Yesterday we had a good rain come through. The amount that came down was enough to top off our rain harvester and set us up with 500 gallons of water for when the rains aren't as plentiful.
The photo on the left is the top of the front barrel that is closest to the filler tank. When the water doesn't drain back into the vent hole, then we know the barrels are at their limit. What's amazing is that we are utilizing very little roof to fill these things. The second photo is a pretty good shot of the area we are gathering from (just the bottom section of roof, not the top end too). That tiny section of roof keeps the rain falling on our garden whenever we choose all season long.
This is our second year with our harvester and it has been the best improvement we've brought to the gardening experience. What's great is that they are easy to set up and extremely cheep. Just recently Ali and Dan over at Henbogle just set up a few harvesters for this year's crops. They actually found plastic barrels, which will last a lot longer than our steel drums. I give them high-fives all around.
If any of you have any questions about setting up a low cost harvester, please feel free to give us a shout.
7 comments:
HI! I read your comment on PW's post this morning and had to laugh at the chicken herding question!! I work for the Minnesota Zoo and we had a border collie named Ross. We heared ducks with him!!! Chickens might be a differant situation though!! :) That was a great commnet, just had to tell you it mad me lol.....
Do you use Mosquito Dunks to keep the mosquito population in your harvesters down?
We really need to get a setup in before next year's rainy season. I fee bad seeing ll of that water running off of our roof into the gutter.
Now I just need to find the space for 500 gallons of water storage lol.
It's great to see others harvesting rain water. We've been doing it for a long time and it makes the difference between having a vegetable garden and not having one in some seasons.
I just wish we got some rain around here!
We did get a bit of snow this year up in the mountains, but still not as much as usual.....no more than 3-6" each time.
But it hasn't rained since last October! Oh, we've had a few sprinkles, but nothing to soak the earth.
The grasses and shurbs are all dry and brown and fire season is here.
Maybe I need to do a rain dance, standing naked in our fields? I could threaten that I wouldn't stop and get dressed unless the rain gods sent the rain.
Yeh. That might work.....
Hey give me a holler on this. I am getting ready to move into a house and want to set something like this up there.
Heidi,
It's good to hear from you. I have found that the best way to heard chickens is with a handful of cracked corn. They have a one track mind and it always leads to food.
CeeCee,
The filler barrel has screen over it and I don't think they venture into the tiny vent holes of the storage barrels. Also, these barrels were used for olive oil and if their is even a drop of it still inside, it will spread over the top of the water and form a barrier that the mosquitoes wont venture past.
Chris,
I think I remember reading that you and Katie might be building a patio or something on the front of your house. If this is the case, I've seen a water storage badder that can lay flat under the decking and hold however many gallons there are to your square footage. If there is no such construction in your future check out Water Hogs, they're easy on space and the eye.
Rhonda Jean,
I hear ya. The difference we saw in just the first year was impressive.
Twinville,
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Meg and I saw a video where this guy in New Mexico buried a 2,500 gallon tank and was able to feed off of it all year with the assistance of only a small bit of rain. It looked intense, but once it's in you're set. Good luck.
Stephanie,
We did a construction series a while back. click on the "rain harvester" link on our side bar and you should be able to find it. If you have any questions, please let us know.
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