Rain Barrel

Yesterday was so beautiful! It really felt like spring might just be here for good. So to take advantage of the 65 degree weather, I took Pancake for a 3 mile run around Duke's golf course (my favorite place to run). Unfortunately, my knee started acting up, and it turned into more of a walk. I really thought I was out of the woods since I have not felt any pain for over a month, but it seems as if this flag football injury may be the death of my running career.

After an invigorating morning, Pancake and I headed to Durham's Whole Foods to check out the rain barrels. I've had my eye on them for over a month now - especially because Durham is in a severe drought, it's almost planting season, and since Nathan was replacing the tree he got for my birthday last year that died (see picture- dead tree on left and the new tree on the right). When we pulled in the parking lot we were greeted by loud summer invoking music and 3 tents set up in front of the store displaying local recycling options. A Scrap Exchange tent (my favorite place to get scrap fabric), a paper shredder company which recycles their shreds, and a vermicomposting tent. The vermicomposting box with worms was $65, such a complete rip-off! I am going to a vermicomposting workshop at Frog Pond Farm in March and they are only charging $10 for the workshop (pays to be a student) and $20 for the vermicomposting box and the worms! I've been wanting one ever since I started reading the blog 365 days of Trash. The rain barrels were also a rip-off... $100! My friend Michelle bought one in December, and they sold them for $80 then. So, we can infer that they are at least making a profit of $20 on each rain barrel - and probably a lot more! Whole Foods is making money off Durham's water crisis. So, after talking to my mom I left empty handed with the idea of making my own rain barrel.

My next stop- Home Depot where I bought a $20.00 35 gallon trash can, $7.49 roof louver (a piece of plastic that covers the roof openings to allow air to escape the attic - I used it to allow rain to get into my bucket), 2 $3.96 spigots (top one is used to make sure the bucket does not overflow), and 2 $3.38 electrical conduit hubs. And here's what we have for <$45: