By Forest Puha

Enjoying your blistering hot summer day working on your homestead? Need to cool off--- but much too busy to drive to the nearest lake, river or ocean for a dip?

What you need is your own Backyard Homestead Swimming Pool, otherwise known as a big metal stock tank. Big enough to cool off, but small enough for adults to sit and relax in.

First you need to find the right size, big enough that you can sit down and have the water come to your chest, or lie on your back and float, or whatever works for you. My family chose a model about 8 feet round and two feet deep, big enough to kick, float and pretend to swim in. I can cool off whenever I'm home in the heat.

The temps in rural Nevada have reached and surpassed 100 degrees Fahrenheit this week, and that stock tank full of water has been --AWESOME-- to have. We have had our metal stock tank for 15 years now, and it's held up great.

Nothing beats desert heat like this beautiful steel pool. Years of use and keeps on ticking.

Here is how we did ours: just go to the local hardware or feed store, pick a size, pay for it, and either haul it home on your truck, or have the store deliver it. They delivered ours for free.


In today's prices, our particular model costs roughly $300 to $500 brand new. I admit it's a pretty big chunk of change, but consider this: it's your very own swimming pool without going through the hassle of digging out a spot to put it. Try looking for used ones in newspaper and online classifieds, or just ask your neighbors if they know someone willing to part with theirs.

Once you have a pool, find a good spot to place it and level that spot. Our soil is sandy so we just raked it even. You can also line the ground with bricks for a firm bottom surface. Then clean the pool out with a garden hose and fill it up with water. Make sure the plastic stopper near the bottom of the tank is screwed on good and tight. Put the hose in the pool and fill with water.

Don't add anything to the water if you can help it, or at most just enough chlorine to keep the water clear.

Our Behlen Country-brand stock tank swimming pool. Found at hardware and farm stores worldwide, including Home Depot, Lowe's, Tractor Supply, Ace, True Value and many others. You can even find them online at Amazon.

So after a few days or a week of splashing around in your great new pool, that water is getting pretty dirty, right? What to do? Waste all that water? No way! Attach a common garden hose to the drain hole at the bottom of the tank and place the other end to where your thirsty trees are waiting. You are using the same water you would have used to water your trees: you just swam in it first!

Clean out the pool with a rag or brush and plain old biodegradable soap, rinse, and refill. It'll hold up for years and even decades, unlike regular home swimming pools made from incredibly thin plastic.

Some of the trees at our place that our swimming pool keep hydrated.

Our pool faces our homestead and nourishes a windbreak of trees that tower over our cabin now, which provides needed shade from the hot summer sun and looks beautiful. It's a mix of pines and global willows and a huge mulberry tree that the birds love. All grown from the water drained from our stock tank pool. Just be sure you plant your trees away from underground pipes and any septic tank area. In the wintertime, we flip the tank over and wait for the next year. It helps to put a little weight on top or tie it down with rope and stakes to hold against high winds.

So there you go: how to own and make your economical and environmentally friendly swimming pool. It's just waiting for you to cool off on a summer hot day.