Rain Barrels Part 1

Here in "Mayberry" the water is extremely expensive. You see "Mayberry" buys their water from the next town over and then sells it to us. Watering the garden has raised my water bill by about $30 a month in season.

The rain barrel was so easy to make. It took us all of about 20 minutes to clean it out and put it together.

Cast of Characters: 2 3/4" metal conduit adapters, 3/4" hose bib, 1" drill bit, mosquito netting, and rain barrel.

I found my barrels on Craig's List for about $15 each. The guy at the hardware store said he used a large outdoor trash can.

At the bottom of the barrel, we drilled a 1" hole and threaded the female half of the conduit from the inside (Leon had to crawl inside), then screwed the male piece over top on the outside. Then we attached the hose bib to the conduit.

We did the same for the top of the barrel for our overflow. You could stop here and just have one barrel. You would need to cut a small piece of mosquito netting and screw the male side of the conduit over top. I plan to use a second barrel for overflow, to collect as much water as I can.

The last step was to drill holes into the top of the lid and lay on some of the mosquito netting.

I still need to get some cinder blocks to prop my rain barrel up against the house, and I need a few other supplies to connect the two barrels.

The Worm Book

This book is like having a Worm Bible. It's much better than Worms Eat My Garbage.

In my quest to grow organic food and live "green", I've discovered vermiculture. A typical compost pile can take 3 months to a whole year to be ready to use as fertilizer. Worms can turn kitchen and yard waste into cold (ready-to-use) compost in as little as 30 days.

Worms also need very little attention. You feed them once a week, inspect the bin for predators, and leave them alone. The leave them alone part seems to be the hardest here. They are very interesting to watch, and my youngest has upset the bin almost everyday to see how much the worms have eaten.

The Worm Book walks you through each step of worm farming. My favorite part is the trouble shooting: what to do if your worm bin smells bad, what if my worms escape. Worm composting attracts other species to your bin. Knowing which visitors are bad guys and which are good guys is very helpful. It even gives advice on how to get rid of any pests you don't want. Information like this sets this book apart from the others I've looked at.

However, we will not be making use of the final chapter: Cooking with Earthworms. *blech*blech*patooey*

WFMW--Shopping Bags

I almost never pick up things on a whim these days. We plan and budget everything we buy. BUT I was at the mall and these fun little shopping bags were on clearance! They are perfect. They fold up and go in this little pouch. The pouch is just the right size for my purse.


The bags are a great size and surprisingly strong. They are very pretty too. It makes me WANT to use them! And since they are already in my purse I have no excuse! I still keep the other ones in my car for the big grocery trips. I don't have quite enough to completely say no to the plastic ones, but I'm getting there.


Fun market bags to help take care of our created Earth??? Works for me!

[Join Kristen over at We Are THAT Family for her Works For Me Wednesdays blog meme.]