Homestead Tricks & Tips (Part I): What we Keep, Recycle, Reuse etc.

© T.B. Cooper

This was our old rabbit pen, made out of an old pool frame and chicken wire fencing. The fencing went about a foot and a half down into the ground, and was closed in with large gravel. This pen worked well for over a year, until some neighbor's dogs broke in through our (old/we've since gotten a new one) back fence, and dug in... We managed to catch all but 4 or 5 of the escapee rabbits!

First, let me tell you that we are a family of nine, made up of my mom, my sister,
my husband, our 4 kids, a grand-baby, plus myself.
Not to mention we have a large farm with MANY animals.

Next, let me tell you how much trash we throw away on a weekly basis: You know the standard 96 gallon trash can everyone gets for curbside pick-up? Yeah, every Friday (with few exceptions) we, a family of 9 throw-away roughly a fifth of that can. Meaning we throw-away approximately only 20 gallons of trash, sometimes it is a lot less than that.
​
By comparison, a friend of ours, a married couple with only a dog, fills their 96 gallon trash bin every week to the top, to the point of overflowing with the lid unable to close.

So, what's the difference?

We find uses for almost everything.

Like what?

Well.....

Here's a peek into what we don't throw away* 

(*this list is probably incomplete, I'll have to add more in another post once I've thought them).

• Cardboard, All cardboard: boxes, package backings etc. all goes into the compost bins to aerate the soil. Also we use it to feed worms. That trick I learned from the Mother Earth News Almanac, the worms feed on the glue that binds the cardboard together.
• Onion peels and clippings: go in to the compost bins, unless we need more onion plants, in which case we plant the onion clippings with the roots in the ground, and in no time we have green onion (within a month), or bulb onions (a few months down the road).​

Tire cut and filled with soil, to use as a planter.

• Avocado peels/shells, and any trimmings of peppers if we have any (minus the seeds, we save those), also go into the compost bins.
• Egg shells get crushed and sent back to the hens to replenish their calcium from laying the eggs.
• ​5 gallon buckets: we use those for water buckets for animals, composting toilets, emergency water storage.
• Used tires: good for tire swings, planters, obstacle courses, dust baths for the birds, and tree bumpers... I've even seen someone turn them into shingles for the roof!

• ​Spice jars, pill bottles, and other small containers: get used for crafts and all kinds of small stuff/craft supplies.
• Paper, Newspaper, Advertisements, Magazines: all get shredded, for use in making fire bricks (mixed with leaves), and for our composting toilets, as well as for paper mulch to make “new” paper.
• Toilet paper rolls: used for crafts and also for “fire starters” that are filled with dryer lint (that we also don't throw away).
• Used dryer sheets: Shove these into the couches and linen cupboards. Then replace whenever we change the bedding etc.
• Wrapping paper: goes into the compost bin.​

• ​Bailing rope: Has hundreds of uses… a quick fence repair, a spare gate latch, you can weave a better tarp/awning, tie and braid them together to make longer ropes for different uses such as stringing lights on them to make an overhead light canopy, or for what I like to call “Come Along Donkey Tape,” this was what I called it because I couldn't remember the name of it, when we needed “Mule Tape” to run electric wires through a newly laid underground pipe. The Mule Tape was over $100 in the store, so I instead strung together rope after rope for 100s of feet while the husband and brother dug the ditch. Then I wrapped it around a stick, and secured the end to a long "needle" made out of bamboo. Worked just the same!

"Canopy" made from weaving together Baling Rope.

Come Along Donkey Tape

Bunnies!



• ​​Table scraps: any and all (including banana peels, bones, etc.)goes to the pigs, unless it's pork, in which case it goes to the outside dogs as a treat.
• Any leafy greens, carrots, potatoes bits left over from Meal Prepping, get thrown into the pot of chicken broth that is left over from boiling chicken and/or chicken bones. (Boiled chicken for dog food and for our Meal Prepping, and chicken bones left over from DE-boning leg quarter meat from the bones, to have boneless/skinless chicken thighs). After broth has boiled and seasons, we then strain it and can it. The veggies go to the pigs along with the bones. We also do a batch of unseasoned broth that we keep for our elderly dogs to mix with their food, that we also can.
• If we have extra leafy greens/carrots that we don't need for broth, then the bits and pieces go to the rabbits.

---

• ​Plastic shopping bags: this is one of those tough ones. I hate using them, because I know how bad they are. But, we use and reuse them. We use them for small trash bags. For “items that go to storage” (stuff we're hoarding for something, but we're not sure of what – yet)... We even make “yarn” out of the bags to crochet countless items you could crochet with regular yarn, but need a non-porous material for. I've tried using the reusable bags when I shop, but the baggers at the stores just really don't know what to do with them, and using them in self checkout means you have to wait for the attendant to verify what you have. So – to justify using plastic bags instead, I reuse them until they finally start to break down, which is surprisingly fast in the hot desert sun.
• Egg Cartons: for gathering eggs, giving away eggs, sound-insulating buildings, and starting seedlings.
• Plastic Containers that can be reused as "Tupperware": such as sour cream containers, ice cream buckets, lunch meat tubs etc. We first remove the ink with nail polish remover, then give it a good scrub.

• ​Containers of all sorts: do not get thrown away. These ALL get used as Building Materials: 

                          * Glass jars, glass bottles, small to large wine bottles
                          * Plastic jars, Plastic bottles (all shapes and sizes)
                          * Tin cans of all sizes, including tuna cans, cat food & dog food cans, all the way to Restaurant Sized Nacho Cheese cans
                          *Shampoo, Conditioner, Body Wash Bottles
                          * Miscellaneous Containers, such as the kind pods for laundry come in, liquid laundry soap, fabric softener etc.

 What kind of Building? You'll have to check back later for the full details.... but here's a sneak peek!

My (born in China) Mom's own Great Wall! (Future Post, coming Soon!)

• Milk jugs and Bleach bottles: get rinsed out and filled with water plus a drop of vinegar, and go into our emergency water storage.

• Water bottles (the 16 oz +/- kind): We save and use for building supplies as well, and for light bulbs and fly traps. A water bottle filled with water, when daylight, can transmit the same amount of light as a (55-watt) bulb. (Of course, let me be frank, all instructions I've read online have been for using a 2-liter soda bottle, but I'm convinced the water bottles are just as good. They might break down faster...)A water bottle filled with water with several large pieces of glitter, act as a fly deterrent, these we hang around wherever we gather in a seated area outside.
• Aluminum Cans: we flatten out and bang into shingles for roofing (found idea on Pinterest, but here's the direct link).
• 2 L Soda Bottles: we turn into fly traps.
• Styrofoam from packing/packages, and Cup of Noodles (my weakness in life): we use these for building materials also. It won't degrade, so we might as well use it.
• Dog food, Cat food, and Feed bags: OMG! Hundreds of uses! Besides using it as a “bag” for leaves, bottles, containers, etc., I have seen people make “purses” out of them... But my favorite use is to use them wherever I'd use a tarp for shade or for a barrier between a small pool in the ground… Of course I've made a couple of “men” for Halloween out of them as well, by rolling them into balls and cylinders etc. and securing with duct tape and (baling) rope.
• Old Bed sheets: shade for the garden, or anywhere.
• Sheets, Towels, Clothes: we don't donate any of this, unless it is directly to a homeless person. Instead, we use any spare clothes for material to make new – usually a bunch of blankets we pass out (along with clothing in good shape) directly to the homeless people/people in need. And usually when we make our rounds, we also make a basket of bagged up sandwiches that we pass out with water bottles as well.
• Fallen leaves: we rake up ours and the neighbors, and use for mulch or for fire bricks.
• Branches, twigs, old trees: get cut up and/or chipped for firewood, mulch, compost, crafts…
• Broken crayons: we use these to make candles, art projects, and for crafts etc.
• Pillows that are no good for sleeping on: find a use for the fabric (patches, strips etc.), but the fluff we keep to use as stuffing for other projects such as new stuff toys for pot holders.
• Pine cones: collecting pine cones is one of my granddaughter's chores. We use them as peanut butter/seed bird feeders, scented Christmas pine cones (like the kind you get at the store), and many different kinds of crafts. Here's a link to some Pine cone Craft ideas.
• I also keep empty tape dispensers and empty white out tape rollers – why? I'm not sure, but I'll find a use…
• Coffee Grounds and their Filters: go into our compost bin for now, but we have used them in the garden to ward off stray cats who like to dig in the fresh dirt. We've used them in facial masks, and soon will be using them to grow mushrooms in a bucket. (See that idea here)
• Teabags: also go into the compost bin, but when we do the coffee masks, we put used teabags on our eyes, as well as using them for an incoming cold sore.
• Cat Litter Buckets and Cat Litter Large Bottle/Jugs: the buckets, besides using has storage buckets, make excellent nesting boxes for the chickens, ducks, and guinea fowl. The cat litter jugs, we use for emergency water storage, and keep three filled by each toilet too use to flush in case of a power outage (at which case our well wouldn't work) or if there's not enough pressure to flush – which happens often. See an example of the Nesting Boxes, here.
• ​​​Soap Chips from bars of soap: go into a jar to make liquid hand soap.
• Cigarette Butts: We don't smoke anymore, but some of our friends and family still do. The butts gets soaked in water for a week or two in a bottle, then get strained out, and the liquid is kept as a natural Ant Killer.
• Orange, Lemon, Lime, Grapefruit, and All Citrus Peels: get cut up into tiny pieces. As needed, we combine the peel pieces some rosemary needles from the garden, with vinegar, into ice cubes. These are homemade “Plinks” for the garbage disposal. We also have a gallon jug of vinegar on hand, that has the same combination – to use as a liquid refresher for the other sinks. If we are full on cubes, then the peel pieces get put into a bag and get stored in the freezer until we need them again to make more.
• Bacon fat (from bulk bacon packages), as well as fat cut from Pork Loins and Beef Meats – get bagged up and then frozen for Winter Dog Food add-ins… The outside dogs enjoy a hot meal at wintertime.
• Gallon Ziploc Bags: if used to store frozen veggies, are washed, dried, and use again for nonfood uses, such as crafts, storage, etc.

Floating Dock for Turtles, made from a freezer door, some pool noodles, a lid from a Tidy Cats Litter box, some baling rope, and a roofing shingle.

​

• ​​Styrofoam Meat Trays: these are scrubbed and sanitized and then used for when we make Pylamani (Russian Raviolis), as the “freezer” trays we line the dumplings up on, to freeze them, and then bag them up. Or we use the trays for shallow water receptacles for potted plants.
• ​Refrigerators/Freezers: we have collected quite a few. We use these for raised planter beds, insulated/shelved cold frame boxes (with a plastic sheet as a cover/door), below ground root cellars... The Doors have uses too – for underground shelters, they make excellent sealed “hatches.”... and they float – so I've used a freezer door in our turtle pond as an island for them to bask on.

• The cardboard boxes that Top Ramen and Cup of Noodles come in, make the perfect uniformed shape and size, shelf storage boxes.
• We gather Carpet and Carpet Padding from friends and neighbors, and from the Carpet Store that throws it away sometimes, to use as bed mulch in our gardens (padding), and to line the walkways of the garden to keep weeds out (carpets).
• You can never have too many old Bikes. Not only do we have plenty of spare parts in case we need to fix a bike or two, but many of the pieces can be used for something else entirely: the wheels for a windmill/waterwheel, the chain/gear drive is valuable in many different mechanical situations, imagination being the only limit.
• Nails, Screws, and any other random bits of Metal: we save these regardless if the pieces are rusty or broken. This stems from when my parents lived through World War II and their parents from World War I, when there was always a shortage on metal… We save the metal in case we ever NEED the metal, at which point it can be melted down and turned into something else.

Whew!! Like I said... We reuse/recycle/re-purpose A LOT!!


And yeah, I'm certain I've forgotten quite a few, but I'll put together another list once I've got at least 10+ to add.


I hope you enjoyed this and got some neat ideas.

Question:
What do you Recycle/Reuse/Re-purpose? I'd love to hear about it! And did I forget to add a use for something I've listed? Let me know!!


Thanks for stopping by!


Next post coming up: Book Review of Author Sapphire Knight's “Princess.” (See it NOW)