Living remotely means, among other things, that we receive no municipal services for trash and garbage disposal or recycling. Surely anyone with a hunting cabin or a bug out location has had to do some of the following: We have become very intentional about what we haul out to our home because we have to figure out how to dispose of what remains! I have been inspired by Internet sources like “1000 uses for wooden pallets” and whimsical yard art from cans as well as techniques referred to now as “zero waste kitchens,” which I realize, applies to what I have been doing for a while now.
Below are examples of what we do with wood ash, vegetable and meat leftovers (including bones), animal and human waste, packaging, and construction debris. Many ideas may be useful to people, wherever they live.
Wood Ash
Because we heat our home and hot tub with wood, we generate a lot of ash.
As a fertilizer, wood ash reads 0-1-3 and softens acidic soil, which is what our property needs… in modest amounts. (Get soil samples) The main recipients of the ash, though, are the chickens. Ash deodorizes their coop in winter and they like to fluff their feathers with it when they do their dust baths all year long. Some people use dark ash to encourage snow to melt, but I find that unattractive.
The best use I read was by a man up here whose cabin burned down last winter. He stomped out the word “HELP” in the snow and filled the depressions with ash, to be seen by a passing airplane. It worked…after he had been stranded for 10 days.
Kitchen and garden scraps
Vegetarian kitchen and garden scraps can be repurposed for the benefits of human, animal, and garden recipients. Most of the scraps I give to the animals, but I also save vegetable bits for a pot of veggy broth from time to time. This includes the water from vegetables that I blanch (to freeze). I NEVER cook savory dishes with plain water. I ALWAYS use homemade vegetable or meat or fish broth in rice, soup, stews, gravies, etc. Bruised or other vegetable scraps that I don’t save for us or the animals (like citrus and onion peels) are trenched directly into gardens to enrich the soil or stored over winter (15 gallons) for the same. (I haven’t had great luck with compost piles, but I do make compost tea all summer for feeding plants). Worm farms (vermiculture) also eat vegetarian kitchen scraps and produce wonderful soil in thanks. Whenever I boil potatoes or pasta, I save a cup or two of that water to make bread the next day. The starch in the water feeds the yeast and tends to produce a softer loaf than “plain” water.Continue reading“What To Do with Trash?, by Mrs. Alaska”
