Does anyone use a rain barrel?

[jmschristiansen]

I have read articles about rain water collection, and one thing that some do is to put a cheap feeder fish (food for bigger fish) in the barrel, they eat the squigglers before they can hatch.

Rain barrels are great, as they can supply water during shortages, etc, and they can be put together out of mostly scrap.

I have lived and travelled throughout much of Latin America, where cisterns, and rain barrels, and water service failures are fairly common. People there get by on a lot less, you really get an idea of what a "minimal lifestyle" can really be.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Toss in some mosquitoe "dunks" and you wont get the squigglies or mosquitoes. I use half one per 50 gal drum per month during the summer. Also put a 1/4 of one in my birdbaths.

 

[Scrambled Egg]

I have used the misquito dunks once Coyote and didn't really find them too useful, would rather have some bats, lol!! Cant seem to get them attracted to my bat house, I think this summer I will get a new bat house and put it on a pole about 15 feet in the air, and facing the morning sun, that should attract them, then my misquito problem will be alot less!!

Worm bin? I've never heard of one. How does that work? It sounds cool.

You know I'm an all natural chick, have you tried cleaning your rain barrel with borax (a natural mineral used for cleaning)? It's all natural and better for the environment than bleach.

Where did you get your rain barrel? I need about 3...or more.

Never used Borax for anything Trisha, no real reason, just never thought about it. I'll do that, it might be easier than holding my breath with the bleach, lol!
The worm bin (you can google just that, it is a brand name) and my rain barrel came from ebay and got them for good prices on auction...people buy those things more in warm weather and when I got mine a couple years ago it was still cold. The worm bin was about 60.00 and the rain barrel was about that too I think but it is huge, black plastic with the overflow, screen top and drain and spigot ..all the hardware came with it, I use a "connector" hose on my spigot, it is a three foot hose, works great. The worm bin is a stack of 4 boxes (for lack of better description) and you fill the bottom one with shredded paper and coconut peat and some good dirt..nothing with fertilizer in it, will burn the worms. The next tray should be fixed with the same bedding in a month or so and the worms will migrate up through holes in the bottom of the drawer...the stuff they leave behind is compost..spread it in you garden, it will thank you! The worms love kitchen scraps, especially when they have become mushy (funny how they have likes and dislike too!! They adore apples and bread and corn meal and other veggies but would not touch a banana!! not to crazy about potatoes either), put those in one place in the bin, cover it well so you dont attract flies and in a few days the worms all migrate to that spot and will eat it all, then you can feed them again. They make alot of babies and they excrete this stuff called worm tea (holy cow, hold your nose, no kidding, nothing smells worse!) but is wonderful fertilizer, just mix it in a gallon milk jug with water and spray or pour at the base of your palnts and they will grow like mad, veggies especially. You have to use red wigglers, not earthworms. Earthworms burrow down, wigglers will go up into your next tray. They are really esay to keep, should be in a shady place, too hot will kill them and too cold will kill them, in a shed for winter should be fine. After the last frost should be a great time to start them and the chickens will love and occasional worm treat..just dont do like me and feed them all out before they can replinish!! Guess when you start nearing 50 you start thinking more about recycling, composting, giving back natural sorts of things....well at least for me..Trisha is half my age so go figure!! Good luck!

 

[TheMartianChick]

Quote:
Thank you for posting about the worm bin. I saw one online a few weeks ago and thought it seemed like a good idea. However, I wondered if it really was as easy as they made it sound. (I have been the victim of buying things that say they are easy to use and well, you know...

) The worm tea sounds really interesting as fertilizer and the online catalog company that I was looking at did not mention that as a side benefit of having the worm bin.

 

[Southern28Chick]

Check this out!
http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/Easywormbin.htm

 

[Southern28Chick]

And:
http://www.ca.uky.edu/ENRI/displays/Worms.pdf

 

[d.k]

* We have a habitat for humanity thrift store that often has 8O gal water heaters for sale cheaper than rain barrels. You can get serious with those. ALSO, if you build a house you can put a cistern type tank under the house. My brother & family lived off 1 5ooo & 1 3ooo spring & rain- fed concrete tanks for the last decade-- he did haue to buy water 3 times that I know of. . . No screens on either & looking in the tanks was scary. They had H-D water filters at the house. Lizards falling in are a big hazard here. They'll make you sick in a hurry.

 

[Lunachick]

I have a rain barrel. It's a great thing to have. Mine is at the corner of the house and this particular one I had to cut thru my drain pipe and insert a diverter which pours the rainwater into the top of the barrel. It also has a spicket for filling water cans. I don't remember the company I bought it from. But if you go to www.gardeners.com they have a few for sale. Plus other garden goodies.

I also use the dunks for the skeeters.

 

[flakey chick]

My parents tried to get a cistern when they built their house, but the contractors just laughed at them. They thought it was a real stupid idea and they couldn't get anyone to do it.

 

[Marlinchaser]

My dad has one at his cabin, used for washing(boiled for cleaning dishes) watering moms flowers and such 2 55 gallons caught water off roof. Now they have a well drilled and built house. Didnt have electricity for years till they decided to built house and retire there. Just looking in paper here barrels 5-10 but also 330 gallon totes for 75 dollars, and they come with a 2 inch valve already installed. I may get one of those and put it on blocks so bottom valve is 18 inches in air.