We finally got a rain barrel!

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As gardening season kicks off, it’s a good time to consider how you can help conserve water in the coming months.  The average American household uses 350 gallons of water a day.  There are lots of little ways to reduce your consumption, including installing a rain barrel.  Depending on the size of your roof, you can collect about a half a gallon of water for every square foot of roof for each 1″ of rainfall.

Last year our rain barrel consisted of a bucket stuck under a gutter downspout.  Nothing fancy, but it worked. That is, until the toddler knocked it over.  As our plans grow for our garden this year, we realized it was time for a better solution.  In comes a real rain barrel.  You can find them online, Craigslist or through friends that are moving and want to sell theirs to you for half price. (yippee!)  Check in with your town’s DPW and you may find they offer a discount to local providers.  If you are handy, you can even make one yourself.  

Eventually I would love to upgrade to a oak barrel rain bucketbut in the mean time, the big blue plastic one should work just fine. At least those rainy summer days will give us something fun to watch as the water fills up, and no toddlers can knock this guy down!

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