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rain barrels in Minnesota

06/11/2009 - 17:52
panderson03
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 Joined: 2009-04-01

Not sure if anyone out there is as in to rain barrels as I am. I've wanted one such a long time but they are SO EXPENSIVE; most places charge 100-150 dollars each!!! are they made of gold or what!?

anyway, through the Extension service of the University of Minnesota, I found a place in New Hope that sells used 55 gallong plastic barrels for $20!!! these can be EASILY modified create rain barrels! I'm thrilled and bought 2!

anyway the contact info for the container place is below. the only down side as they WILL NOT SHIP...they are pick-up only

Western Container New Hope
(612) 338-2413 www.bargaincontainer.com
55-gallon, closed-top, blue, plastic barrels for
$20.00. Pick up only.

‹ Cheep place stay while you build hickory nuts are a dropping ›


Comments

06/12/2009 - 01:44
melindarae7
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Awesome!

Thanks for the info! I'll look into picking one up. New Hope is practically in my back yard (not really, but sort of)! I have a new garden so it needs tons of water.

Melinda



06/12/2009 - 12:53
JayK
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Congrats on your find! I,

Congrats on your find! I, too, am looking for them. They go for $75 give or take around Asheville, but the big blue plastic barrels that many folks use for them I'm told are given away at the local apple juice plant. I've been gearing up to stack so too busy to look into it....but I do hope to get mine for free.

--

Jay & Jenn
Building our Dream in NC
http://s461.photobucket.com/albums/qq337/WhereIDream/
Well(Aug '08) Logs Arrived(1/14/09)
Building Permit(3/10/09) Foundation(4/24/09)
Power(6/1/09) Water(6/5/09)



06/12/2009 - 16:47
panderson03
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Posts: 287
 Joined: 2009-04-01
rain barrels

MELINDARAY, so where are you buidling and when? We won't be stacking logs til 2011; doing basement in late 2010. we'll be building up north near Fergus Falls. by the way, if you use your rain barrel to capture water running off your roof THEY DON'T suggest you water your fruit/vegetable garden with it. something about asbestos in the roofing.... Anyway, I'll be using mine to water the lawn and the flower garden

JAYK, FREE is SO much better than $20!! I'll have to call our local orchard and see if they can point me toward an apple juice factory! and by the way, congratulations on being at the 'stacking' phase! we're really looking forward to it...and NOT looking forward to peeling....oh well. its all part of the adventure!

thanks!!



07/02/2009 - 15:25
panderson03
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rain barrel update!

In Minneapolis there's a place call reuse center
http://www.greeninstitute.org/StoreSales.htm
They have a lot of stuff that is salvaged from places being torn down. they claim "25,000 square feet of quality salvaged and surplus building materials'

they have rainbarrels that I hear are 120 gallon!

-Complete with spigots, overflow valves, and downspout filters to prevent clogging and mosquitos

-Plastic $80; Wood $190

I'm getting one!



09/16/2009 - 08:08
DocJ
Posts: 11
 Joined: 2009-09-14
Go Fish...

A good friend of ours had rain barrels set up on her shed to water her garden and she would toss in a few cheap goldfish (the 20 cent feeder type from walmart) into the barrel at the beginning of summer to eat any mosquito larva or other bugs. Worked great as they are very hardy fish and dont mind temperature swings. The barrels are deep enough that on very hot days they just swim toward the bottom where the water is cooler.

Just a thought.

DocJ



09/16/2009 - 13:31
panderson03
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go fish

What a great idea! too bad my rainbarrels aren't clear; the cats would LOVE watching the gold fish (the neighborhood kids would love it too!!). what we did was secure a lenght of screen over the whole in the top that the rain from the down spout flows in to. so what does she do with teh gold fish in the winter? We live in Minnesota and the rain barrel would have to be PRETTY deep for the gold fish to survive our winters here:)

on a different not, found that 1 55 gal rain barrel per drain spout was just not enough. are working on connecting 2 per drain spout. we'll see how that goes....



09/16/2009 - 13:57
loghousenut
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Southern Oregon goldfish...

We have a homemade fountain that is based on 1/2 of a 55 gallon drum and our goldfish survive the winters. Not quite Minnesota weather (we hit 0 for a day or two at a time) but then our goldfish don't get all those Minnesota mosquitoes to fatten up on either.



09/16/2009 - 17:27
edkemper
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South Central Oregon

With the mosquitos on my property, the goldfish would turn into Great White Sharks by the end of summer. But half my property is protected wetlands. I bought Bat homes and will install them later this year. I love to watch bats and they ought to get very fat around my area. I hope they don't turn into giant Condors.

--

edkemper



09/16/2009 - 17:36
WPotter
Posts: 2
 Joined: 2009-08-21
Adventurer Hey guys does

Adventurer
Hey guys does anyone know hown long the logs are for the Dale family's log home? Its in the student built pics. I really want to build with that style roof to get more lenght.
Thanks for your input. adventurer

--

Adventurer



09/16/2009 - 19:04
loghousenut
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Bats n bugs...

edkemper wrote:
With the mosquitos on my property, the goldfish would turn into Great White Sharks by the end of summer. But half my property is protected wetlands. I bought Bat homes and will install them later this year. I love to watch bats and they ought to get very fat around my area. I hope they don't turn into giant Condors.

One of my Son's favorite things when he was little was sitting dead still in the pool just before twilight in the evening. The bats swoop over the top of the water for a drink. Sometimes they get super close but it's all super quick. If mosquitoes were as well behaved as bats, we'd hang buckets of water in the trees to attract them.



09/16/2009 - 20:53
greenthumb
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Panderson, Look into

Panderson, Look into gambusia minnows and mosquito dunks for mosquito control.

http://www.kens-fishfarm.com/c-18-gambusia-minnows.aspx
http://www.planetnatural.com/site/mosquito-dunks.html

Ed K. , You should go into the guano business. That stuff is expensive.

--

Current Status: Rummaging, hunting and gathering for materials.



09/17/2009 - 13:26
panderson03
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gambusia minnows

greenthumb wrote:
Panderson, Look into gambusia minnows and mosquito dunks for mosquito control.

thanks greenthumb I definitely will do that!



09/22/2009 - 01:19
tjmash
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rain barrels

Wow, I didnt think they were that much.I can get the 55 gal barrels from work for nothing and as many as i want.They are blue and thick plastic.

Tim



09/22/2009 - 12:39
panderson03
LHBA Member
Posts: 287
 Joined: 2009-04-01
rain barrels

tjmash wrote:
Wow, I didnt think they were that much.I can get the 55 gal barrels from work for nothing and as many as i want.They are blue and thick plastic.

Tim


you are LUCKY!