RECYCLE!

[MissPrissy]

-Dryer lint for firestarters.

-Veggie cans that come white lined are great as plant pots for starting seeds. I use a can opener (you know the church key kind that you punch a hole in a can with) and make 3 openings at the bottom for the water drain from. I use the vegetable based (not styrofoam based) packing peanuts in the bottom. Put in potting or seed starting soil and then plant my garden seeds. Works great!

-Lay down newspaper in your garden to help keep weeds down but remember to put out some fertilizer so the paper doesn't lock down the nitrogen in the soil. When it starts to rot away till it in and throw down another layer. There are always weeds to fight!

-Some of your glass jars that comes with food in them can reused to store dry herbs or small items on your pantry shelf to help prevent ants from coming in during warm weather. I love the look of jars filled with dry beans, rice, oats, etc.

-I save plastic bottles and jugs to freeze water in for ice for the chicken waterers. Milk jugs work well to fill with water and put in nests boxes to keep hens out when you don't want them in.

-You can cut the very bottom out of a milk jug, keeping the lid in tact and use it for a dome shelter for young plants in your garden when the night air is still chilly and you need to harden off your plants.

All of my kitchen scraps go to the animals - dogs, chickens, cats, goats

So many ways to recycle!

 

[Southern28Chick]

Quote:
I've heard of doing that, but how? Do you have a link? I need to start tomatoes and peppers

They also sell the gizmo to make the pots at Lee Valley Tools

http://imgcash3.imageshack.us/img79/5967/lcrtsigjuly05racingfinal51fj.gif

That's a good one. I usually buy the biodegradable pots and wondered if I could make my own. Thanks y'all.

 

[TheMartianChick]

Quote:
I never would have thought of this one...Like many people, we have a lot of dryer lint! For years, we have been buying a box of firestarter sticks to get us through the season. We break them up by hand to make them s-t-r-e-t-c-h. This year, we found that the quality of them has changed and they are EXTREMELY hard to break, so we have gone through 2 boxes instead of one.

This is the perfect solution for us! Dryer lint...Whodathunkit?!?

 

[GwenFarms]

If you watch the video link I posted it shows you how to make the pots without the gizmo. You just use a drinking glass and they work well.

 

[MissPrissy]

Quote:
I never would have thought of this one...Like many people, we have a lot of dryer lint! For years, we have been buying a box of firestarter sticks to get us through the season. We break them up by hand to make them s-t-r-e-t-c-h. This year, we found that the quality of them has changed and they are EXTREMELY hard to break, so we have gone through 2 boxes instead of one.

This is the perfect solution for us! Dryer lint...Whodathunkit?!?

I use old paper cartons, cig packs/boxes anything small that I have, melt down old candles (tapers, bday even cheap parafin wax) stuff the packet with the lint, pour over a little wax and let them dry. You can cut TP rolls in half, stuff with lint and pour in a little candle wax - those work well too! If you don't have old candles you can invest in one of those super cheap giant $1 vaselines no name brand from the dollar store and heat just before melting point and pour it over or roll the lint in it. Great for camp fire starters.

 

[KB3GZW]

Quote:
I never would have thought of this one...Like many people, we have a lot of dryer lint! For years, we have been buying a box of firestarter sticks to get us through the season. We break them up by hand to make them s-t-r-e-t-c-h. This year, we found that the quality of them has changed and they are EXTREMELY hard to break, so we have gone through 2 boxes instead of one.

This is the perfect solution for us! Dryer lint...Whodathunkit?!?

I am a survival nut and this is one thing they tell you to do when you need fire. Dig around in your pockets and pick at your socks to gather a bunch of lint. While it may not be alot, it may be enough to get your fire started.

I am way more versed in survival techniques than chickens.

 

[coffeemama]

I am a big fan of places like this:
http://www.rebuildingcenter.org/
We buy things there from old windows for the coop, to new to us hardware for doors and cabinets. It is s great way to reuse something that someone else is done with. Also, if you ever remodel a house or anything, they take your old stuff!

 

[MikelJohn]

We changed light bulbs to CFL's and saved a lot of money. We recycle aluminum and anything else they will take locally. We hang our clothes out on a line. We make compost. And we use our newspapers, magazines etc... to line the bottom of new garden beds. We are getting a hand pump installed on one our water wells. And we are looking into solar and wind power.

 

[mom'sfolly]

Not recycling, but reducing.

Use cloth napkins
use rags for cleaning, not paper towels
newspaper can clean windows well
shredded paper can go in the coop and then in the compost bin
mulch plants to reduce watering

 

[sundance]

I use my gallon milk jugs as water jugs for my tomato plants. Just punch holes in the bottom, set close to the plants, mix your miracle gro and water and fill up the jugs, you water, fertilize and not waste a lot of water to, I also use the hay from my chicken coop for mulch on my garden,newspapers also make a good weed killer, lay them on top of the weeds, cover with compost and they will rot into the ground and make compost to.

marrie