permaculture

[Marimike6@cs.com]

Cool, clear water....

I haven't read many of the posts here, but has anyone called attention to the 
fact of dirty air? By the time rain gets to our barrel, it has filtered out a 
lot of dirt from the sky. Go out to your rain barrel and take a sip. See what 
it tastes like.

Also note how much cleaner the sky looks after a rain.

>Remember that rainwater is far from distilled. I've seen several studies 
that show hefty concentrations of nutrients in rainwater. One study I 
recall showed that a New Hampshire forest was receiving 8 kg/Ha per year 
of calcium from rainwater. So drinking rainwater is not at all like 
drinking distilled.

One of the "nutrients" of greatest concern is mercury. Our ocean fish have 
unsafe concentrations of Hg that originate in coal-fired electric generators 
across the country. The unscrubbed Hg is precipitated into the oceans as 
rain-- 
at concentrations so high they raise the level in fish.

On the other hand, I've heard that rainwater contains vitamin B12.

I prefer rainwater for my plants and groundwater for my self. Even so, I 
filter the groundwater, which around here has entirely too much iron in it.