when it rains, it's sure to pour

thank goodness for the rain. granted, it's not so much fun to walk through in the middle of summer, but you have to admit, it's pretty darn refreshing. it clears the air, feeds the plants, and most importantly, it fills our rain barrels. (well, alright, maybe not "most importantly.")

a couple months back, we decided to invest in a pair of 55-gallon rain barrels. i'd done some research online, and the whole process seemed easy enough. you cut short your downspout, place a connector in, and guide it to rest on the rain barrel. the rain hits your roof, goes through the downspout and into the rain barrel, creating a storage place for rainwater. we bought our barrels through seattle rain barrels - essentially a guy living in madrona converting old olive barrels from greece into rain water barrels. we picked up our barrels and had a good chat with tom, an eclectic guy whom i'm sure we'll see again, as we've thought about purchasing more barrels for a couple other downspouts.

since we bought these red beauties, it's rained maybe 2 or 3 times. the first time was a thunderstorm. it took about 5 minutes for the 2 barrels to fill completely. we've gotten so much use out of that rainfall that we have barely needed to tap into the city line to water the garden. it's been great!

but then we ran into several weeks of 80 degree weather...until now, that is. yesterday's rain replenished the barrels a good amount. it's funny how you think of rain in a different light. we'd normally be praying for sunshine, but in the context of gardening, you see rain as a necessity; a nice rest from nightly watering; and a source of life.