Let it rain

Our rain barrel system has been working out very well for us so far. We’ve got 8 barrels, 55 gallons each. They’re all hooked together to collect the water off of one half of our shed. The other half goes into the rain garden (more about that further down). Considering the area of the roof we’re collecting from is only about 60 square feet, we’ve gotten a huge benefit out of it - these barrels are our only source of water so far. They won’t be enough once the summer comes full force, but they will be a great help to us in reducing our usage and impact. Putting in a system like this or with one big cistern has great potential for Whidbey - if we can get this much from our little shed roof, just think how much water you could collect off of one side of your house! You can find a simple formula for estimating how much water you could collect from your house at Rainbarrelguides.com.  For the 64 square foot area these rain barrels collect from, we expect to get about 600 gallons of water a year.

These food-grade barrels used to hold olives, now they hold our garden’s water. All eight are connected along the bottom and routed to one common spigot.

The barrels are up on cinder blocks to give us some gravity help in getting the water out. The flow isn’t fast, but it’s enough for us.

Tags: collection, community garden, Langley Middle School, LMS, rain barrel, rainwater