If you have a garden or alot of plants then you know that you can use quite a bit of water keeping everything green, especially when there are days or weeks between rain showers. I have noticed rain barrels being sold at Whole Foods for $99 and thought the construction looked simple enough to do on my own and possibly at far less a price. So I undertook the task of doing just that. I picked up an empty barrel at a local farm store that once contained olives. It even had one olive left inside when I got it, I didn’t eat it as tempting as it was. Make sure you find a food grade barrel for this project, you don’t want unknown chemicals spread onto your garden or plants. All of the parts needed I either had lying around or picked up at the local Home Depot.

• (1) 3/4″ Male Hose Bibb (I used a no kink bibb)
• (2) 3/4″ PVC Female Adapter
• (1) 3/4″ tapped Male Hose to Male adapter
• (2) 1″ Galvanized or Brass Washers
• (4) #18 O-rings (1″)
• Teflon Tape
• 1″ Hole Drill Bit
• (1) Brass Hose Cap
• 18″x18″ Square Metal Screen
• (8) Aluminum Self-starting Screws

3/4″ Male No-Kink Hose Bibb

  3/4″ Tapped Male Hose to Male Adapter

#18 O-Ring (1″)

Teflon Tape

3/4″ PVC Female Adapter

 1″ Hole Drill Bit

First, clean the barrel inside and out. I did not use any detergent, only a few heavy rinses of water for the inside.  Next, drill two holes using the 1″ hole drill bit.  The first of the two should be about 3-4 inches from the bottom of the barrel on a flat surface above the curve of the barrel.  The second will be near the top of the barrel and will be used as an overflow valve.  After drilling both holes wrap the end of the 3/4″ hose bibb in teflon tape, a strip about 4 inches long should suffice, then place, in order, a 1″ washer and one of the o-rings onto the bibb and thread it into the bottom hole on your barrel.  Now, you may need a second person to help.  You will need to reach into the barrel and place a second o-ring onto the bibb and screw the 3/4″ inch PVC female adapter onto the bibb.  You will need someone to hold the bibb from the outside while you tighten the PVC adapter from the inside.   Once the bibb has been installed move to the top of the barrel.  Take the 3/4″ male hose adapter and place a strip of teflon tape around the threads not used for the hose, the ones closer together.  Next, place a 1″ washer and a o-ring onto the adapter and thread it into the top hole.  Place an o-ring and the second 3/4″ PVC female adapter on the hose adapter inside the barrel and tighten.

Bottom bibb assembly attached

Bottom bibb assembly showing o-ring behind washer

Female PVC adapter attached to bottom bibb assembly inside barrel

Male Hose to Male adapter assembly at top of barrel (overflow)

 View of overflow assembly showing o ring

 Female PVC adapter attached to male adapter assembly (overflow)

The lid of your barrel my be different from the one I have. The barrel I used had a two-piece lid with a cover and a ring to tighten the lid on, similar to a canning jar. In order to keep debris and mosquitoes out of the barrel you will need to attach a screen to the lid.  I did this by cutting a 8″ diameter hole in the lid and attaching a piece of metal screen underneath.  I used the plastic circle I cut from the lid and cut that into four 1″ wide strips.   Using a square piece of screen wrap each of the corners around a strip and attach to the lid using aluminum screws.

Screen attached to lid - bottom view

Screen attached to lid- Top view

Your rain barrel is now complete.  You will need a place to put your barrel so it can catch run-off from your gutter downspout.   A platform which is level is very important as a full barrel weighs about 400 pounds and would be very dangerous to people or animals who may be around if it were to topple over.   Also, you will need to place the barrel at a height which is higher than to place you want to water using a hose to create sufficient waterflow.

Platform built using concrete blocks

Once you are ready to setup the rain barrel cut the gutter downspout at a place higher than the top of the barrel and use a plastic downspout hose to redirect the water to the top of your rain barrel.  You may want to cut a section of the downspout out and leave the bottom portion of the downspout in place.  Doing so allows you to fill the gap in the downspout wiht a piece of tubing so when your rain barrel is not being used, such as during the winter, you can once again have use of the downspout.

Downspout Tubing

Your rain barrel will fill quickly during a downpour and the top overflow spout will be handy if connected to a hose into a spare bucket or another rain barrel.

Completed Rain Barrel

The total cost of this project was just under $25,  a considerable savings from the $99.99 Whole Foods charges for a rain barrel which does not include your platform or downspout tubing.   You can decorate the outside however you see fit.  Paint it to match your home exterior or let the kids have fun with the paint, you can even drape plants over the top and sides as I will be doing soon.  Also, this is a very simple project that only takes an hour at most to complete and will save you money.

In the time that has passed since the last update here we’ve been cooking alot. I owe a recipe for cornbread to Lesley. That will have its own post and I have been promising it to her for some time. The garden is yielding goodies, zucchini and okra so far with potatoes and cucumbers coming along. I have been frying what little okra we have had to this point. Boiled okra never did it for me, kind of like slurping and chewing snot. If you do grow okra then you probably know not to let the pods get very large, no larger that 3-4 inches and not too big. When they get too long they get tough and almost inedible. I use a mixture of vegan mayonnaise and soymilk to dip the pieces then dredge them in a corn meal/flour/spice mixture and fry them in a iron skillet until the coating is lightly crisp. I have done the same with zucchini but also sauteed it with olive oil and some fresh basil and oregano from our herb garden and served over spaghetti.

I’m not the greatest baker of sweets. I leave that to Elizabeth and she’s great at it. She recently got “My Sweet Vegan” and has baked a few things from it. The book includes nice pictures of each item but of what has been baked it is easy to see some recipes were not tested very well. Even reading some of the recipes makes you think a bit about what the author was thinking when she included the ingredients she did. Overall it is an OK book but by far not in the same class as “Veganomicon” or “Joy Of Vegan Baking”.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie with Soy Whipped Cream

Cocoa Crumble

Cocoa Crumble

We went to Atlanta last week for a short two-day trip. Nothing really notable about the trip, the usual eats (Veggieland, Sweet Tomatoes and Eats.) as well as lunch one day from the food bar at Whole Foods. The Whole Foods on Ponce in Atlanta has so much more in the vegan category on its bar compared to both Whole Foods (Wild Oats) in Nashville. There was Barbecued tofu, Teriyaki Tofu, Tofu Cacciatore, Jerk Tempeh, Eggplant and Tempeh Casserole and Coconut Curry Tofu to choose from as well as the veggies. All I ever see on the food bars in the local Whole Foods is Chik’n Fried Tofu, which I can easily make at home cheaper and better, and the occasional sauteed kale or spinach. I am slowly losing my love for the local Whole Foods, especially the Green Hills location. Whomever planned that store and laid out the design for the inside seriously needs some help. The aisles are too close together to fit two carts side by side when passing mid-aisle and the aisles even meet an end-cap in the section near the coldcase, you would think hey would make them free-flowing from aisle to aisle. I still get rude looks from the cashiers when I bring my Trader Joe’s bags in, do they feel threatened by a bag?

My love of Whole Foods is dwindling. I have touted them as my favorite store in many posts and was mildly excited at the acquirement of Wild Oats, I may have to reconsider. After going to the Whole Foods at Green Hills weekly I have noticed prices that were once in-line with Wild Oats gently budge upward on items I consider staples such as orange juice, bread and buns. At first the prices at Whole Foods were lower on some items in comparison to Wild Oats at Coolsprings but now the prices at Wild Oats have started to increase and some items are disappearing from shelves and I am told they will not return. Rudy’s buns and bread has gone from $3.29 to $4.79 and the lower priced, but just as good, Wild Oats brand bread and buns is being replaced by a higher priced, and lower quality, Whole Foods brand that contains honey. Orange juice has increased at Wild Oats by 60 cents since they began carrying the Whole Foods 365 label and they have stopped stocking no-pulp variety.

The produce section was recently changed out at Wild Oats and as far as I can tell prices were not. Changes are coming for the rest of the store as well I am sure. I just hope the prices and items that are left don’t change along with them.

I’ll save the story about the woman at Whole Foods who refused to put my groceries into my Trader Joe’s bag for another post.

Since Whole Foods has opened in Green Hills, and for a bit before that, I have written here about how much I am happy that they have decided to open a store in Nashville. If you read this on a regular basis then you would think I am a major stock holder (I own zero). I do visit at least weekly to pick up a few staple items among other spur of the moment things. It’s good to have a wider choice in the foods I purchase. For instance, I no longer have to give money to Dean Foods in order to get unsweetened soy milk. I can get a massive pack of tater tots for $1.99 to go with my lazy burger nights. I have a wider choice of produce that doesn’t look like it has been sitting on top of a heating grate for two weeks before being put out for sale.

I look at the comment board each time I am in the store. The most complaints are about the bulk spices being in the Whole Body store on the corner outside. That’s something I don’t understand as well but I’m not complaining. It is unreal the people who request that the Whole Body store be closed and health products be moved into the main store! Lazy…I’ll leave it at that. Elizabeth has twice left a compliment on a comment card but neither was posted. I guess they would rather show the negativity.

Now that there is news of another Whole Foods opening in Coolsprings I am wondering if the Wild Oats there will meet the same fate as the one that was in Green Hills. I really don’t want to see Wild Oats close but I have nothing to do with that and can’t control it, I won’t complain for that reason. I just consider myself lucky to be able to get the items I choose to use in my daily cooking and munching as easily as I can now. I am acquainted enough with some of the employees at the Wild Oats in Coolsprings enough to hear about all the complaining people do concerning the Whole Foods takeover. They hate the parking at the new store, they hate the bulk selection, they hate the prices. I have noticed prices on the same item lower at Whole Foods as opposed to Wild Oats, but as well, I have noticed a increase in some pricing at the new store. They hate the location. I heard one complaint about Whole Foods carrying conventional items, as if they thought all products were supposed to be organic.

I have noticed the selection of bulk spices and coffee dwindling at Wild Oats without being replenished. When I asked about the spices I was told that Whole Foods management has decided to cut out 8 feet of the bulk isle and the selection goes with it. Odd move, but I’m not going to get in a fit over it, someone else will. I assume the coffee is being phased out in order to supply the Allegro brand.

I’m not going to complain, I’ll leave that to the others. Just happy to have a choice.

I have been to the Green Hills Whole Foods probably over 30 times since opening, that’s alot for the drive I make to get there. Soon (two years isn’t really soon, but I’ll take what I can get) my drive will be shorter. It has been announced that Whole Foods will be opening a new location in the McEwen Drive area of Coolsprings. Opening date has been set for Fall of 2009.

Anyone who has read this site knows that I am a huge Whole Foods fan, we have driven to Atlanta to get groceries at Whole Foods. My mother-in-law lives there so I can’t say that was the only reason to go but it was a big part of the trip. Now with a new location in Coolsprings I will actually have to consider getting a part-time job there. I have always thought about one since learning how they pay insurance for their employees and have great stock options. I do hope they will not close the nearby Wild Oats like was done when the Green Hills Whole Foods opened. I enjoy my Sunday nights in that store, the staff is too friendly (I’ll make exception for one or two people) and it has a small store feel that I enjoy, I know small-store feel is not going to be had with any Whole Foods but that doesn’t mean I can’t like it too.