Skip to main content

Waste Not, Want Not

I suppose I'm more wasteful than my ancestors (who were, by virtue of their genetics, frugal with a capital F). I just today roasted a turkey, in a frenzied attempt to gain some room in my freezer before Mr. Pork comes to stay. And when I finished picking the meat off the bones, I did NOT boil the carcass to make broth. I do this faithfully in the winter. Not today; I just let the barn cats have at it...

But it does bother me a bit to waste stuff. So, when we are done harvesting sweet corn (as we did last Saturday), the stalks get chopped and fed to Mr. Cow and his friends. 


And that wheelbarrow of corn we husked? The husks went to the rams. They are stuck inside, unlike the females and young'uns who have fresh grass every 3-5 days. So a bit of green was very welcome to them.


How do you "swim upstream" in our wasteful culture? What specific ways are you frugal even when it's more work? 
Labels:

Comments

  1. AnonymousAugust 14, 2008 at 10:25 PM

    Due to high fuel costs, I have definitely cut down on quick trips to town and combine as many errands as I possibly can in one trip! I miss our 4-H hog projects because they got all of our "scrappy" type stuff, watermelon rinds, (their personal fave) and whatnot. Love your blog! LuAnn

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousAugust 15, 2008 at 11:23 AM

    One of my favorite ways to be both frugal and "green" is to use cloth napkins. Every few years I buy a couple yards of calico when it's on sale, cut it up and hem it into napkins. Over the years, it has worked out to about $1/year for napkins. (I think that's less than the cost of one package of paper napkins.) Plus, they just work so much better than paper - no ripping or shredding when we use them. They just go into the laundry, hardly noticable in the regular loads. It's a little way to save that also feels like a luxury.

    Of course, there are also the old standbys like only buying things that are on sale (aside from essentials like milk, eggs, etc.),
    doing everything in town in one trip, having a garden, canning and freezing stuff, etc.

    I need some animals to eat our kitchen scraps! Maybe some day....

    Debbie

    ReplyDelete
  3. PamAugust 17, 2008 at 11:20 PM

    I wash out ziploc bags and use them again and again. It's a small thing, but hey...... I also don't run the dishwasher unless it's completely full, and I rarely do small loads of laundry either (part of the reason for that could be having 5 kids). We do a pretty good job of using up leftover food too, though we could probably do better.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bloggy Giveaway--Now Closed

**This bloggy giveaway is now closed** Thanks to all who participated and gave such great comments. Janette is the winner of the $15 gift certificate to our etsy store . I'm participating in the Bloggy Giveaways Quarterly Carnival . Click the link to go to the carnival where you can enter to win literally hundreds of things. The good news is that even if you have no time to play on the computer trying to win hundreds of things, you can still enter to win one thing right here. This week, I will be giving away a $15 gift certificate to be used toward the purchase of an item in my etsy shop . This contest is open to residents of the United States or Canada only. The winner will receive free shipping on whatever item they choose. Items in my etsy shop include handwoven rugs, wool yarns and roving from our farm, and the ever-popular cotton dishcloth! To be entered in this wonderful drawing, you must go to the etsy shop and look around a bit. Then come back here and type a comment that
132 comments
Read more

Haying 101

A few posts back, "deep end of the loom" (love that name!) asked me to tell a bit more about the haying process. If you want my version, read on. If you'd like to read the official wikipedia version, click here . Haying happens in three steps: cutting, raking and baling. This process takes several days, as the hay must be dry when baled. Moist hay molds and heats up and has even been known to spontaneously combust, burning down the barn. Gotta have dry hay. This first photo is of our haybine. The haybine not only cuts the hay, it also crimps each piece of long grass in several places, to allow for faster drying. We usually cut hay in the early afternoon, when the dew is gone. When we're done, long row of cut grass lie waiting. The hay is allowed to dry for two to three days, depending on wind and sun conditions. Obviously, the more wind and sun the days hold, the quicker the hay will dry. When we feel like the hay is nearly dry, we go out with the rake. There are diff
1 comment
Read more

This Giveaway Is Now Closed!

Today starts a giveaway at Farming in the Shade! I am happy to contribute this complete hat kit (needles not included) to someone who has a knitting obsession and a small person in their life. Here are the rules (contest open to US or Canada residents only): Giveaway ends May 1 at 9 p.m. EST. Winner will be announced by Sunday, May 3. Enter by posting a comment on this blog post. Tell me something about your knitting--who taught you to knit, your favorite yarn, the coolest thing you ever knitted. Make sure you leave contact information! Earn extra entries by: 1) Following me on twitter. (If you don't know what twitter is, don't worry. It's another way to waste your time on the computer.)  Add a comment here so I will count it as one entry. 2) Tweeting this giveaway (no more than once daily). Add a comment here so I know you did it. 3) Blog about this giveaway. Add a comment (with link) here so I can go visit your blog. 4) Follow or subscribe to this blog (or tell me if have
45 comments
Read more