Showing posts with label recycle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recycle. Show all posts
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Life on the Farm
This is what it looks like when you live a life without plastic, reduce, reuse, recycle and raise your own food.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Recycle and Build for Free
It's been a while since I've posted. We have been very busy here getting ready for winter. I've cleaned out the garden beds of everything except the herbs that can over winter and one pepper plant that is producing like crazy. I plan on making some hot sauce soon with them.
I added some old hay for mulch and planted some fall crops. Broccoli, beans and peas. I also planted one whole bed of garlic. Because the weather has been crazy here, warm one day then frost the next, it's started growing. I hope it goes dormant soon.
With the help of a friend, I built cages in our new rabbit barn that was done with all recycled or found material. Total cost for a 16 foot by 20-foot rabbit barn is about $10, and that is just for the screws we had to buy.
My husband and I went around our homestead looking for material. We found some good sized trees to cut down for the poles then added used lumber that we buy off the sale bin at Home Depot and already had here. Wire and left over OSB board from other projects finished it off.
My friend and I made built in cages of different sizes to accommodate young does, bucks, grow outs and mother's getting ready to kindle. It's a good thing we did because this morning my friend came over with five more New Zealand Red rabbits. One of them is getting ready to have babies next week, so our rabbitry is exploding in size quickly.
After that, it was time to make my front porch a Tory free zone. Last night she chewed up a foam filled cushion and started to eat one piece of my wicker set that is out there! That wicker set is also recycled . I got it at a thrift store a couple of weeks ago.
It's time to lock her off the porch for good so hubby, and I got an old table that we weren't using and put it on the side of our cabin away from the wind. Tory has a very nice large crate, so we put it on top of the table then wrapped it in some heavy duty plastic to make it waterproof. I had found the plastic at a yard sale a long time ago. We added a board to extend the roof then Bruce said that he knew where an old set of stairs were so we nailed those to the table so Tory can get into her house more easily. I put her food and water underneath and now she can't tear up things on the porch anymore!
I added some old hay for mulch and planted some fall crops. Broccoli, beans and peas. I also planted one whole bed of garlic. Because the weather has been crazy here, warm one day then frost the next, it's started growing. I hope it goes dormant soon.
With the help of a friend, I built cages in our new rabbit barn that was done with all recycled or found material. Total cost for a 16 foot by 20-foot rabbit barn is about $10, and that is just for the screws we had to buy.
My husband and I went around our homestead looking for material. We found some good sized trees to cut down for the poles then added used lumber that we buy off the sale bin at Home Depot and already had here. Wire and left over OSB board from other projects finished it off.
My friend and I made built in cages of different sizes to accommodate young does, bucks, grow outs and mother's getting ready to kindle. It's a good thing we did because this morning my friend came over with five more New Zealand Red rabbits. One of them is getting ready to have babies next week, so our rabbitry is exploding in size quickly.
After that, it was time to make my front porch a Tory free zone. Last night she chewed up a foam filled cushion and started to eat one piece of my wicker set that is out there! That wicker set is also recycled . I got it at a thrift store a couple of weeks ago.
It's time to lock her off the porch for good so hubby, and I got an old table that we weren't using and put it on the side of our cabin away from the wind. Tory has a very nice large crate, so we put it on top of the table then wrapped it in some heavy duty plastic to make it waterproof. I had found the plastic at a yard sale a long time ago. We added a board to extend the roof then Bruce said that he knew where an old set of stairs were so we nailed those to the table so Tory can get into her house more easily. I put her food and water underneath and now she can't tear up things on the porch anymore!
What have you recycled lately?
Friday, September 25, 2015
Trash Tossing and Shopping
Yup, just pick a day and start somewhere. Preferably a small space so you don't give up easily. I personally started in our small bathroom. Did I mention before that we are building a Tiny house? I do mean tiny, 650 square feet so yes the bathroom is small but mighty.
Other than the kitchen I believe it is the worst offender for plastics and consumables. I started making our own toothpaste, body scrubs and facial cleansers so no more plastic items there to toss! We also use Castille soap for washing our bodies, hair and dishes which really cuts down on the number of consumables. So far and we love it all. No more harsh chemicals. You can find some of my recipes here.
I had to go shopping for items like vitamins, mouthwash, toilet paper and some OTC medications so I decided to go to Costco. I don't go very often, but they do have some good buys on those kinds of items. I try to reuse, reduce, recycle or buy used but not these items obviously. I found myself really searching for products that we needed in the right containers.
It is very hard if not impossible to get them in anything other than plastic that is why mouthwash will be on my next recipe list of things to make at home. After finishing there with a lot fewer items than I used to leave with I stopped at Krogers for the food items I needed. After tossing the bathroom of all plastic consumables like toothbrushes, plastic pump cleanser bottles and throw away razors, I now use my hubby's safety razor and mason jars for everything else.
Other than the kitchen I believe it is the worst offender for plastics and consumables. I started making our own toothpaste, body scrubs and facial cleansers so no more plastic items there to toss! We also use Castille soap for washing our bodies, hair and dishes which really cuts down on the number of consumables. So far and we love it all. No more harsh chemicals. You can find some of my recipes here.
I had to go shopping for items like vitamins, mouthwash, toilet paper and some OTC medications so I decided to go to Costco. I don't go very often, but they do have some good buys on those kinds of items. I try to reuse, reduce, recycle or buy used but not these items obviously. I found myself really searching for products that we needed in the right containers.
It is very hard if not impossible to get them in anything other than plastic that is why mouthwash will be on my next recipe list of things to make at home. After finishing there with a lot fewer items than I used to leave with I stopped at Krogers for the food items I needed. After tossing the bathroom of all plastic consumables like toothbrushes, plastic pump cleanser bottles and throw away razors, I now use my hubby's safety razor and mason jars for everything else.
I did find a sale on a wooden set of cutting boards for the kitchen so as soon as I got home I happily tossed the old plastic one away! It was only $11 for three. It's amazing how differently we think now when looking for products that we need. I don't buy anywhere near what I used to and our trash bag size has gone down considerably.
What have you tossed today?
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