Farming in the shade

Our family has been recycle-minded from way back. I was recently telling an acquaintance that my mom dragged us kids and our family's recyclables down to the city back in the 70s WAY before recycling was mainstream. People on both sides of our families were known for "making do or doing without." Part of that stems from them living through the Great Depression (or having parents who did). Some comes from our extremely frugal ethnic heritage. And some comes from the reality that it costs a lot of money to farm. Making do with older equipment and do-it-yourself repair jobs helps keep the expense side of the ledger a little more in balance with the income side. A side effect of frugality is that it keeps stuff out of the landfills. These are two shovels that have seen better days. One shovel head was worn out with much use in the composting process on our farm. The other shovel--the one with a broken handle--was rescued from a dumpster. There is no time right now for little ...

Rag rugs were a traditional way to use up bits of worn out clothing. I've been weaving rugs for around 15 years, and use mostly bits of worn out clothing or unwanted material. Doing my part in an effort to keep the landfills from overflowing. I make a lot of rag rugs from blue jeans. They're incredibly durable, and who doesn't like blue jeans, in any form? Every so often, I find some colored denim and can weave a jean rug that isn't blue. Just listed this one in the etsy shop :

Honestly? It's a slow day for blogging. Who wants to see yet another photo of planting hayfields (which is what is happening right now)? So today as I picked up the dropped pears and apples in preparation for mowing the lawn, I thought about how we try not to waste things. The pears and apples were fed to the cattle and sheep. As parts of the garden finish, the leftovers (corn stalks, bean plants) are also fed to the animals. And tonight our supper included a roasted chicken. In the winter I might boil the bones for soup, but I'm not in the mood for soup right now. So I picked the meat off the bones and saved it for another day. I removed the bones (which go in the composter) and fed the non-bone scraps to the barn cats. We do feed our barn cats on a daily basis--plain jane dry cat food. But they love to lick up the scraps, and here one is waiting her turn while another eats first. What are other ideas for "not wasting" that you practice?

Recently I took apart a rag rug. It was the last rag rug I purchased before I began weaving my own. So it's probably 15 or so years old. The warp is giving out... But the "rags" are still in pretty good shape. Anyone who's ever cut up enough blue jeans for a rag rug knows you don't throw out perfectly good blue jean weft . So I started cutting the warp and unravelling the rug. Eventually, I had a pile of warp bits to throw away and a few rag balls to take out to my workshop. A "new" rug will soon grace my entryway. Is there anything that you do that you consider "thrifty"? Others might call it "cheap", but you know better. Would you share your idea below in the comment section? I have a feeling we could all stand to learn a few new thrifty ideas...

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?