No, that’s not Crabtree Falls. But seriously, recently in my hunt to find a cheap way to make a rain barrel, I made an astonishing discovery…but more on that in a bit. It all begins one hungover Saturday when I was at the Farmer’s Market, and was very impressed at the number of people that were taking interest in the guys that were selling rain barrels for the low low price of around $100. Which, to their credit, is actually a VERY reasonable price. But I wanted cheaper. Like…the price of a couple of beers cheaper. And with us living a such a drought-likely area, having a rain barrel seems like a logical thing to do.

So I thought to me-self: who in town would have a heapum big load of plastic barrels? My brain eventually landed on the Coca-Cola bottling plant (which, as it turns out is only corporate offices). I gave them a ring, and I was connected to Marilyn, a lovely lady who informed me that the Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation people had contacted her about this earlier in the day. Long story short, she’s been trying to get this program running for a while now; a program where the Coke offices here will have the 55-gal syrup drums shipped down to Charlottesville from Baltimore, and given away for free(!) to interested parties. She told me that she is building up ammo to present this to her higher-ups, and is looking for support. Our support.

If this is something that you either support or would like to have at your own shack, please contact Marilyn at marilynpbartoes@cokecce.com

After you have your barrel, you’ll need about $15 in supplies, and you’re off. Off to water your pansies, Koi garden, or mud wrestling pit.

Directions after the break

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Popularity: 31% [?]

Okay, so this past month I went on a root beer quest. I seached C’ville far and wide for the best bottled root beer. Probably because I’m a homer (d’oh!), I liked Dominion best.

So, here’s my list of root beers available in C’ville, in order of how much I liked them. I highly recommend the top three. If anyone knows of any other root beer available in the area, I’d love to hear about it.

Dominion Root Beer (Ashburn, VA)
Taste: Excellent mix of sweet flavors, with a strong (Virginia) honey taste. (A-)
Available: Foods of All Nations, Giant Supermarkets, Monticello

Natural Brew Root Beer (Chico, CA)
Taste: My favorite non-fructose root beer. A very full combination of flavors. (B+)
Available: Harris Teeter, Whole Foods

Gale’s Root Beer (Chicago, IL)
Taste: Very strong cinammon flavoring, almost overpowering. Unique! (B+)
Available: Foods of All Nations (single bottle only)

IBC Root Beer (Dallas, TX)
Taste: A solid old-school root beer. No gimmacks. There’s a reason why this is such a popular root beer. (B)
Available: Wal-Mart, Kroger, Foods of All Nations

Sprecher (Glendale, WI)
Taste: Good not-too-sweet flavor, but with an unpleasant bitter aftertaste. (C+)
Available: From Scratch Bakery (single bottle only)

Boylan’s (Moonachie, NJ)
Taste: Low carbination makes it taste like it’s been open for a few days. (C-)
Available: Whole Foods, World Market

Virgil’s Root Beer (Los Angeles, CA)
Taste: Too many flavors thrown in, especially the licorice. (C-)
Available: World Market (small keg available)

Stewart’s Root Beer (Rye Brook, NY)
Taste: Imagine a root beer candy floating in a mud puddle. (D+)
Available: Foods of All Nations (single bottle), Kroger

Extra Credit:
Cally’s Homemade Root Beer (Harrisonburg, VA)
Taste: Brain-bogglingly vanilla sweet with low carbination. (C+)
Available: Cally’s Restaurant and Brewing in downtown Harrisonburg.

Popularity: 33% [?]