Free Water with a Rain Barrel

Saturday I rode the old standby ride with the club, this is the GDB Airport ride which starts 8.5 miles from my house. This works out great as I do not use a car, but ride my bike to the start and end up with 60 miles after splitting off from the group and riding home. This week it was fast paced up front and there was a strong wind leaving me exhausted upon arrival at home.

This week I found out a friend of mine can supply me with free plastic barrels that are not for drinking out of but have had soap in them and are fine for catching rain water. I placed this barrel under a downspout of my gutter that drains about 300 sq. ft. of roof, it should fill up fast with a modest rain.
I framed in a fine screen to keep out debris and prevent mosquitoes from getting in the barrel. This water is going to be used to water the garden and houseplants, they like it better than chlorinated city water. I have one or two more places I can set barrels that are out of site and will provide over a hundred gallons with about a 1 inch rain.

We are going camping and riding at a new to us State Park this weekend and I will report on it later.

Living green

Dennis Starkey