Happy Earth Day!!!
I love Earth Day! It’s such a great reminder of all the really easy things we can do throughout the year to help keep our little planet healthy and happy!
Keeping the Earth clean can be a big task but the, like I tell my kids when it’s house-cleaning day, if everyone pitches in, it doesn’t seem like such a big job. And I love encouraging people to find the “jobs” that work with their family and lifestyles.
This year one of my family’s goals was to set up a rain barrel!
I’ll be honest, I really didn’t know the first thing about setting up a rain barrel but I was willing to give it a shot. After all, I loved the idea of being able to use free water!
Why a Rain Barrel?
Why not? First, they are unbelievably easy to create (you’ll see below). If you don’t like the look of a big plastic barrel by your house, you can easily tuck them behind your house or garage out of sight. You can also customize your barrel to give it a more fashionable look (hello, Pinterest). And whether you live on a tenth of an acre or ten acres, there are so many uses for a rain barrel:
• Water source to water animals outside
• Watering your garden
• Watering your container garden (if you don’t have a traditional garden)
• Watering outdoor flowers
• Water source for kids to fill buckets for playing
• Water source for water gun filling
• Rinse off station for dirty little hands and feet
** Be sure to do a little research on the best uses of rain barrel water in your area or test your rain barrel water periodically for use on vegetables or animals.
Making your own Rain Barrel:
To get started, we needed a barrel. We found this 55 gallon food-grade barrel on CraigsList for just $5! Super cheap! You can also check with your local factories to see if they have food-grade barrels they are selling. I’ve also seen rain barrels made from trash cans with lids (you can buy these at various hardware stores) or fliptop trash bins (contact your local waste management or garbage service to see if they have bins they are getting rid of or selling). You can also purchase a variety of rain barrel sizes and colors (even painted ones) from TheRainBarrelDepot.com!
Make sure you give your barrel or trash can a good cleaning.
Next, we received these fabulous Rain Barrel kits from The RainBarrel Depot. Ok, you guys, let’s just pause here for a minute. I know that there are hundreds of “how-tos” online about making your own rain barrel but these kits from The RainBarrel Depot will be the easiest thing you will ever use!
The kits include everything you’ll need to create your rain barrel except for the barrel and drill. My husband was absolutely thrilled that it even came with the three different size hole saws we would need to drill the holes in the downspout and barrel.
The included step by step instructions talk you through every step of the process, starting with prepping your rain barrel site. Which is great because I had no idea I needed the hose from the downspout to the barrel to be level! But they totally explain why and saved me from making a big mistake.
From start to finish, it took us 15 – 20 minutes to set-up our rain barrel and the kids even got to help! I completely attribute the quick and hassle free set-up to the kits from The RainBarrel Depot. They took all the guess work out of creating a quality rain barrel (and the multiple trips to the hardware store)!
Rain Barrel kits from The RainBarrel Depot start at $28.95, which you’ll easily spend (or more) by purchasing all the pieces and parts at the hardware store.
So, with our rain barrel complete, my big question was: How long until the barrel is filled with water? Am I going to have to wait weeks and weeks before we could use it? Nope! After just a few hours of rain the other night, my barrel is full! And my kids have already put the water to use!!! Which totally has me wanting to set up more rain barrels!!!!
If you’re looking for a great Earth Day project this Spring, be sure to consider creating your own rain barrels using The RainBarrel Depot kits. Also, be sure to check out their other rain barrel accessories (including barrels and stands) and their compost bins. I’m kind of in love with their Kitchen Compost Buckets!!!
A SIMPLE GIVEAWAY!
Ok, SIMPLE mamas, how are you being inspired on this Earth Day? If you’ve been inspired to create your own Rain Barrel, enter below for a chance to win 1 of 3 Rain Barrel Kits from The RainBarrel Depot! That’s right!!! We’re giving away 3 kits to help our SIMPLE mamas get started! Simply use the rafflecopter form below to enter.
We are going to repurpose products to make little bird feeders. It is going to be so much fun.
My goal is to become self sufficient in providing my family with fresh produce all summer!
We are planting our very first vegetable garden this year!
We started a new compost bed and plant some new fruit trees.
we have a huge Compost pile(bin) and it has earthworms in it great for our garden..
This year my kids and I got some pinecones and made homemade bird feeders 🙂
I want to make/get a rain barrel and start a compost project.
I have always wanted to set up a rain barrel. We started gardening last year and this year we’ll plant even more, so a rain barrel would be so great to capture water!
I will be making the effort to start a garden and grow more of my own food. I will grow fruits and vegetables organically.
we are planting more shrubs this year
I’m hoping to start a compost bin.
We are in the midst of a few projects. We are making 7 new raised garden beds, planting 5 new blueberry bushes, and clearing out a space to start a small orchard.
I’ve been inspired to plant a vegetable garden.
We are planting on own garden this year.
I would love to make one of these rain barrels with my grandkids
planting trees
We are making our own compost bin to be more green!
I’m inspired to start gardening and growing. I might try composting this year.
We recycle and started a compost bin
WE recycle and are planting our own pole beans and onions this year!
I’m excited to just start to recycle! We are so bad about just throwing away everything!
We are composting this year
Thius year, rather than throw our leaves in the trash, we are using them as mulch.
I am putting in a recycled brick patio!
I’d like to start composting.
I am using compost that I have had in composter for over year in the gardens
We planted 5 new trees this year
We are growing a larger garden this year. We also plan on recycling and reusing items more.
We are planting our first garden this year.
We’re getting our veggie garden planted here in Michigan and hoping we don’t have any more frosts!
We picked up trash on the bike trail near our house.
I would love to compost more and set up a rain barrel!
well, i would love to do a rain barrel! 🙂 my hubby vetoed my buckets that i was putting under the rain spouts because i didn’t empty them every day & they got mosquitoe-y last year. we’re also gardening & i built a composter last year, so we’ll be doing that as well!
We compost, recycle, and just got one rain barrel. Love it and could totally use this for a few more!
We are expanding our garden to provide more of our own food.
My daughter & I have planted all new herbs & seeds in our garden!
We are finishing up a year-long project at our community to recycle plastic shopping bags. It is simply amazing how many bags people throw away.
Thanks for the chance!
We are creating more vegetable garden beds
We were planning on planting our garden this weekend but with all the dang rain we’ve had the past 2 days, I think the ground may be a little TOO wet!
I’m setting up my worm composting bins again!
We’re making another (better) attempt at planting a non-traditional vegetable and herb garden. It will be our 3rd attempt. Last year our yield was a single green bean. Pretty sad. The year before we got a half of a tomato. This year we’ve invested in a used greenhouse, so hopefully that will keep the critters away and net us a decent haul of veggies through the summer and fall. The rain barrel is a great idea to water inside the greenhouse!
We just plants some herbs! Good thing they are in a box because we had t bring it inside last night. Brrr!
We are making a compost bin since we moved to the country!
We picked up garbage in a park and planted a tree.
We are hoping to plant a large garden in the backyard of our new home! Planting some new trees is also on our list. 🙂 On another note, I would love to win this giveaway. Believe it or not, it’s actually currently illegal in my state to collect rain in a barrel, but there is legislation to get rid of that law. Fingers crossed because I think it’s ridiculous!
My kids (9 & 3) do so much outside during the warm Maine months! We like to recycle things to make new. We found a bunch of old items last year to make a fairy garden for my oldest. This year we are doing a dinosaur garden for my youngest! My daughter found a perfect warped bowl to use as a mountain! Can’t wait to get started!