It IS Easy Being Green.

Well, we had quite an eventful weekend this past week, dealing with all things sustainable around our house. Earlier, I promised a post about how to build a rain barrel. Our weekend turned in to so much more, so instead of an article just about the barrel, here is a recap, through pictures, of everything we got done.

First up, some great guys from Energy Trust of Oregon came out to do an "energy assessment" on our house. We live in the Lent's Neighborhood and therefore qualify for some wonderful grants that could help us make our home much more efficient.

Testing to see how pressurized the house is.

Next, we got down to business on building our barrel. It was not an easy task, but we figured it out.

Building the base.

Connecting the gutter to the downspout to the lid.

Installing the spout where the hose will connect was the hardest part, but we made it work.

The finished product!

The icing on the cake...it rained like crazy that night and the entire barrel filled up! Now we need to get our garden in ASAP so we can put all this water to use.

There's no better way to top off an early spring day filled with hard work than grilling for dinner.

YUM!

Check out Shawn's "instructional video" or visit the link below for step by step instructions on how to build your own rain barrel. Happy Conserving!

http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=182095

Also, here is the link for Energy Trust of Oregon, if you want to see how you can qualify for some of these awesome programs.

http://energytrust.org/residential/