This morning I was looking on Craigslist, of all places, for cheap 55-gallon drums to use in addition to the three I already had been using in my rain catchment system. Found them for $15 each (not bad). They did have soap residue in them, but it washed out very easily. (The people we got them from were making soap in them :))
The three barrels were doing pretty well but I remembered that although we are at the beginning of our rainy season here in Florida, we will inevitably return to the dry season toward the end of the year.
Now, being on a shallow well with only 1/2 horse pump, and knowing that a few of my neighbors' wells have already started sucking up air and not water (yikes), this was imperative for me to do. (I won't go down without a fight). Also consider that it costs $6,000 to have a deep well dug and everything that goes into that. Not possible right now, let's just say. We are extremely conservative with our water here. I only shower every other day, and no more than 2 minutes at a time. I turn the water off after I get wet, lather myself, then rinse. I also collect that grey water to use on my crops.
The next 15 days show at least a good chance of rain almost everyday, so I don't think our well will go dry (cross your fingers). We need a good 3-5 inches in the next two weeks to have that water reach our wells. (My estimation).
Anyway, we now have a total of 275 gallons of capacity to use on the crops, 110 more than the 165 we had before this morning.
Update: I've placed a one-ounce silver coin in each barrel at the recommendation of @sirknight! I've used five older Perth Mint Kangaroos in his Australian honor! ha!
Thanks for stopping by, hope things are growing on (ha) for all of you out there!
