As always, continually re-sorting my housemates’ contributions to our trash and recycling bins. (Despite the “what’s accepted where” sheet being posted right over the bins, sorting is frequently not very successful on the first go-round.)
I really want to get some vermicomposting going but am trying to figure out how to do it without dropping $80 on a plastic rig. I’ve asked in my Buy Nothing group but I suspect it will be crickets there. If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to find a small opaque plastic tote bin second-hand that I can drill holes in…
I’ve seen some convincing diy jobs that yeah, just use 2 totes, one nested inside the other, with holes drilled. Pretty low investment. Plus cost of worms (unless you know someone locally who has red wigglers and is willing to gift you some).
Do you even need two totes if you have a good catchment system for the tote? (Or was that as a way of doing the tray/rack system that a lot of commercial rigs do?)
I think the idea is to mimic the “commercial” bin systems, but also, you want to have at least 2 trays because once your first tray (bin) is getting close to being finished, you put new bedding and food in the second tray (bin) and they migrate upward into it so you don’t have to do any of the sifting of the worms out of the “finish” casting like you do with a one bin system. You’ll still want some sort of catchment system to catch the juice (like you’d have the lid on the top bin, and the the lid of the other bin as the “dish” on the bottom.)
(You definitely can do it with one bin. But it seems like more manipulating and interacting might be necessary. Like to remove the finished castings you have to do something like tilting the bin with the lid off so all the worms migrate to one spot, and then you still have to sort/sift because there might be a lot of stragglers and such. I mean, there still might be stragglers in a two bin system, but you are under no time constraint to get them out of the lower bin so you can leave it in place for a week or whatever while they all move upward to the new food.)
(I used to have a multi tray system when I lived in an apartment. It was pretty awesome but yeah not cheap, and I feel like a two bin system would have been almost as good, but a one bin system I may have lost interest in before too long because of the extra “work”. IDK though.)
I made some cute reusable produce bags. I will probably make some more. The fabric is leftover from my hemming of some 15-yo IKEA curtains to fit my windows better. They have fancy French seams. (I French seams and will use them in everything if at all possible.)
Yeah, I was guessing that the two-bin part was related to migration. The point re: effort and extra work is definitely a good one, especially because I’m much worse at one-off tasks than I am daily tasks.
My two yarn stash bins would be perfect if they weren’t clear and, you know, holding yarn and still in great shape because all they do is hold yarn.
You could spray paint them… if you had spray paint. And wanted to adulterate your nice yarn bins.
If you started with smaller bins I bet you could get bins at the dollar store or somewhere similar for just a few bucks each? If you can’t find any on Buy Nothing.
Cloth nappies on the toddler and cloth pads on me.
Not driving anywhere; all errands and activities will be within walking distance.
Stretching how long I go between washing my hair, because my shower takes twice as long when I wash it.
I can finally say that I NEED (not just want) a new wallet. There’s one I really want from a cool Aussie company, but first, I’m going to hit up my local op shops to see if I can find a secondhand one that’ll get the job done.
Scavenged cardboard from regular trashcans and pasteurized it to add to the oyster mushroom substrate. Growing food from stuff people throw away is one of my favorite ways to pass the time. The spent substrate will be given to our friends who farm worms, who then give the super plant-friendly leftovers to our friends with a small farm. Now if everything could just have a nice loop like this…
Remembered and used my reusable produce bags and shopping bags at the store today, cloth diapered, bought recycled plastic poly mailers for the business.
Not sure if that last one is that great but it’s better than straight plastic I guess.
Cloth diapers for the wiggler, menstrual cup for me. Using my Klean Kanteen and a real mug (rather than one of the disposable hot-liquid cups in the work kitchenette). Also told D to remove the hard plastic twist/zip ties from the cardboard packaging for a wooden baby toy before it goes out with the recycling, though I don’t know if he’s done it yet.
The other day I mentioned most of my towels were ripped or stained. I was thinking about buying some new ones because the state of the towels makes me quite sad (and I have almost no nice towels for when company is over). Then I remembered I had some upholstery cotton cloth that I had originally purchased (online) for a dress, but it turned out to be too heavy for my original purpose. It has been in my stash for (I think) over a decade. Sooooo I decided to make some towels from some of it. I cut three (but have only sewed one so far). The weight is about the same as one of my other towels, and I think after a few washings it will be nice and soft. I suppose I might have used the fabric (eventually) for something else… but it filled a need right now.
French seams and will use them in everything if at all possible.)
