Good Golly, It's Molly

I have a confession to make.  For at least two years I’ve been making fun of a good friend of mine who has a big rain barrel in his backyard.  I always wonder what he does with the water he’s collected.  Does he drink it?  I also wondered how much rain would have to fall in order to make his conservation effort worth the price and hassle of the big ol’ barrel!

I changed my mind when Melinda Meyers, the Plant Doctor, made a house call to The Morning Blend.  She’s a big fan of the rain barrel and she gave us lots of reasons — good reasons — to have one.  What surprised me the most was that a single, modest rainfall can really add up inside one of these barrels.   As one environmentalist put it, “Rain barrels help moderate both feast and famine”.  The idea is that the collection of water inside a barrel slows runoff when it storms and it eases the demand we all place on city water during dry spells.  I think that sounds good and right now I’m really into doing even small things that might help our environment.

Who knows?  Maybe my neighbors will soon notice a big barrel in my backyard, too.