Re-purposing Ideas for the Homestead

Whether you have a hobby-homestead, are a frugal momma, or just spent a lot of time with the 'Greatest Generation,' re-purposing is a simple fact of life.  Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without!  These five ideas will help you to save money, do a little recycling, and even bring a personal flair to your home!

	Bottle Cap Steps Coke, beer, kombucha, and more...they all come in bottles with handy little metal tops that can be re-made into many things!  My grandma used to make trivets, but we're making steps for the garden.  Using a plastic ice cream tub lid and some plaster of paris, create a unique design with your bottle caps to bring more color to your space! Need some lids?  Buy them in bulk here.
	'Smalls' Organizer Using a plank of wood, old peanut butter (or quart ice cream) jars, and some gorilla glue, you can make a shelf that doubles as an organizer below.  Glue the lids to the shelf (it's gorilla glue; they'll stay) and put washers, screws, and other small things into them.  Screw the container to the lid for storage. Gorilla glue is super strong!
	Zip-Tie Hose Planter Ran over the garden hose with the lawnmower?  Don't toss it!  Wrap it up, tie it with zip ties, and use it for a planter.  With the advent of our teenage sons doing the mowing, we have a few of these planters!  When duct tape no longer works for a patch, upcycle the holey-hose into something new and unique! Zip ties can be used for so many projects that we often buy them in bulk...
	Urine Fertilizer Pee-cycling.  It's a thing.  When you add urine - human or animal - to plants, they tend to grow much healthier!  Urine is a natural fertilizer (N-P-K...11-1-2.5).  Just be sure to dilute it 1:8 with water!  Some people are squeamish about collecting urine, and might try a special collector....or just peeing outside!
	Scrap Garden Apron Using some scrap heavy-duty cloth, I created this apron a few years ago.  It's not HAUTE COTRE, but it is durable and holds a lot of produce!  Using two large pieces, sew the apron base and create a pocket.  Using doubled-over heavy-duty cloth, create thick apron ties.  Triple or quadruple stitch both the pocket and the ties onto the apron.  I get get about fifteen pounds of produce in the pocket of this easily....the cloth was just project leftovers...and it makes harvesting the garden a little bit simpler!
	Solar-Powered Clothes Dryer There's a beautiful, fresh scent that comes from sun-dried clothes and sheets.  Spritz them with your favorite essential oils if you need a dryer-sheet scent.  A classic line works, if you have two anchors to string it on, but we like the vintage feel of this rotating umbrella line, which can be put just about anywhere! This one doesn't really re-purpose anything, but is always a great money-saving and earth-friendly idea!

The BEST Zucchini Bread

Historically, the kids haven't been a fan of green things, with the exception of green beans (every family has their one "thanks heavens!" veggie...right?).  

But this recipe, thanks to its chocolate-y goodness, is a hit!!

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 c olive oil
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1 c molasses
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 c grated, packed zucchini, not wrung out
• 3 c all-purpose flour
• 1 c chocolate chips

If you don't have one, the salad shooter is a handy kitchen tool for many things, including shredding the zucchini super quickly!

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.  Spray two loaf pans (to prevent sticking).
2. Mix wet ingredients.  Mix dry ingredients (except flour) separately.  Whisk all together.  Stir in flour until flour disappears.
3. Bake 55-70 minutes, until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Strictly Vacation

Sometimes, you just have to throw in the towel.....or pull out a towel....and call it a vacation!  When we visited family in Cocoa Beach, Florida, we deemed this one of those occasions....

The beach was hot...WAY HOT...so hot that you burned your feet trying to walk on the sand.  We'd never been to a beach like that!  It was a bit like standing on the sun....and so we were forced to play like children amongst the waves.

My biggest concern was dropping the camera in the water...and the kelp all along the shore was pretty nasty, so I just tossed it on the towel and went in to play!

There's nothing quite like the ocean...it's a balm for your soul, especially if you spend 99.9% of your life away from the water.  It's a place we could all stand to visit a bit more...

 

We voted and agreed that we could totally get used to this being the view in our backyard!!!  

Our 'last day at the beach' tradition is to get up and watch the sunrise.  When they were younger, the boys were the ones dragging us out of bed with excitement.....so turnabout seemed like fair play.  😉