"Self-sufficiency does not mean 'going back' to the acceptance of a lower standard of living. On the contrary, it is the striving for a higher standard of living, for food that is organically grown and good, for the good life in pleasant surroundings... and for the satisfaction that comes from doing difficult and intricate jobs well and successfully." John Seymour ~ Self Sufficiency 2003
Showing posts with label re-purposing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label re-purposing. Show all posts

Saturday, 18 December 2021

Re-usable jam tins

The mousebirds have decimated the fruit on my trees this year, so this week I had to pop into the supermarket to buy a tin of jam.

Looking at all the jars and tis of jam, I spied this...

Tin with ring pull, and re-sealable, re-usable lid


A tin of Rhodes jam with a re-usable lid.

Wonderful!

Yes, the lid is plastic, but it is really well fitting and will allow for the tin to be re-used for a myriad of times - until the lid deteriorates. 

Button, screws, beans, seeds...  And if one had to pierce that lid with tiny holes, the it could even be used for sprouting seeds.

Well done, Rhodes.  You thought outside the box.



Sunday, 14 November 2021

Repurposing glass jars

I confess - I can be OCD.


For instance, there are very few seeds which pass through my kitchen without me having to "grow them on" - that has resulted in approx. 70 lemon trees in our lemon orchard, numerous apples trees, and most of my summer veg are all grown from something that originally passed through my kitchen and whose seeds were saved from last summer for re-using this summer.


I have another (annoying" habit to confess. I cannot chuck out a glass bottle or glass jar. Any size, small, large, fat or thin. I do drive myself crazy...

 

My kitchen windowsill is my plant ICU nursery. And that nursery prevented me from opening the window. I had to move all the sprouting veg before I could open the fly screen in order to open the window.


So, this morning I sat down and Googled. And found just what I needed to get that ICU nursery more conveniently situated without having to move it out of my kitchen.


The first pic is of my cluttered window ledge - you can see there is no way to open the fly screen without having to move the plants that are growing there.

 The second pic is of the hanging plants - and an empty window ledge. 

And the third pic is of the plain "strung up" jar.  


I think these will make excellent Christmas gifts too - add a bead or two, or some ribbon, or whatever takes your fancy in order to "tart it up" a bit.


The tutorial to make these jar hangers can be found here: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZOVquCsU1s