Raindrops are fallin' on my head

Yesterday afternoon was very hot.  Russ and I had a little work to do on the doghouse that we had been putting off for a while.  When we completed that job, we started some yard work.  The rains caused the grass in the yard to grow quickly, so Russ was mowing and I was weed-eating.  We had just finished we we heard a rumbling in the east.

Before long a nice, soothing rain began to fall.  I love the way a rain cools things off and cleans everything up, settling the dust, refreshing plant and animal and human alike.  I also like the way it smells after a rain.  I've learned that this "after the rain" smell is caused by bacteria in the soil.  When the ground dries, the bacteria produces spores.  When the force of the rain hits the soil, it pushes these spores into the moist air and into our noses where we smell this good, "earthy" smell that we equate with rain.



We try to capture rainwater and use it to water the crops and also keep the water troughs full. After an inch rain, we can sequester about 400 gallons of rainwater in buckets I have positioned to catch the rainwater under the eaves (eavesdropping!) and along the drip line.  For aesthetic purposes, I only do this in the backyard and out of sight.  If you live in a neighborhood, this practice might put you at odds with the Home Owner's Association.



30 gallons of rainwater



Just like a funnel, dropping the rain into our buckets.



This one will catch about 50 gallons in no time



These molasses tubs have a 30 gallon capacity and make great rain collection containers 

 Now ideally what I'd like to do from this point is to have a cistern mounted about 10 feet up in the air and have a low pressure water pump to pump all the water from the buckets into the cistern.  Then I'd use gravity to water the cows and the garden.  Since I don't have this, we do the next best thing - we carry it.  Using two 5 gallon buckets, Russ dips out the rainwater:

He carries it toward the cattle trough: (I have heard that some people have gym memberships and pay for this sort of thing, can you believe?)

And he pours it over the fence and into their troughs:

We'll do this until the rainwater is depleted and then we'll get all uptown and fancy and use a water hose.  The cows tell us they like rainwater better as their sensitive palates can detect chlorine in the tap water.