Bucket Brigade

So how did you spend your SuperBowl Sunday?  We spent it moving rain around.  That's right, we had our first decent rainfall in a year today, which meant the rain gutters and downspouts were filled with the wet stuff. So rather than let it go to waste, we decided to collect it and use it to wash out our raised beds.

Our ground needs regular rainwater because the minerality of our well water is so high.  There are lots of salts, calcium and other elements that can build up in soil and lower crop yields.  So, this afternoon, we decided to capture whatever additional rainwater we could (other than what was already falling naturally) and pour it on our raised beds, to cleanse the soil of  mineral build-up.

It was cold, and it was wet, but we moved a few hundred gallons of water to the places that needed it most, via buckets placed under the downspouts.  Really, it's amazing how much rain your roof can collect.  Water cisterns or just large rainwater collection barrels are now being considered.

Other people may have been planted firmly in front of the television, with beer, chips, salsa and hot wings to keep them happy.  But I wouldn't trade places with them.  Trust me, when you've been almost a year without rain, you don't mind being out in it, soaked to the skin, one little bit. Bring it on.