than $20 and that includes a printed circuit board. The big expense outside of the actual controller circuit is the solenoid valve which I do not include in the schematic. Another $20 there.