Clean Up Earth

It’s been a long time since I posted, and I hope to post more frequently in the future.

I’ve been looking into doing some rain collecting with barrels, and am still in the research phase.  In Texas, we have a good amount of Rain in the fall and spring, but usually hit drought conditions in the summer time, and if you like to garden like me, that can be a real problem, especially when the city goes to water restrictions.

What I’ve found is that you can get quality rain barrels from 100 to 200 dollars from sites like www.RainBarrelSource.com, www.Gemplers.com, www.Rainbarrelsandmore.com, and even Home Depot.  However, I’m looking for a more cost effective solution.  I’ve decided to call up local Manufacturers who have used 55 gallon food quality barrels.  They use them once, and from what I understand, either give them away free, or charge a minimal fee for these barrels.  Once I get the rain barrels, the fun begins.

I plan on installing a gutter system the length of the house and having a set of barrels on every corner.  I plan on putting mesh on the top of the rain barrel to filter out leaves and debris.  Now, since I want to be somewhat self sufficient, and since my garden will need the water, I am thinking about using a submersible solar water pump to pump the water out during the summer months.  I don’t need a ton of pressure since I’m watering a relatively small area, and we get a ton of son, so I’m thinking it should power the pump with no problems.  Like I said, I’m still in the planning stages, so I haven’t come up with a pump size, and how many watts the solar panels will have to product to power that pump, but I’m hoping it will help resolve my water issues during the summer which is inching closer and closer by the day.

Once I have everything planned out and setup, I will post a step by step process.  Although I’m guessing that this won’t be completed until next spring, since summer is basically already here, and I won’t have much more rain collecting days available.  I’ll keep you updated.