My childhood memories are scattered and few, but one thing I remember clearly is the rain barrel that sat at the ourside corner of our barn.  It was always there, collecting rain water. 

Occasionally my older sister would use some of the rain water to wash her hair, but I was younger and not seduced by the beauty claims.  Our home garden was probably larger than an acre, but I never remember a time when we used the rain barrel for watering plants.  My best guess is that it supplemented water rations for our few cattle. 

Do farmers still use rain barrels?  Is today's rain water safe for drinking wiithout filtration?