It was nothing fancy.
It was purely functional, at best.
But it provided me an early opportunity to experience water conservation at a time when our society was really making the final cut away from "using what you had" and "waste not/want not" into our more recent "throw away and replace with new as our resources are unlimited" frame of thinking/living.
Fortunately for Mother Earth, we are beginning to sit up and take notice that we will not sustain if we continue believing and living this way.
As I begin to take more notice of my own personal responsibility to nurture and protect our environment, I remember that first rain barrel experience.
It was in fact, just a plastic barrel, open on top, positioned underneath a downspout out behind the garage.
There was an old plywood circle cut to size with a concrete block on top to keep unwanted critters and children out.
To access the rain water, my mom would have to move the block and lid and dip her watering can down in to the the cool fresh rain water.
The simplicity of the rain barrel was not lost upon the grandchildren that enjoyed making the trips to the rain barrel with grandma to dip the bucket and then carry it sloshingly back to nurture her memorable gardens.
It all made sense then, and still does today.
Water is not an endless commodity to be disrespected.
With a little forethought and work we can make simple changes around our homes to once again use what we have and be good stewards of our environment, so that fresh clean water is available to sustain all, for many more generations.
By collecting water in rain barrels and using it to water our lawns and gardens, or for general household chores such as washing the car, we can collectively work together to preserve the limited fresh water our planet has remaining.
If we think of natural rainfall as a source of water rather than just a random meteorological event that we hope happens at the right time, we can put strategy in place to store the water at predetermined volumes to be used when water is needed.
Any excess rainfall can always be redirected out to another emerging conservation technique, a rain garden.
Rain barrels today come in many different constructions.
You can find recycled food barrels fitted with spigots and overflow valving, old wooden wine barrels living their second life, newly molded and constructed barrels of many sizes and colors, some with personal design options, and specialty barrels that either do not look like barrels, or can be completely hidden in fences, under decks, or going way back to traditional times, larger cistern type units buried underground.
We have many options available to us today to catch, store, and use rain water, but if we want to be good stewards of our environment, we can not continue to believe that we have the option NOT to do this.
It was purely functional, at best.
But it provided me an early opportunity to experience water conservation at a time when our society was really making the final cut away from "using what you had" and "waste not/want not" into our more recent "throw away and replace with new as our resources are unlimited" frame of thinking/living.
Fortunately for Mother Earth, we are beginning to sit up and take notice that we will not sustain if we continue believing and living this way.
As I begin to take more notice of my own personal responsibility to nurture and protect our environment, I remember that first rain barrel experience.
It was in fact, just a plastic barrel, open on top, positioned underneath a downspout out behind the garage.
There was an old plywood circle cut to size with a concrete block on top to keep unwanted critters and children out.
To access the rain water, my mom would have to move the block and lid and dip her watering can down in to the the cool fresh rain water.
The simplicity of the rain barrel was not lost upon the grandchildren that enjoyed making the trips to the rain barrel with grandma to dip the bucket and then carry it sloshingly back to nurture her memorable gardens.
It all made sense then, and still does today.
Water is not an endless commodity to be disrespected.
With a little forethought and work we can make simple changes around our homes to once again use what we have and be good stewards of our environment, so that fresh clean water is available to sustain all, for many more generations.
By collecting water in rain barrels and using it to water our lawns and gardens, or for general household chores such as washing the car, we can collectively work together to preserve the limited fresh water our planet has remaining.
If we think of natural rainfall as a source of water rather than just a random meteorological event that we hope happens at the right time, we can put strategy in place to store the water at predetermined volumes to be used when water is needed.
Any excess rainfall can always be redirected out to another emerging conservation technique, a rain garden.
Rain barrels today come in many different constructions.
You can find recycled food barrels fitted with spigots and overflow valving, old wooden wine barrels living their second life, newly molded and constructed barrels of many sizes and colors, some with personal design options, and specialty barrels that either do not look like barrels, or can be completely hidden in fences, under decks, or going way back to traditional times, larger cistern type units buried underground.
We have many options available to us today to catch, store, and use rain water, but if we want to be good stewards of our environment, we can not continue to believe that we have the option NOT to do this.
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