Homesteaders have intercourse that ego - sufficiency is n’t just about growing food or prove stock . It ’s also about accept full reward of everything uncommitted to us and making things last as long as potential .
In addition to mending broken or torn items to draw out their lives , repurposing broken or worn - out pieces is invaluable for reducing permissive waste . Furthermore , it ’s a great way to stretch out originative muscles .
Below are 15 ways to repurpose items you may line up around your homestead .
Broken Items
Everything snap off eventually , and homestead life can be particularly rough on our item . Here are a few ways to repurpose used - up , soften , or fall apart - out item that would otherwise end up in landfill .
1. Wood Pallet Fencing
If you have Grant Wood palette lying around from hardware or article of furniture legal transfer , put them to serious utilisation as garden fence ! They ’re tall enough to keep smaller brute out of your veg bed , but low enough to see or mount over fairly easily as demand .
Repurposing wood pallet can also come in the form of :
If you do n’t have enough palette to fill in your project , you’re able to often find them for free if you depend at on-line mart or see for signs in industrial areas . Once you have your pallet , chaffer ourguide to learn how to build your fence .
2. Broken Rake Tool Holder
If the forefront lose it off your rip , do n’t sudate it ! just apply a hammer or mallet to loop the tine end slightly upward , then cling the rake head on your shed or workshop wall . Each tine is a perfect hook for hang smaller tools such as trowels , snips , work gloves , etc .
3. Vehicle Wheel or Tire Mini Gardens
If you have broken bicycle wheel or automobile tires that are no longer usable , you could use them to make mini garden around the property . Use railway car tires to separate item-by-item specie or stack them to make raise planter for flowers , fruit Dubya , and more .
This variety of repurposing can be done with wagon or other spoked wheel as well ! Plant a dissimilar culinary or medicinal herb in every spoked sector , or make ombre figure with low - mature blossom coinage .
If you ’ve never essay apotato tyre tower , you ’re missing out .
Speaking of miniskirt garden :
4. Raised Beds from Broken Wheelbarrows
Although garden cart last a upright , long time , they can break after a while . We ’re not talking about bike or frames either , but the real beds . This happened to us after an old lawn cart got cast away around by a hurricane a few years back .
The wheelbarrow was picked up , reach the driveway at a weird slant , and developed a severe crack . We transmute it into a raised bed for herbs near the kitchen room access , as that crack was perfect for drainage .
5. Used Window Cold Frames
If you replace old window with novel 1 , but the old ones are still in decent Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe , attempt repurposing them as cold frames or mini - greenhouses . Simply add hinge and attach them to raised beds or grow boxes to create perfect natural enclosure to protect finespun plant species .
On a like note :
6. Used Door Outhouse or Potting Shed
If you have ( or find ) four doors , you’re able to put together an outhouse or minor shed pretty quickly . Create a bod with some 2×4 gameboard , love three room access into place to create the little way , then attach the concluding threshold with some hinges .
Add a cap of your choosing , and you have a sodding piffling shed . Then it ’s up to you whether you add ledge to use it as a potting post , or a can behind to use it as a potty .
7. Outdoor Fire Pit from a Used Washing Machine Drum
If your washing motorcar gives up the spook , turn over repurposing it into an outdoor flame pit or grillwork . You ’ll demand to remove any shaping percentage from it , but then you ’re free and clear to use it for bonfires or s’more making .
to boot , if you have a grill that you’re able to pop onto , you also have an offhanded BBQ .
8. Cloth Bag Potato Planters
recyclable shopping bagful are fantastic for decoct plastic waste , but they finally wear out — especially on the bottom . Once they do , you’re able to twist your repurposing muscle and recycle them to develop potato .
9. Paper Made from Clothing Scraps
Did you acknowledge that cotton , linen paper , and hemp cloth can betransformed into paper ? Those jeans you ’ve torn past the full point of mending or the cotton PJs your kids have wear out threadbare can have Modern life quickly and easily .
10. Copper Wire Jewellery and Crafts
If you have electronic equipment such as stereos that are broken beyond repair , clean the copper wire out of them . Then use it to create wire - wrap jewellery , or for other little electronic projects that require small amounts of copper .
11. Make New Yarn from Old Knits
Do you have woollen sweaters , hats , or other knitwear that ’s porous or worn through ? Well , you’re able to break them down into new yarn for repurposing .
If possible , unknot the piece as well you may into loose yarn . If that is n’t an pick , grab a sharp duet of scissors and cut everything into strips or large pieces . Then use a pair of wool carders to pull the vulcanized fiber apart until you have a pile of fluff where there was once a knit garment .
Keep using the carders to reject any knot or lumps in the fiber , and then tramp the carded segment into roving lengths . Use a drop spindle or spinning wheel to create new yarn in whatever thickness you like , be that a individual ply or several Strand plied together .
Once you ’ve process the repurposed fiber into Modern yarn , you’re able to use it for whatever project(s ) you’re able to dream up . Knit or crochet with it , felt it , weave it : the sky is the terminus ad quem here .
Recycling
This plane section is about repurposing items that would otherwise go into the recycle bin .
12. Pickle Brine
Depending on the case of jam you ’ve made , you could get quite creative with your culinary repurposing .
My nan used to make pickled beets all the time , and when she had fished the last common beet out of the jar , she put peeled , hard - boiled eggs into the brine for a couple of twenty-four hour period . That practice pickled those eggs nicely while also turning them a stunning shade of pinkish ( ideal to hooey for Easter brunch ) .
Then , once those eggs had been film out , the seawater was also used to dye handkerchiefs or undershirts pink as well .
If you have leftover saltwater from Anethum graveolens pickles , you may add new cucumber or cultivated carrot slices into it for quick “ fridge pickle ” . These want a few days to heal in the brine and will only last a couple of weeks in the fridge , but are a tasty means to expend matter up well !
13. Cardboard Weed Barriers
All of those cardboard boxes you get from Amazon or other delivery services can be used to block pot in your garden . As long as they ’re uncolored , you just need to strip off any credit card or tape , then spread them around your property to smother weeds .
Then top them with constitutive fabric like husk , farewell , compost , and soil to make a“lasagna ” garden .
Now you could plant vegetable , herbs , or yield bushes to your warmness ’s content without compete with invasive pot !
14. Upside-Down Soda Bottle Planters
If your kinfolk drink soda ash from 2L bottles , keep the empties from the recycling ABA transit number and hear repurposing them into planters instead ! plainly cut the bottoms off , flip them upside - down , and line them with insulating sheeting ( like exigency reflective cover stuff ) .
Then ease an edible or medicinal plant through the open mind first , cover the roots with soil and compost , and hang in a sunny spot . This work remarkably well for cherry red tomatoes , live peppers , and various herbs .
Alternatively , if you do n’t want to produce food or flowers in these bottles , use them protectively instead :
15. Soda Bottle Cloches
Cut the bottoms off soda water bottles and pop them over vulnerable seedlings , specially during inclement weather . A sudden unexpected frost or hailstorm can annihilate attendant plant , which can be devastating if you ’re grow crop to feed your kinfolk .
Push the impromptu cover into the stain to keep it in position , and unless you ’re manage with gale - force air current , they should keep your plant baby good .
Get Creative!
There really is no limit to the agency you’re able to reprocess things on your belongings . Hardly anything needs to go to waste . An older chair can be turned into a potted plant bearer , boots can become planters , windows create a unique fence , and twist old clothes into quilts .
Cut open those endless feedbag , stitch them together , and you have a DIY tarp .
Before you throw anything away , you should take a secure unvoiced look at it and resolve if it really needs to go into the trash , or if there might be a way to recycle it . I bet you ’ll find that most thing can feel a second life .
Was this article helpful?
What went wrong?
This clause contain incorrect information
This article does not have the information I am bet for
How can we improve it?
We appreciate your helpful feedback!
Your answer will be used to improve our content . The more feedback you give us , the better our pages can be .
