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Posted By: Jilly Rainwater Collecting - Moisture Farming - 07/31/10 11:54 PM
I realized that water bills are extremely high at my new place. So, since this is the monsoon season, I have been collecting rainwater. I've filled about 150 gallons in under 2 weeks and could have tripled that if I had more bins.

With each bin, I add a few drops of bleach and then seal them, so keep out mosquitoes.

I want to buy two more 50 gallon bins (i think will be 40 dollars at the feed store unless I can find a better price) and then probably stop. How much water do I need to save? I really don't know. Never done this before.
Posted By: flower70 Re: Moisture Farming - 08/01/10 07:35 AM
Save as much as possible. We have a 3000liter tank above ground, and a underground holder. It automaticly goes from the raingutters to the holder. I don�t know exactly the name for this holder. The neighbour said it had something to do with the cows way earlier in life. Now its for rain water, how many liters it has i don�t know but its fairly good sized. This summer it came in handy it was hot here and hadn�t rained for weeks, to were we actually got to use it.
Posted By: Jilly Re: Moisture Farming - 08/01/10 11:26 PM
Wow, that is a lot of rain cachement, Flower! Good on ya.

My yard prolly looks funny to other with all the open containers I have set up under the porch eaves to catch the rain, but it's working, and I am able to use containers I already had instead of needing to buy/set up a gutter system.

Then I just transfer the water with a pail from the open containers to the ones I have set up with lids, in the driveway.
Posted By: flower70 Re: Moisture Farming - 08/02/10 11:47 AM
Who cares right now how the yard looks as long as your doing something good for you and the enviroment. Pretty comes later, with out water there is nothing able to make things pretty.
Posted By: Jilly Re: Moisture Farming - 08/09/10 05:05 AM
Oops. I left my last catchment containers out too long and now have mosquitoes. I am covered with bites. This is a downside!
Posted By: Lisa LowCarb Re: Moisture Farming - 08/22/10 05:47 AM
It's time to raise some bats!
Posted By: Jilly Re: Moisture Farming - 08/22/10 10:09 PM
Yes, a bat house. I wonder if they have one at ACE. I am committed to shopping at ACE instead of Home Depot, since ACE is local. If they don't have a bat house, I will see if they can order one. (plus i have a coupon!)

I love bats.

Okay, it rained again last night and I have to move the water from the latest catchment containers to the sealed containers in the window before they breed mosquitoes. Am going to do it right now!
Posted By: Jilly Re: Moisture Farming - 08/22/10 10:25 PM
Done! Okay, next step.

Aha! Ace online has a Bat House!
bat house With free shipping to my local ace. Can't beat that.

They don't have mosquito dunks, though frown
mosquito dunks

They do have one of the cheapest rain barrels i've seen -
rain barrel


Posted By: Lisa LowCarb Re: Moisture Farming - 08/22/10 11:15 PM
That is great news, you can have friendly bats to keep you company in the evening!
Posted By: Jilly Re: Moisture Farming - 08/29/10 11:48 PM
Well, turns out i can't afford the bat house right now. So it will go on my list of things to pick up when i can.

I was very excited to see my local shop had a 32 gallon trash can for only ten dollars - i need another water bin that seals - but when i ran to the store all the ten dollar ones were already gone.

I really don't want to shell out 20 bucks for a plastic garbage can. Should I just go do it? I really need another rain bin but it seems like a large expense. What should I do? I can't find used ones on craiglist, so that's out.
Posted By: Jilly Re: Moisture Farming - 09/10/10 02:57 AM
Today I realized that there really is a learning curve to this. Even the bins I thought were sealed can sometimes unseal themselves. I would assume there is some breathing going on in the sealed water bins...which stretch the plastic.

In any case, there were mosquitoes this morning and evening today - after I thought I'd eliminated all open standing water. One of my bins had expanded and unsealed itself. I was going to open one to water the yard anyway so I just used that one up. It's empty and dry now.

With the other bins i put rocks on the lids and will keel a closer eye out for expansion. I am using an imperfect solution - using rectangular plastic bins from target that I had already owned. I can't afford to buy a bunch of new trashcans just yet - so far i only have the one.

Eventually I will have this all set. I'd like to have five 55 gallon sealed containers of rainwater ready to go for next summer. It will have to happen when it happens. Also i need my bins back for my recycle area!

Leaning curve to all of this!
Posted By: Jilly Re: Moisture Farming - 09/29/10 07:44 PM
Update - my black round plastic garbage can now has a seep leak on the bottom. The ground around it is always damp. So it seems the garbage can is not up to the task of holding water continually.

it pretty amazing how much there is to learn about this. It's not just putting water into a container for later use.
Posted By: ExerciseEditor Re: Moisture Farming - 09/29/10 10:07 PM
You should see our backyard. We don't collect rain water but we do recycle our grey water and the contraption outside is hilarious.

Collecting rain water is big in Australia so Jus knows tons about this (he's from there). I'll ask him for some tips and post them when I get a chance.
Posted By: Jilly Re: Moisture Farming - 09/30/10 08:49 PM
I'd love to see what you do!
Posted By: Jilly Re: Moisture Farming - 10/12/10 03:22 AM
I found some very tight plastic container bins that are intended to hold liquids - they are $20 each at my local feed store. Blue barrels. So those will work better than the gabage can! I will have to think of a good use for the garbage can (and no, I don;t need to use if for trash - i have almost no trash).

I will try to get 3 bins tomorrow. Mom and dad gave me some money to get the bins before they left. So that is the next step.
Posted By: Jilly Re: Moisture Farming - 10/13/10 04:40 AM
I got my three 55 gal drums! They are now in my side yard waiting to be filled with rain water. These SHOULD be excellent for long term water storage. They were $20 each at my local feed store.

If they develop leaks then i will have to suck it up and spend th cash on 'official' rain barrels. I'd rather not have to do that - they are spendy. But since these drums (blue) are made for long term liquid storage I bet things will work out nicely. (crosses fingers).

The trash can that developed the seep leak: i will use up the water in that one first. Then i will move that container to become a aluminum can storage for crushed cans. Right now I have uncrushed cans in a ton of various containers. Crushing them - once they are dry inside - will take up much less space.

This is really fun.
Posted By: Jilly Re: Moisture Farming - 10/19/10 07:32 PM
there are a few more barrels i found on freecycle. I am trying to get those too.
Posted By: Jilly Re: Moisture Farming - 12/25/10 07:11 PM
I have so much water now that I am starting to wonder if i will be able to ever use it all! I am thinking of experimenting with turning off the water service for a few months just to see what happens. I can use a composting toilet instead of the sewer system also.

TO do this, I will need to fill my water tank in the RV. Hmmmm. Need to make a plan.
Posted By: Ninjahedgewych Re: Moisture Farming - 02/06/11 09:51 AM
Have put the bat house on my Christmas/birthday list. Sadly no luck so far in convincing my wife to have one here. She says a Witch and Wizards' house with bats flittering around it is "Too stereotypical". Maybe for the family place in France....?
Posted By: Jane - Native American Re: Moisture Farming - 02/06/11 04:22 PM
Ian, if you have mosquitoes like we do, no one would think twice about a bat house in your yard. They might even thank you for installing it. Bats are bug-eating powerhouses and generally welcomed in our area. People are still a bit skittish, but realize the benefit outweighs their antiquated suspicions.
Posted By: Jilly Re: Moisture Farming - 02/14/11 08:51 PM
I love bats! I used to be a cave guide and i consider those helpful little critters friends.

I now have had the water turned off for longer than a month and am using my rain water for washing dishes, scrubbing the house, for pet water and things like that. For drinking and cooking I use water that I fill up at the RO water hut.

The hardest part is not having a shower. I have to run out to an RV park to use one of theirs'. I miss hot water on command.
Posted By: Jilly Re: Moisture Farming - 03/14/11 04:44 AM
Now it is mid-march and I have to admit i am letting dishes pile up, because setting things up to wash dishes is more time consuming than i would like.

I am also letting dirty clothes pile up, since i don't like going to laundromats.

There has got to be easier ways of doing these things without having to give in and turn the water back on.
Posted By: Jilly Re: Moisture Farming - 08/18/11 04:56 AM
It's a new monsoon season and i am getting lots of rainwater for my three 55 gallon barrels. One is totally full and the other two are 2/3rds full. So they will all be topped up soon.

I am thinking maybe to add a new barrel to my yard each year. So I am due for another.

Anyone else thinking of getting a rain barrel?
Posted By: Jilly Re: Moisture Farming - 08/26/11 05:29 AM
OK, it still keeps raining here in AZ. I will pick up a 4th rain barrel tomorrow from my local feed store tomorrow. $20 for a cleaned and reused food grade storage container. That is the cheapest i've seen for anything strong enough to work as a rain barrel.

So once that one is full, i will have 220 gallons of free water to use all year for landscaping, gardening, pet washing, car washing, and as an emergency water supply in case of power outtages.

Here is my boy John Crichton relaxing on water barrel 1 -
Posted By: Jilly Re: Moisture Farming - 09/25/11 04:01 AM
I ended up not getting a barrel from the feed store since the price had risen. I did find a free one in the back of my local fire station. They said I could have it. So that was easy! I am working on filling that one up now.

It only has a bung hole, so i use a funnel to fill that one up. this one sounds like a great candidate for adding a tap to, and maybe even finally get some gutters and set up a 'real' rain system.

My other barrels have covers I can take off and on, but hey - this one was free!
Posted By: Jilly Re: Moisture Farming - 10/18/11 03:37 AM
Finally, I decided to take the leap and pull together all my experience from capturing rain on an extremely frugal budget - and make an ebook! It's about 1/4th written at this time. If there are questions you want to see answered, let me know and I can add that information.
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