#rain cachement

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The quarter inch of rain we got may have seemed scant to the eye on the ground, but over in the rain barrels, I got at least one 47 gallon/180 liter barrel completely refilled.

As we move more and more into climate change, if you’re not catching rain to use, it’s one of those things you need to learn about. 

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Winterizing the water barrels and improving the overflow.  Step 1 was to detach the hose that fills the barrels and cork that bit.  The barrels are maxed and I need to drain all of them enough before we get a hard freeze so there is room for expansion when ice forms.  If I want to be really good about it, I will drain the water to below the adjoining hose connectors.

Step two was to do something about the problematic overflow.  The p-trap on the corner of the house is collapsed, as you get with midcentury homes, and the easiest and cheapest way to redirect the water is to just send it elsewhere.  A past housemate ran pipe along the entire side yard (the view in the second top photo) and it traveled over 50 feet to then dump onto our walkway and flow down the front steps to the city gutters and sewer.

I’ve noticed that with our climate change, that was mostly turning to ice on the front steps and walkway in the last couple years, and I’d rather use that water for the backyard.  So, I’m doing what I suggested to the housemates about a decade ago but was out-voted when it came to house plans.  The down-flow has now been turned to the north, and elevated, and only about 25 ft of pipe is now in position to carry water to the huckleberry bushes and surrounding plants.  There is a join right at the end of the deck that will be the perfect temporary detach for when I mow the lawn.

Except for our driest parts of the year, the house will now (hopefully) be doing a lot of automatic watering for that garden bed.  

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I got new screening at the hardware store, and it was enough material that I gave all three rain barrels new mosquito screens. I watered out of these for the first time too, giving my fruiting raspberries a big drink.