Join us on Earth Day 2012!

Join us April 21st 11am- 3pm for Earth Day 2012! We will be at Peck Farm Park in Geneva, IL. Let us help you grow your own food! Come see our raised bed gardens! Grow your own mushrooms! and More!

Rain Barrels on Parade! "The PURE Gardener"

Artist Esther Roby - and a good friend of mine- painted this beautiful rain barrel for The PURE Gardener. Our shop is happily nestled in the tree branches. The fairy is Emily, my daughter. The detail is amazing! There are tea cups, butterflies, lady bugs ( for good luck ) and even a strawberry cake. When Esther and Alain (her husband) brought it to our shop, today, it was covered with a blanket. When Alain removed it, we were speechless. It is absolutely beautiful. I am ready to move in :-) 

Adrian Roby- Esther's son- is working inside The PURE Gardener

She modeled this beautiful fairy after my daughter, Emily.

"Emily"

The sun is peaking through the forest trees catching this fairy by surprise.

The Beauty of Rain

As I sit here in my studio, I listen to the rain outside gently washing away the long, long Winter. I haven't yet closed the valves of my rain barrels so the water is pooling and echoing before it runs out the spouts Although the day is gloomy, there is something beautiful about the rain. It is a sign of things to come. I know that my flower bulbs are getting ready to put on a show. My garlic will soon be showing signs of new growth. And, it won't be long before I have green onions a plenty. Spring will soon be here. The long winter sleep will come to an end. That is the beauty of rain.

More Rain Barrels

And then there was 5

As of today, Craig and I have 5 rain barrels hooked up to our house. All are full so therefore, we have +/- 390 gallons of water on hand. I think that we are going to add a 6th to the house and 2 to the garage. The house will then be able to harvest +/- 455 gallons of water at a time and the garage 110 gallons at a time (the garage rain barrels are closer to 55 gallons each, not 65). Total 565 gallons of FREE RAIN WATER per harvest.


YOUR PLANTS WILL THRIVE ON RAIN WATER!

Rain water is better than tap water for your garden.

Since the rain water is usually collected from the roofs of houses, it picks up very little contamination when it falls. You’ll of course want to keep your roof clean of debris and potential contaminants to maximize purity. The material your roof is made of is also important in how much contamination the water will carry (see Safe Rainwater Harvesting Catchments). The chemicals and hard water from many of our municipal water systems can produce an imbalance in the soil of your garden. Chemical fertilizers, fungicides, pesticides, and drought can also disrupt the balance and harmony of the soil. This imbalance causes trees and plants to weaken and makes them more susceptible to disease.

Trees and plants have an efficient immune system that allows them to fend off diseases and other invaders as long as they have a healthy soil environment and aren't stressed by other factors such as drought. Trees and plants rely on fungus, bacteria, and nematodes to help them absorb the minerals and nutrients they need. Trees and plants depend on a fungal root system called mycorrhizae. Mycorrhizae attaches itself to tree and plant root hairs and extends the root hair system.

Mycorrhizae uses some of the plant's energy, but provides the plant with minerals it can't otherwise absorb. In healthy soil, the mycorrhizae of one tree connects with mycorrhizae of other similar trees. When you look at your garden, visualize it as a vast interconnected community of trees, plants and tiny critters that live in the soil, all interacting and affecting each other. Thus, the type of water you use in your garden will affect the health of this intricate community.

And speaking of community, one of the best reasons to start harvesting rainwater with rain barrels is that if you teach and encourage others to do the same, you will help to spread the culture of rainwater collection and in turn help your larger community and the environment. It is always important to remember that every living thing on the planet needs water to survive so we as humans must expand our idea of community to the plants and animals that surround us.

FRESH WATER IS A LIMITED RESOURCE!

To illustrate how important and how limited a resource freshwater is in our world, consider the following. More than 70 percent of the Earth's surface is covered by water, but only 2.5% of this supply is considered fresh water. The rest is found in the form of salt water in the oceans. Of the fresh water that exists, most is locked up in glaciers and ice caps. Water can also be found in the form of clouds and humidity in the soil. That leaves us 3/10 of 1 percent found in the form of lakes, rivers and streams. Unfortunately, much of this small amount of freshwater is in danger of drying up through desertification or becoming so contaminated that it cannot be used for human consumption. Changing our habits of water use can help to abate this growing problem. For more information on world water consumption, you can review this government website.

Information quoted from http://www.rainbarrelguide.com/

Like Potato Chips, One Can Never be Enough!

Our first rain barrel is full! We added the second rain barrel last night and I have not checked yet to see how full it is. Our plan was to put one at each down spout, but now that I know, firsthand, how a little rain goes a long way, I am thinking that one may not be enough. Once summer is in full swing and water restrictions begin, watering only on even or odd days, my own stock pile of rain will be quite handy. And the flowers and vegetables will love the rain. At this point, assuming that both rain barrels are full- we have @ 125 gallons of rain in stock. I have already watered plants with the first harvest using @ 30 gallons so in all we have harvested @ 155 gallons of free rain. And we have only just begun.

Mosquito Dunks

Even though most rain barrels have screens over the top to prevent mosquitoes from laying eggs in them, they don't prevent mosquito eggs from entering through the screen from your gutters. We quit carrying mosquito dunks because we don't currently sell pond supplies and that is what they are normally used for. However, I ordered some today and should have them at the shop within a week. Mosquito Dunks active ingredient, Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies israaelenses called BTI kills mosquito and black fly larvae for 30 days or more. While floating they slowly release a long term biological mosquito larvacide killing the larvae before they hatch into adults. Will not effect fish, plants, people or wildlife. Alternative wetting and drying will not reduce it's effectiveness. Use one dunk per 100 sqft of water surface. It is safe and environmentally sound because it is highly selective, killing mosquitoes and black flies. Bti contains no poisonous chemicals and is completely harmless to other living things! When Bti is eaten by the mosquito larvae, it damages the gut cells, eventually entering the body cavity. Once this happens, the larvae die.

Rain Barrels

I am so excited that Craig and I got our first rain barrel in last night just in time for the rain. I was surprised to see how fast it was to install. This is one of the largest rain barrels around. We are going to start with 5 rain barrels- 1 for each down spout. However, there was only a smattering of rain last night and when I checked this morning, it was 1/2 full! My advice to everyone considering a rain barrel is to get the largest one that you can find and also get one with a wide overflow ( see the hose on the left side of the barrel). 1 inch of rain can give 600 gallons of water off of an average roof size! If we had had a substantial rainfall, the regular overflow would not have been able to handle the runoff once the barrel was full and it would have overflowed out the top of the barrel. Having said that, if I were to connect several rain barrels, then only the one on the end of the line would require a large overflow. We have directed the overflow hose away from our house and to our flower garden. Somehow I feel that my rain barrels are going to multiply once I see how much rain I can harvest! Not only does it save $$$, & the environment but my garden will do much better with rain water than tap water coming from a garden hose. I will keep posting on my rain barrel experience!