Don't Waste Your Teaspoons..

Houses and riches are the inheritance of fathers: 

and a prudent wife is from the Lord.

Proverbs 19:14

Prudent: wise or judicious in practical affairs.

               discreet or circumspect.

               careful in providing for the future; provident.

When we first got married one of Shane's little grannies told me 

"don't be the kind of woman who throws her husband's earning out the back door with a shovel while he is working himself to death trying to put it in the front with a teaspoon."

That image has stuck with me. Man, has it stuck.

And there are days that life drags it out by the shovel full and there is nothing I can do about it.  But the things I can control.... those things, I had better be about the business of controlling.

I want to be a prudent wife.  I want the Lord to teach me to use my resources wisely.  So today as teaspoon-y as it will be we are going to talk about trash.

Think about what leaves your house as trash on a weekly basis.  Now think about the boundaries of your domain and think of where they can be used as resources...  In the near future we are going to be mapping that domain but for now, just picture it in your head.

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My junk: cardboard boxes because I do most of my shopping online and also junk mail.  

My need:  the pumpkin field... It has poor soil and lots of rocks.

My solution: flatten the cardboard and chuck it in the field just before it rains. I don't toss it out any other time because we have dogs that drag it off but once it is good and wet it begins to break down into the dirt and they can't move it.

My solution for junk mail is a bit different.  I burn it then spread the ash in the pumpkin field.  I don't want my credit card offers accidentally getting into someone else's hands and ash is excellent for bugs and acidity in Missouri soil.

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My junk: egg shells.

My need: my garden.

My solution is to place a cookie sheet on top of my fridge and train everyone to toss their shells up on it. When the shells are dry I either put them in the blender (this has proven time-consuming)

  

or 

double bag them and set the bag in a high traffic area of my house.    (Hey, I haven't lived through 25 years of broken items without knowing how to use it to my advantage..  just sayin')

The nicely crushed shells are spread on our fields during the winter and used in our garden around plants to ward of snails and add extra calcium during the summer.

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My junk:  coffee grounds

My need:  again my soil.... I live in Missouri, this is going to be a never-ending theme.

My solution is to save the grounds and like the eggshells, they are put on the fields in winter and our garden in summer. BUT NOT the filters, those go in the compost bin for while they will break down and are excellent for the soil they do not break down quickly and I'm telling you from experience you will find yourself on the other side of winter looking like there is a bunch of used toilet paper strewn all over your field...not a pretty sight..

As a side note if I need to make a trip to the big city I am always on a lookout for the coffee shops and when I pass them I pull in and check their dumpsters.  I have brought home huge garbage bags full of coffee grounds in the past and my land is always thankful to have it.  Just be respectful and don't make a mess of their area.

~

My junk:  food scraps.

My need:  very little.  we have pigs and chicken that eat most of our scraps but there are a few things that I cannot feed them such as potato peelings, avocado pits, pineapple tops, hair either from shaving the dogs or the boys, stuff like that.  

My solution:  I took a lick tub, you can use a bucket, and knocked a few holes in the bottom. Then someone from my crew carelessly ran it over with the 4wheeler.  The last step added no benifit except to raise my blood pressure.

 I simply toss the trash in my beautiful lick tub and forget it. One year the boys had a few worms left over from bait and I tossed them in there too.  But honestly, it is completely neglected until I need it.

 Then I just scrape the unprocessed stuff to the side and scoop out as much as I need from the bottom to dress my tomatoes or add to a hole of a newly planted tree.

~

My junk:   scrap metal, broken parts from the tractor, trucks, cans... it is a joke around here to use a "mom" voice and say "is that recyclable?"

My need:  money

My solution:  designate a spot for recyclables, keep it as tight and organized as possible or my man will make "Clampett comments" Watch your metal prices then make a trip to town when it's high (or when the pile is making you crazy) and claim your money, honey.


*Note: there are no pictures of my Clampett pile.... a girl has got to have her pride,  ya know.



Well, there are a few ideas to get you started.  Get the children involved in looking for teaspoons and see what fun you can have.