What’s in the ground:

If any of your stalky plants were affected by the storm last week, I want to stop you from pulling them out. If you did already, then know for next time that even if a plant is knocked over, even if the root is exposed, you can still try to remound it at the base. You’d be surprised how fast they’ll start reaching for the sun. Our corn was totally knocked down and now it is right back where it was just from reforming the mounds.

What’s going on in sustainability:

This past week I embarked on the first step towards getting water to the Walnut Hill Community farm. It’s amazing how great the produce has looked, and I’m happy to say that it has already begun to generate a small amount of money for our cooperative growers. Not as much as we like, but then again a fifty foot tree was uprooted in Clark Park and came crashing down four feet from their table during their last market. Hopefully this week they’ll have more luck. But as with all things, they could use a little help. So if you happen to be near the Clark Park Farmer’s market on Thursday, please stop by and say hi.

But back to the water. So as I wrote a few weeks ago, that great accountant firm Deloitte came by and built a shed for us. So I took a look at the roof, with 80 sq. feet of surface area, and I thought to myself, we could fill a few rain barrels off of this thing. It’s funny because when the plan began to formulate in my head, it seemed like a daunting task, but as the day went on, it was pretty easy.

We already had two retrofitted rain barrels, which only needed stands. My work was cut in half as I walked back to the Enterprise Center to get a circular saw to cut the wood I gathered for a stand, and  I trash picked a small table, sturdy enough to hold the barrel. I then built a very basic table top, we dug the legs into the ground off the back of the shed, and we placed the barrels on top.

Next, we attached the gutter. The only thing we had to work out was getting a drill bit with a sleeve. A sleeve is just a piece of the drill extension that extends past the bit, so the head of the screw sits in it. It’s difficult enough to get through metal without the awkward angle and small screws. When we positioned the gutter, we put it at a very slow decline and let a bit of the end go past the back of the shed. We sacrificed some surface area, but we did this for a good reason.  The mouths of the barrels are a few feet from the shed, so rather than trying to run a downspout at a weird angle, the water can cascade out of the back and flood into the barrel. Our openings are wide enough and I hope that the cascade will filter some of the impurities out.

In a perfect system, you should try to catch the first quarter inch of water. You can do this by attaching a pvc pipe or hose from the gutter right before the spout. Just cut a hole on the gutter and seal the pipe or hose to it. By attaching an end to the hose or pipe, the water will fill up and then the rest will flow over top of it out of the spout. The reason for doing this is to catch the first run off of loose gravel from the roof, or any bacteria that may have collected on the shingles, bacteria you don’t want in your barrel. We’ve not yet done this. But since we have a new roof and the gravel is not an issue, I just wanted to get the gutters up. Now all we need is some rain.

Here’s hoping for it. Until next week, this is the note from the Urban Homestead.