Category Archives: Recycle and Sustain

A Simple Step Toward Water Conservation

rain barrels

The internet is my favorite tool, but hubby cringes every time I mention that I have a new idea I want to try.

He does get extra points, because all groaning aside, he has been a mostly active and supportive participant in my schemes.

The largest scheme to date is the rain barrel system.

I’d seen a few samples and the obsession began:  I searched online, reading how-to articles and watching how-to videos; and then shopped for weeks.

I decided to try the most affordable option:  I found numerous barrels for $15 each on Craigslist, and less than an hour away.

I arranged to purchase seven of them, and hubby willingly went along with me to meet the man we purchased from and load the barrels into the truck.

These barrels are food grade, 55 gallon, and have a screw top lid. As a bonus, some of the barrels also have a secondary insert under the lid.

Water barrel materials: clamps, threaded connector, tape and adhesive, hose bib nut, hose bib

I shopped at Home Depot for the necessary parts: hose bibs and nuts, overflow connectors, clamps, hose, and screen.  The hardest part was finding appropriate overflow tubing/hose that would fit the large overflow connectors I had purchased.

I’m thankful for helpful employees!

I explained the basic design to Hubby and he set upon making realistic barrels from the picture in my head.

Score!

Hubby got caught up in the design, having explained my crazy scheme to co-workers who were looking for updates on the build.  He was as excited as I!

He set up concrete block bases, because I wanted to be able to set a bucket under the hose bib to fill with water. The higher the base for the barrel, the better gravity flow/water pressure.

Each barrel also requires air flow and overflow, in order to prevent vacuum when using the hose bib and to allow water to escape when the barrel gets full.

Additionally, the barrels that sit directly under the downspout require an opening for the rushing water, and a screen to filter the debris and keep out mosquitos.

Each opening also requires screen to keep out mosquitos.

Overflow barrels do not need the barrel top alteration.  This saves on screen as well.

Our results were mostly right on target. Even a small rain will quickly fill a barrel. Large rains were planned for, by chaining three barrels together for each downspout.

Score!

The season turned out to be incredibly hot and dry last year, so having an additional 330 gallons of mineral rich rainwater available for the garden each time it rained was a practical necessity.

Are you using any water conservation techniques?

Later!

Dreamin’ Girl

Stretching My Wings

It’s finally here… the end of the week.

I may have had you looking around for your calendar, or doing a mental check of which day it really is – yes, it’s Thursday.  Thursday signals to me that I need to wrap up my chores for the week.  If there are things that I need to get done, they’d best be on the list for today so that tomorrow is not overwhelmed with them.  I shutdown on Friday evening, so after work on Friday, there is not much time left for “to do” tasks.

This week end preparation caused me to get focused on going “live” with the blog.  You can now link to me on Pinterest or Facebook (see the right sidebar), and I’m preparing for a huge project:  kitchen organization and facelift.  I’m also preparing to start the early garden seedlings.  There’s a lot to do, and a lot to share.  I guess it’s a perfect time to stretch my wings.  :)

Here’s a handy tip for the end of the week:

Make your own Reed Diffuser

Materials:

    • Decorative small mouthed glass jar (I prefer the lovely handcrafted Patron jar, but it meant I had to have a lot of margaritas!)
    • Bamboo reeds (skewer sticks also work well for this)
    • Diffuser base oil (I ordered mine from essentialoil.com — and this simply a personal recommendation)
    • Essential oil for fragrance – choose your favorite (also purchased from essentialoil.com, but there are other options available)
    • Small funnel (you’ll want this funnel reserved for this use only)
    • Optional:  5% – 10% Perfumer’s alcohol (added to assist wicking properties)
Using the funnel (carefully, and preferably over the sink), pour the essential fragrance oil into the jar, filling to the 1/4 or 1/3  mark of the jar.

Still using the funnel, add the essential oil to fill the jar, leaving one inch of  head space.

Add the bamboo reeds and swirl them to mix the oils.

If you find that the oil is not wicking well, you may add perfumer’s alcohol, at no more than 1/4 ratio, to thin the base.

easy DIY reed diffuser from patron bottle

 

larger version of the diy reed diffuser

 

multiple bottles for reed diffusers

There you have it!  Easy peasy!  See you next week!

Dreamin’ Girl

Cold Frame – Part 2

brick art

We’re back!  I’ll try to stay on task.  I’m ready to wrap up this job.  In case you’ve missed the first two posts, here they are:

Cold Frame Preface

Cold Frame Part I

Where were we – oh, yes, not all bricks are equal.

Once I find the pattern of brick sizes I’ll need, I loose stack the bricks, slightly alternating them to give a measure of stability.  It just happened that the fit worked out to slide one brick in upright at the end of the row. Whew! Close call. I didn’t even think of the fit between corner blocks.

I did pound the bricks with – you guessed it – a brick, to get them fairly level. Once the back wall is done it’s time to measure the width. The front corner areas are measured and dug. Now, what will best fit here?

We have just a few of the double brick pavers, so I start with them – but I’ll need bricks stacked sideways to create the width I have determined. (Note: after reviewing the photos, I’ll be returning to the project to exchange the pavers and sideways bricks for better stability.)

Time for the test – I bring out the door and lay it on the U shape I’ve built. It’s not going to pass an inspection for perfection, but it’s going to work, practically so.

I measure at intervals and dig in the shovel to mark the distance, then dig out a line for my front wall.

Lay the bricks for the front row.  Hmmm… it looks like the center is sagging a bit.  If I were striving for perfection, the back row would be restacked (since I didn’t catch the sag until I reviewed these pictures) – but part of being practical is determining to allow for imperfections.  We’re going to call this design air flow.  :)

Dig out the remaining dirt to set flush with the first layer of bricks on the front wall. Some will go to the compost pile, and some is used to fill the concrete block corners.

Stack the bricks, alternating with a few half bricks, to form a stable front wall.  Isn’t that half brick a beauty?

I noticed the door handle, which protrudes on both side (as door handles do, hehe), so I left a gap in the center of the top row of bricks.

That gap is larger than I need, perhaps there’s a brick that would fill in well here?

Ah, just right! Good thing all bricks are not equal. :)

Now, to clean up my mess. There’s dirt to dump, and leaves to add to the compost.

Ah, here’s a project for another day – how many cold frames can one person have? Actually, I have to confess, I’m thinking about setting up a hot frame on the north, shady side of the house, to start fall crops.

Most projects are also a treasure hunt – here are the goodies from this project.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?  Or, practically speaking, I kept these items out of the compost pile!

Tools and gloves back in their places… in my practical garage gardening cabinet.  It’s a found item, free, with a great porcelain covered metal top that cleans up easily.  My practical approach allows the garage items to look like they belong in the garage:  with grunge appeal, and for practical use (we get dirty here).  No need to waste time prettying it up unless I have way too much time on my hands. 

And the finished product - pending slight rework.  (Start Rocky song now, before my muscles catch onto the pain that’s to come)!

You’ll note that I placed that fifth concrete block in front of the frame.  With the loose stack brick method, I thought it would be practical for an added measure of support.  We’ll see how that works…

Also, the door has been easy to lift and set behind the back wall of the frame, so there was no need for hinges, or a tie back method, or a lid prop.  I’ll test it for functionality soon and make a revision post if the need arises.

Later!

Dreamin’ Girl