by Texas Homesteader ~
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Happy Earth Day, y’all! By now most of you know earth day is April 22nd each year. It’s a special day to highlight being kind to our environment.
Many people celebrate by doing something good for Mother Earth. Some pick up trash on the beach, some plant trees, others figure out ways to live more gently on this big, blue planet we call earth.
by Texas Homesteader ~
Did ya ever think about closing the loop in charitable giving? I mean, you’ve made a wonderful donation of household goods to that thrift store. That’s awesome! But then what?
Several years ago we began to be aware of our environmental footprint and took several steps to reduce that footprint. (HA! I said STEPS & footprint – see what I did there?)
First we took a good hard look at the overabundance we already had and stopped ‘boredom shopping’ for yet more stuff to overfill our home. That was a pretty big step.
But today I want to talk about something that can make a larger impact: Buying used instead of new. It’s good for your finances and good for the environment. Yet it’s oftentimes very misunderstood.
By Texas Homesteader ~
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I have a couple of large wooden cutting boards. And many wood utensils too. I’ve owned and used them all heavily for years.
But I’m mindful in taking care of them. They’re always hand-washed and dried before putting them away.
I don’t put anything made of wood in my dishwasher. Doing that could ruin your wooden items. Even utensils that are steel but have a wooden handle need to be hand-washed.
But even with proper care, over the years your wooden items might need a little extra love. Maybe they start drying out a little. So they might benefit from a little conditioner.
by Texas Homesteader ~
It seems being environmentally friendly is all the rage now. But for some reason I was bitten by the environmental bug years before it became the thing to do.
I was using my own reusable bags well before it was fashionable. It’s funny the strange looks I received from clerks when I asked them to place my purchases into my own canvas bag.
I used to joke with RancherMan that if I could get a nickel for every time the puzzled cashier exclaimed “are you SURE??“ that I could pay off all our bills!
Because I naturally have such a “tread softly on the earth” mindset it was primary in my mind when we built our home in NE Texas.
We incorporated many energy efficiency features as well as passive solar features into its construction.
But not everyone is in the building phase of their home so I thought I’d pass on some good news – passive solar energy can be very low cost and many times doesn’t cost a dime!
~ by Texas Homesteader ~
I use canning jars for many things here on the Homestead. Everything from actual food canning to storing leftovers in the refrigerator to storing dehydrated food in the pantry.
Although I shy away from using glass in my freezer, many people repurpose canning jars to freeze foods as well. (using proper headspace recommendations of course)
Since you can only use traditional 2 piece canning flats & rings once for actually canning food, often I’ll utilize previously-used canning flats & rings to top those canning jars I’m using for other food storage.
But sometimes doinking around with a 2-part lid is inconvenient.
Come see what I’ve found to replace that 2-part lid for food storage on the cheap.
Well, for FREE actually.
by Texas Homesteader ~
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Y’all know I’ve been on a quest to reduce our outgoing household trash for years now. We’ve been pretty successful.
As a matter of fact we’ve eliminated the need for a weekly trash pickup to haul our household trash to the dump.
There are so many steps we took to reduce our trash output so drastically including the (now 5) R’s – Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle.
Today I’ll talk about a few ways we’ve been able to very easily yet substantially reduce our trash output from our home’s kitchen.
by Texas Homesteader ~
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Y’all know that RancherMan & I drink coffee every day. Those lidded coffee containers are handy when they’re empty, but they pile up. What to do with them all?
Of course I’m offering them to schools/churches/nurseries for them to use on their bookshelves to hold crayons, legos & such. And I’ve shared many different ideas where I repurpose them here on the Homestead too.
But recently I was catching up on a chore and I remembered another helpful way I’m able to repurpose these handy empty lidded coffee cans. Check out this Homestead Hack.
by Texas Homesteader ~
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Over the years I’ve used various containers for starting seeds, including repurposed plastic yogurt cups & such. But I loved those little pots you can drop into the soil – pot, plant and all. How convenient!
But I wanted a free version. So I’ve started planting my seeds in repurposed cardboard toilet paper rolls. They’re biodegradable, the earthworms love the paper when it’s in the garden, and they’re absolutely FREE!
When it’s time to put my precious seedlings into the garden that the whole shootin’ match – cardboard tube & all – can be placed in the soil!
The cardboard will simply decompose and further enrich the soil. I like that!
