What did you do in the garden today?

[gtaus]

If the egg isn’t disgustingly dirty and if I know they’ve just cracked and frozen the 1 time, then I’ll use them. Otherwise I’d rather not take the risk.

I can understand that. For the record, all the eggs I have eaten where just frozen and cracked that day, and because they were all in the nest boxes, they were not dirty or anything like that. If I had any concerns, then I'd feed them back to the birds, I guess.

Maybe I was just surprised to see so many people that are choosing not to eat their frozen and cracked eggs, whereas I and most of the chicken owners I know here in the frozen north country, eat those eggs all the time and have never had a problem. Frankly, I never even considered it a potential problem, but maybe that is because our winter temps can be well below freezing both day and night here in the dead of winter. Having said that, if I found a cracked egg in the summertime, I would feed it back to the chickens.

 

[paradisepentacoop]

I weeded and watered, since we are in a dry spell. Monitoring fruit trees to see if they need more of anything, since they are struggling. Trying to figure out the best way to better keep track of the garden!

 

[Molpet]

Having said that, if I found a cracked egg in the summertime, I would feed it back to the chickens.

Depends on how many eggs I have. Sometimes in the summer a third of the chickens are broody or not laying for some reason. I cook them right away so I can sell the good eggs.

 

[CNJ]

I got my Skittle candy that I ordered from amazon the other day. This was my first time trying them, they were soft and chewy with a crispy colorful outer coating. It tasted sweet and tangy like citrus with multiple flavors. However, I think they designed the coating so we can't eat too many of them because my mouth tissue got worn down and began to hurt, so I stop eating them.

 

[saysfaa]

Why no plastic? ...https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CP7RXGR...UJI8DX&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it_im&th=1

I'm systematically minimizing the use of plastic as much as I reasonably can.

My siblings and I have been cleaning up our parents' farm/businesses for about ten years so far. Several 40'x100' or larger barns, stuffed full. And lots of stuff outside. They loved plastic.

I've spent unbelievable amount of hours picking plastic shards out of straw, sawdust, dirt, ect.

I know what happens to plastic when it goes - it shatters. The shards shatter. The shattered shards shatter. They don't decompose.

So, I believe the warnings about microplastics.

I'm less sure about the other warnings.

Finding alternatives also gives me something to think about - better than the state of the world these days.

And, yes, the glass vials can be frozen. You just need to cushion them and be careful of thermal shock (don't let them touch water until they warm up enough, and such). I could do that but I'll use something I already have. I haven't gotten to it yet.

 

[karenerwin]

We have our water pipe replaced !! So glad to have flushing toilets and running water !!
My chicken yard is a mud pit now.

@WthrLady I believe that they are required to bury the pipes 10’ deep but I was told that a lot of plumbers go deeper than that. Often 12ft deep

 

[gtaus]

I'm systematically minimizing the use of plastic as much as I reasonably can.

Plastic has so many advantages over other materials, but the pollution factor is not to be dismissed. Our oceans are filling up with plastics that will outlive us. That's too bad.

I try to repurpose lots of our plastic containers before they get sent to the recycle center. Just about all our plastic peanut butter jars work great out in the shop for nuts and bolts, or nails and screws. Love the plastic jars over glass jars in the shop because if they drop on the floor, the plastic might crack or break but it won't shatter like glass. We reuse lots of plastic containers to leftovers, especially when giving food to others to take home. No crying over that empty whipping cream bowl. Happy to give it to someone else after filling it up with some leftovers.

Almost all our plastics that I cannot repurpose are sent to the recycle center. But I have little confidence that any of our plastics are getting recycled. I suspect they get incinerated off site. If I am burning junk wood in a clean up fire out in the backyard, I'll toss in some broken plastics as well and not bother to send them to the recycle center. Plastics are made from oils and they usually burn quite well. Where I live, we can have controlled fires in those fire rings.

I have even purchased food products in some plastic containers because I wanted that plastic container after the food is gone. When I was a kid back in the 1960's and 1970's, my parents would buy our butter in plastic bowls that we used for our cereal and soup bowls when the butter was gone. They were actually nice cereal and soup bowls. And we saved the tops as well in case you wanted to fill it up with leftovers and place it in the fridge. I often wonder if plastic containers were made in such a way that they would have value after the product was used up, like those butter bowls, that we would have less plastic waste in the landfills.

I try to minimize the amount of plastics I use in my gardening. I bought a soil block maker to avoid using those small plastic pots for seed starts. My soil blocker did not work very well, so I ended up buying packs of plastic net cups with slits in them for seed starting. However, I bought the heavy-duty net cups which should last for many, many years of reuse if I take care of them. When we buy plants from the big box stores, I try to save as many of those starter packs and small pots as I can for reuse. But most of them these days are made from really thin plastics and are pretty much a one-time use, then trash it. Too bad they don't make them to be reused because I bet a lot of gardeners would save them and reuse them if they still had value. Well, I would anyways.

 

[Nym]

I was having a nice burn-off of cardboard and old tree trimmings / palm fronds until it started raining steadily. I also mowed the chook yard and threw out a few pot plants. Living things must come first, so I'm determined to rehome as many ornamentals as I can, especially the potted ones. They get too heavy and hard to repot.

 

[gtaus]

I believe that they are required to bury the pipes 10’ deep but I was told that a lot of plumbers go deeper than that. Often 12ft deep

I live in northern Minnesota where our water lines are buried just over 8 foot deep. I have never had a water line freeze in our winters. Are you sure your water pipes are buried 10 feet deep in Missouri? Looks more like about 3 feet deep in the picture of the trench being dug by the backhoe. But sometimes it is hard to judge the depth of the trench in a picture without some other reference.

 

[Nym]

Plastic has so many advantages over other materials, but the pollution factor is not to be dismissed. Our oceans are filling up with plastics that will outlive us. That's too bad.

I try to repurpose lots of our plastic containers before they get sent to the recycle center. Just about all our plastic peanut butter jars work great out in the shop for nuts and bolts, or nails and screws. Love the plastic jars over glass jars in the shop because if they drop on the floor, the plastic might crack or break but it won't shatter like glass. We reuse lots of plastic containers to leftovers, especially when giving food to others to take home. No crying over that empty whipping cream bowl. Happy to give it to someone else after filling it up with some leftovers.

Almost all our plastics that I cannot repurpose are sent to the recycle center. But I have little confidence that any of our plastics are getting recycled. I suspect they get incinerated off site. If I am burning junk wood in a clean up fire out in the backyard, I'll toss in some broken plastics as well and not bother to send them to the recycle center. Plastics are made from oils and they usually burn quite well. Where I live, we can have controlled fires in those fire rings.

I have even purchased food products in some plastic containers because I wanted that plastic container after the food is gone. When I was a kid back in the 1960's and 1970's, my parents would buy our butter in plastic bowls that we used for our cereal and soup bowls when the butter was gone. They were actually nice cereal and soup bowls. And we saved the tops as well in case you wanted to fill it up with leftovers and place it in the fridge. I often wonder if plastic containers were made in such a way that they would have value after the product was used up, like those butter bowls, that we would have less plastic waste in the landfills.

I try to minimize the amount of plastics I use in my gardening. I bought a soil block maker to avoid using those small plastic pots for seed starts. My soil blocker did not work very well, so I ended up buying packs of plastic net cups with slits in them for seed starting. However, I bought the heavy-duty net cups which should last for many, many years of reuse if I take care of them. When we buy plants from the big box stores, I try to save as many of those starter packs and small pots as I can for reuse. But most of them these days are made from really thin plastics and are pretty much a one-time use, then trash it. Too bad they don't make them to be reused because I bet a lot of gardeners would save them and reuse them if they still had value. Well, I would anyways.

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I was also a bit skeptical as to where all the recyclables were going. I think it would be a nice bit of goodwill if rate payers got a rate reduction for kerbside and depot recycling efforts. After all, they're getting our wa$te for nothing.