Some of you may have seen from other posts that I bought some off grid unimproved land, and that I'm hoping to plant some apples and other permanent crops there. I do not live on this land and will only be there occasionally for now. So, I need to come up with a reasonable way to water plants when I'm not there. There is no electricity, no well and not yet any cleared building site. There is a brook, and depending on where the brook is relative to where I would plant things -- the vertical rise ranges from 50-100 feet, and the distance would be 700 to 2700 feet (with 2700 feet being the most reliable water supply as the 700 foot distance to the brook is probably going to be intermittent).
Someone else suggested drip irrigation from 55 gallon drums. This sounds like a good idea, if I can only figure out a way to fill them. Carrying that much water through thick brush is unrealistic, and even if I managed to clear a path it'd still be way too much effort.
So, I have to pump it. It would be acceptable if I only filled them by running a generator to power a pump for a little while when I'm there, then let the drums drain out slowly on their own when I'm away. Better would be some kind of solar powered thing that slowly pumps every so often every day (it is quieter and wouldn't have the risk of me not making my scheduled visit in time.)
Is this even possible? Are there affordable ways to pump water that far? If so, then I at least have a starting point and can then figure out if I want to power it temporarily with a generator, or use solar.