Rain Is A Good Thing

Splashing in puddles. Bringing out the dreaded umbrella. Flicking on the windshield wipers in the vehicle. 

             Best of all, rain helps the crops grow! 

If you happened to be outside in central Alberta at all today, you would most likely notice that it is raining. We all have our own perspectives of the rain, my families, that rain is a good thing! Living on a farm that is involved with grain production, rain is always a blessing! Not only does rain help the crops grow, it also makes the soil very moist, decreasing the amount of dust within the fields. Yesterday, my grandma and mom asked me to help them plant the family garden, I felt obliged to say yes. So there I was in the late afternoon yesterday, planting small seeds of carrots, beans, peas, and corn. Our garden is a lot larger than most peoples, my grandma really enjoys the idea of planting every type of vegetable possible, but in her old age, needs my help to plant and produce one. The soil was a bit course, and you could tell that a good rain was needed.




The down poor started in the late evening yesterday, our prayers were answered. The rain is going to help the produce in the garden grow, as well as the crops in the field. In the eyes of a crop farmer, if you don't have rain, you don't have anything.
Plants and animals both need rain as well! Plants need energy that the rain gives them in order to perform photosynthesis. This makes the plants reproduce and grow. Certain animals within our ecosystem eat plants as a source of food, and if there was no rain, there would be no plants, and therefore, no animals.We need to take action and certain steps to ensure that we will always have a supply of rain, by reusing our rain water! 

Have you ever heard the saying, small actions result in big change? This saying is in fact true, there are multiple things that we can change in our everyday routines to improve and change our world for the better. One of these actions is conserving and reusing our water supply.

Rain Barrel Connected to Eavestrough

From Eaves to Leaves is the idea of which consists of placing large rain barrels under the eaves trough in each yard. When it rains, all of the rain collected into the rain barrel can then be reused as a source of water and irrigation for lawns, gardens, flower beds, and planters. The rain barrels don’t only have to be placed under the eaves trough of various buildings; they can also be installed in a variety of places around the yard to collect rain water. 

Rain can also be used for so many other projects around the yard. Everyone benefits from the supply of rain that we are blessed with, so don't waste it. Two years ago, farmers in Alberta went through a drought season, meaning that there was hardly any rain, and a very small yield was taken off of each field. Low amounts of income from each field were the result of the drought, and many farmers struggled. This is why it's important to reuse the rain water, either by installing eaves troughs and rain barrels in yards, or using the rain as a form of irrigation. Rain is a good thing! 

Here's a short video on the importance of collecting rain water. This video was taken in July 2010, and covers tips and ideas of collecting rain water. Enjoy:)

-Jess