The Oregon Rain Cellar

Time in Bottles

by James Stephen Du Bois

Founder, Oregon Rain Cellar

There seemed to be no better wellspring from which to fill my Du Drops than the Oregon rain, that is, until the rain stopped falling in the middle of Oregon’s Garden of Eden early in July of 1999. I lived there, in the parched Willamette Valley, during the twentieth century’s penultimate summer, and I completely ran out of rain for my first Oregon Du Drops. When I had to stop making them for a time I vowed that I would never run out of rain again.

As the rain began gently blessing us once more on the night of October fifth of that same year I instituted the Oregon Rain Cellar and began collecting and storing about a gallon of Oregon rain per month. This process has continued over the last twenty years. You can see the years, months and dates of rain and dew that we still have on the Oregon Rain Cellar page of our website.

20 Years of Rain and Dew

Now collecting that much rain over that many years and managing it requires some logistical consideration. It became quickly obvious that I couldn’t store every rain date in an individual bottle. That’s potentially 365 days a year times 20 years or 7,300 bottles! I know it doesn’t rain every day, but even using just the number of bottles required for every single day it did rain was impracticable. We have hundreds of bottles in the cellar under our gallery as it is, and we already consolidate the rain by the month it fell. We make note of the individual dates we collect samples of the rain and dew on each bottle while also noting whether the moisture was rain or dew.

We Make Dew

My first attempt at collecting dew was grossly inefficient, but aesthetically satisfying. Based on the physics of a cold can of soda pop and a warm day and how the passing warm air leaves some of its moisture on the cold can as it goes by, I set up a four quart stainless steel bowl filled with ice on a large enough platter to catch the drips that eventually began sliding down the side of the container. Over the time it took the whole bowlful of ice to melt, which was dependent on a multitude of environmental variables including: the wind, or lack thereof, direct sunshine, clouds, and humidity, I could garner up to a quarter cup of dew.

During our busiest season it rained the least and we needed more dew. I could add more bowls, and did, but even with all of Cat’s and my scraping of the sides of the bowls with our rubber spatula we couldn’t keep up with the demand for summer Oregon Du Drops. We had to come up with a more advanced way to access dew.

Another Dry Summer

In August of 2012, facing another drought, we invested in a dehumidifier to pull moisture out of the outdoor atmosphere for us. I set it up in front of an open window and after that we could have dew any time we needed or wanted it. Not only did it supply enough dew to allow me to keep up with our gallery inventory, the dehumidifier was very helpful for fulfilling upcoming orders for wedding day Du Drops, or babies’ uncertain birthdays, if it didn’t rain on that special day.

By 2013 we decided that we ought to start collecting dew every day that it didn’t rain so that our future customers might find moisture from their special day even if it didn’t rain then. That’s when we began noting on the bottles which dates were rain and which were dew dates. Today we endeavor to collect moisture from the Oregon atmosphere every day so we disappoint as few people as possible. We only collect dew when the rain doesn’t fall.

The Date of the Rain on an Oregon Du Drop is a Promise

Though we have been collecting a little rain or dew each day, with few exceptions, for the entire 21st century we are lacking moisture from a lot of dates because the rain and dew we collect is irreplaceable. Once it is celebrated in an Oregon Du Drop for someone there is no getting it back or finding more. We have been asked in the past, more than twice, to engrave a date on an Oregon Du Drop for which we have no moisture of any kind. I have refused to make them and will continue to do so. The date Cat engraves on an Oregon Du Drop is a promise that the Oregon Du Drop that I make for you will contain some rain or dew that was collected on that day.

Our Guarantee of the Month, Year and Date

We guarantee that the months and years engraved on the Oregon Du Drops sold in our gallery and on the web are accurate, for example, that an Oregon Du Drop engraved December, 1999 actually contains rain from that month and year.

If you order an Oregon Du Drop from the past and it has a month and year engraved on it we guarantee that there is Oregon rain or dew from that month and year in it.
If you order an Oregon Du Drop from the past and it has a day’s date engraved on it in addition to the month and year, we guarantee that there is Oregon rain or dew from that very day in it. There will be rain and or dew in it from other days too, for the reasons explained above. That is, unless you order ahead for a date in the future.

Then, I can make you an Oregon Du Drop with moisture from the date of your choice, exclusively. If you order an Oregon Du Drop with rain from a day in the future we guarantee it will be filled solely with moisture from your date. It will have rain from that day, or dew, if it doesn’t rain.

What started with me pacing back and forth while searching the sky for rain in October of 1999 has evolved into the Oregon Rain Cellar with hundreds of bottles and thousands of dates of rain. Maybe there is some time in one of those bottles for you.

If you are still interested in our story, this link will bring you back to History of Oregon Du Drops Part II: Secrets to Feelings of Well-being for Art Show Vendors.