No probs. I was thinking maybe I should have said what did you recycle this week? I scored 2 more pallets to finish the fronts of our compost bins. The buckets left over from gibbing the walls is now being used for comfrey tea and convovulus tea. (according to a biodynamic book I read, the best way to recycle runner type weeds like couch or convovulus-morning glory, is to rot it down in a bucket then use as liquid fert). Just because something is broken, like a plastic storage box with a broken handle, doesnt mean it has to be thrown away. Not good enough when hubby needs to look professional on the building site but good enough for home and quite useful when Im weeding to colect and lug them to where ever- compost bin or chook dome.
Oh well if its this week... this afternooon i retrieved a bit of shadecloth that is sitting right next to the rubbish bins waiting to go. The hen was keen to dig about in spot where i'd planted (temporarily) a whole of sweet potato plants for later planting out. I covered this all with the cloth and tomorrow i think she will have a hard time getting in there. I'm planning to use my old car for a safe spot for the chickens when the cyclone turns up this year. I"ve started to think that the ducks might be able to cope on their own, but i'm not sure. I was thinking of letting them go hang out in the forest. Otherwise i'd take my old car to the dump. I will have to do it at some point anyway.
I recycled the twine from around straw bales today. I tied two lengths together and looped the top of it around a plank of the fence and wrapped the bottom around newly planted beans. I'm hoping they grow up it until the find a good purchase on the fence. I was wondering what to do with it all (apart from making a REALLY big ball of twine) so I'm happy.
If you ever have more of something than you can use, make a sculpture from it. A big ball of twine could become a wonderful thing to look at if it grew enormous and imagine what a special feeling it would give you, if it took years to make into that big ball. On the other hand, it probably shouldn't be left out in the weather where it could rot. I should probably twist all my small bity bits of shadecloth into a sculptural ball. I forgot to mention that i've started recycling the dog bones. I'm burying them in the holes where my plants are going.
Burn the bones first (not to ashes, but so they go sort of charred-looking), it unlocks the phosphorous so the plants can recover it easier (also stops them smelling like bones, with the resulting dog digging issues). Figs and peas apparently get a great boost from this, although I haven't tried them myself.
all right i will burn them. They don't smell though as after the ants and the chickens have cleaned them up, there's not much left on them and I leave on top of the septic tank to dry out in the sun and collect.
HWH, that's an inspiring post. Ooh, and a use for our toilet rolls! This long weekend (where else do you get a 4 day weekend for a blasted horse race?) we plan to do some recycling of the junk which was left behind by the previous owners. An old wire trailer cage will become the basis for a new home for our expanding chook family. An old water tank (the white plastic-with-metal-cage type which fits on a car trailer) will become a water store for run off from the carport to feed the vegie patch (currently non-existent vegie patch). Our vegie patch frame may go in soon. It is made of redgum fence posts and corrugated iron from our last home. One of the corrugated iron water tanks will be cut down to create a sandpit for our children. Other recycling for the future: One of the two truck bodies might become a potting shed for me. The other will likely hold DH's timber (he's a furniture maker and he loves working with reclaimed timber). The hay shed will become an outdoor entertaining area with a wood-fire oven, likely using most of the bricks we keep finding in the long grass. My vegie patch will sport old spoons (and knives and forks), c/o this tute:
And after half a day at the property I've discovered more things which are begging to be recycled. At least one of the three old bathtubs will become a worm farm, aided, I dare say, by some of the skanky carpet we're ripping out. One or both of the panels of aluminium-framed glass will become hinged lids of seedling frames/mini-green houses. And there are countles other bits of farm waste scattered about which will be useful for building our garden - star pickets, left over fencing mesh, etc.
old carpet is also good for lining ponds. You can put it under the plastic to prevent the roots from coming through and you can put it on top of the plastic to prevent your ducks from cutting holes in it with their sharp claws. Yesterday i saw that someone had put old carpet in the driveway to prevent mud holes for when it rains a lot. It actually looked pretty good. It was almost the colour of the ground.
We bought an old trailer-tent because we wanted the trailer. We've just used the canvas 'walls' of the tent part as sides on the mini-hay-barn we built to store donkey's hay in for the winter. Just in time for the start of the winter rains! It looks really cute actually, like a kiddies play-house...
I saw a clever thing in a magazine many years ago: they gutted an old car that had intact windows and turned it into a food dryer. The engine was already gone, so they ripped out the seats, steering wheel, dashboard and rear shelf. They had painted the outside of the car flat black to absorb more heat, and could roll the windows up or down to adjust for heat, moisture and rain. Bricks held long shelves (front to back) that held the drying racks. You know how hot a car gets when parked in the sun, so put that free heat to good use! Sue
Sue, In France they usually get used as chicken sheds ! Burra Maluca, Talking about tents, our hens free-range all over the garden so we used old tent frames with chicken wire around them to protect vulnerable plants like lettuces and the cabbage family and seedlings. Here, my loofahs are climbing up a frame at the end of summer.
What a great idea hwh. I've got some tent poles. They also might make a better solution for my shadehouse. At the moment i am using polypipe. And also the food dryer is a great idea though i think my car is too ugly to turn into a food drier. I don't really want it to be a feature in my garden. But its definiltey something worth bearing in mind that needs to be done. Dried vegies are great for camping trips. I'm thinking of going on one next year so I should keep all this in mind.
Paint it all bright colours, (flowers, rainbows, birds, dot paintings, animals, hand prints, if you've got kids hand em a paint brush and let em go crazy) imagine how good that would look. Then not only is it a food drier but a lovely piece of garden art and a talking point for all your visitors.
Hi, quick question to you all - if my soil was getting a bit acidic from lawn clippings and old sheep poo, can i use broken up gyprock/plasterboard from the building sire across the road to raise the pH? - would this work? Cheers all.
never thought of that!! Brilliant idea - every building site has a skip bin half full of gyprock offcuts
Thanks for the replies - wiki ed the gypsum - thanks PP, it looks like it wont do much for the acidity but it is used as a soil conditioner for releasing nutrients and improving soil structure, so when my capsicums get a bit bigger ill give it a go in my tubs, one with and one without. Cheers all!
