Laundry system for zone 5

Okay, I have been reading "Create an Oasis with Greywater" and I'm just kind of stumped. Our laundry currently drains down the side of our (very sloped) driveway, but we need a system that won't freeze over the winter. I'd like to use a rain barrel if at all possible to store the water for watering a kitchen garden, but I realize that storing it might get messy, and not doable in the winter.

Basically, set me straight on the best way to use our laundry water in an area that will freeze very hard over the winter. Last winter we had quite a few stretches that never got above zero for days on end.

I would like to use the water for a kitchen garden, but I'm not opposed to a mulch basin for some fruit trees.

Since you probably aren't growing your kitchen garden in the winter, I'm not sure why you would want to store the water over winter unless you use so little water in your laundry that you don't generate enough in the summer. I'd focus on just diverting it away from your driveway to a mulch basin like you said. Or, if you want to create a stockpile for summer, have you considered a small pond? That wouldn't matter if it froze over in the winter and with a small filter and pump, you'd have plenty of water for a kitchen garden.