This Week’s Personality: Loudonville resident enjoys work with soil, water conservation
LOUDONVILLE – Last month folks who drove through Central Park enjoyed seeing a display of creatively painted rain barrels on the grounds.
At the center of the rain barrel promotion is Loudonville-area resident Katie Eikleberry.
On July 1, she conducted a rain barrel workshop showing those who purchased barrels how to modify them to collect water runoff from roofs and use the water for gardens.
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“Motivation behind the rain barrel campaign is to use water rather than let it drain down streets and gutters and into streams and rivers,” said Eikleberry, conservation specialist with Ashland Soil and Water Conservation District. “The efforts of the SWCD all involve conserving soil and water.”
Eikleberry also works to help farmers and landowners use cover crops — taking water quality samplings in 11 tributary streams in the county and, when something is found amiss in the samplings, forwarding the information to the Ohio Department of Agriculture for further investigation. She works on cost-sharing projects with the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District, waterway development and installation and assists in the rental of SWCD equipment.
Rain barrel project began in Ashland before Loudonville
She said the rain barrel project was already underway in Ashland County when she started work at the SWCD office two years ago.
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“We weren’t the first SWCD office to promote rain barrel usage, but we were the first in this area,” Eikleberry said. “It serves as both a practical project, giving property owners a resource to save water, and an educational one, increasing the awareness of the importance of saving water.
“I would say the project has been successful,” she continued. “The first year, we distributed 10 barrels; last year 15; and this year, 22, two more than our goal.
“We conducted the rain barrel workshop this year in Loudonville’s Central Park, while last year we had it at Honey Haven Farm, west of Ashland,” she said. “We displayed the painted rain barrels both in Central Park and in downtown Ashland. Painted barrels were sold via an online auction.”
Eikleberry and Director Jane Houin are the two full-time employees with the SWCD, working alongside AmeriCorps worker Ruth McCrea and summer intern Cora Crilow, and three part time workers.
“I feel we have a great team here that works well together to benefit the landowners in Ashland County,” she said.
About the Eikleberry family
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Eikleberry grew up in Wayne County, and is a 2005 graduate of West Holmes High School. She and husband Cole Eikleberry (Loudonville High, 2003) have three children, Abby, 14, a freshman at Loudonville High; Maci, 11, a sixth grader; and Corbin, 9, a fourth grader.
She proudly reported that Abby will compete in four events, barrels, poles, T-hole and stake in the Ohio State Fair rodeo this year. All three children are involved in 4-H.
The Eikleberrys live on a small hobby farm off of Township Road 457, where they enjoy raising horses, dogs and chickens. They also keep a boat on Pleasant Hill Lake, and are involved in local horse shows.
Cole works a full-time construction job with the George Igel Co. in Columbus, and he and his brother Zach have their own business, Eikleberry and Sons, LLC, that does water well drilling and service work
This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Loudonville personality promotes water conservation via rain barrels
