Rain barrels collect, well YEAH, rain! Although we have had no scarcity of excessive rain here in Upstate New York for the past ten years or so, I do not like all the rain that falls from my roof and into the ground by my home’s foundation. I had installed a French drain/dry well kind of contraption (the kids dug a trench 4 feet deep by 24 feet long!), and that has helped immensely. But there’s still a lot of water coming down from that roof, and my home cannot support gutters until we re-do the siding.

A rain barrel is predominantly for rain harvesting. It’s great for areas that have little rainfall. The rain barrel has a small spigot at the bottom, so you can hook up your garden hose and utilize the water elsewhere in the garden (say, for watering plants or filling the watering can). It is a TERRIFIC way to conserve water from your municipal water supply or well. Most rain barrels have a slot or hole at the top of them, to receive water from your gutter system and downspout. Me, I’d just place the rain water barrel under one of my roof eaves, where the rain comes shooting down the valley and into my stone foundation.

Anyway, you can find rain water barrels online in a variety of styles and sizes. Some are very elegant! It’s a good idea to conserve water– good for your wallet, good for your neighborhood.

Below: Filling with rocks.

We elimated our “rock pile” with this project. Our rock pile was a collection of various rocks, bricks, broken asphalt, and broken cinder blocks, all piled around a crummy Mountain Ash tree. The pile was begun by previous owners before we moved here, and we just continued the tradition. It was quite a large pile. The yard looks so much better without it now.

Below: Filling with dirt.
God made dirt, dirt don’t hurt.
Replacing the packed down mounds of dirt to the trench was the hardest part of the job.

It’s done! Only needs a cleaning up (and probably a little more dirt around the barrel).

The kids are beaming. They did a really great job.

Last week, I bought a very large plastic garbage barrel (I could not find a regular rain barrel) and drilled a 4-inch hole in the bottom side.

The kids laid about a foot’s depth of rocks at the bottom of our hole. We set the barrel in and they buried it.

The youngest likes to test the trench.

The kids spent an afternoon filling the barrel with small “river” rocks (smooth stones about the size of their fists). We have quite a collection of rocks on hand, in our “rock pile.” They finished burying the barrel. We are leaving a foot of space at the top for when we fill it with gravel.

Today, we tested out all the pipes and fitted them together. First, we made sure the pipes were sloping the adequate amount.

We had to cement a total of three pipes together (one short one was solid and the other two are perforated). We did have to use an elbow joint to accomodate for the bend in the trench. After this, we did the arduous task of wrapping landscaping fabric around the perforated pipes, to prevent loose dirt from clogging the perforations. The fabric tore easily so we had to be very careful. I do wonder how long this fabric will endure under all this soil.

In the trench at the end of the final pipe, there is a gap of about a foot. The kids packed large stones in this gap and all around the end of the pipe, to help keep the pipe in place. The ground is due to shift, but hopefully the rocks will keep the pipe from shifting too much.

My eldest was foreman of the rocks until a very large one fell into the hole and smashed her thumb. I was concerned it was broken, but it looks like it is just swollen and has a big cut. Thank God it wasn’t anything more serious. Poor girl, she was in agony, so we ended our work session for the day and I went into first aid mode. She is much improved after a cold pack– and is excused from her night to wash dishes, aw!!!

All that is left is to surround the pipes with more river rocks, then cover the entire thing with soil! The kids have done a “smashing” job so far!

We cannot install gutters beacuse the fascia (this is the original 1855 fascia) is angled, and the boards are too soft from age now, anyway. The only thing we can do (short of installing new fascia and siding, which is impossible right now) is direct the water. We are making a drywell. But it is an inverted drywell system.

We are digging a 5′ x 3′ hole where the water from the roof falls. Then we will dig a narrow, deep trench from the hole out to the open yard. Once everything is dug, we will insert a large rain barrel with a 4-inch hole in its side toward the bottom. A long perforated pvc pipe will be inserted into this hole and laid into the trench we dug. We will then fill the rain barrel up with the tons of rocks we have around the yard and top these layers off with a few inches of gravel. The trench will be filled in with gravel and dirt.

My theory is that the rain barrel will fill up with roof runoff water. The pvc pipe will direct and disperse the water out into the yard, where the soil will absorb it. Thus, we will direct most of the roof runoff water from this inside corner and away from the foundation.

I looked up drywells online, and found this cool video at ThisOldHouse.com. The only thing is, the homeowner in the video has gutters and is dispersing his water via pipes to a drywell. I am doing it inversely, by collecting water in the barrel first and dispersing it via pipes.

Well, what does all this detailed explaning have to do with buried treasure?

My son found an old 1900 Indian Head penny while digging. It is in very poor shape, but we can read the date and see the Indian head. It is a very exciting find for a youngster.

This is what an Indian Head penny looks like in good condition. My son’s is very worn and discolored.

Discovering treasure is also very helpful for this parent who needs to find ways to constantly motivate her budding PhDs to keep digging. Heh.