Welcome to The Scottish Homesteader!
So… finally after umpteen million people have told me I ought to write my ideas down, I am going to attempt it. Not that I haven’t wanted to share and extend to others the precious gifts I’ve been given by God! Oh no! It’s just that … I’m a farmer and THAT answers why. I’m not just a farmer’s wife, which encompasses plenty in and of itself. I love being outdoors, getting dirty, tending and nurturing animals; much more than I like all the stuff that marches through my kitchen to be processed. In other words… I don’t have time to write it all down.
That being said, at this point this site does not have the time for “comments.” Maybe, once my home-schooled son’s computer and grammar skills are a little sharper, that might happen. But not now. As it is, he’s going to have to input this article as part of his Typing class.
Not sure where to begin –
I’m Scottish and Italian. In other words, I’m cheap and prone to much emotion. I prefer: “passionately thrifty” and thus the title of this post. I treat my heritage as a gift from God that has helped me to see solutions and systems in everyday and generally USED items. I share a middle name with the contemporary 3-Rs: Reduce, RE-USE, Recycle. Very few things ever make it to my recycle bin whole. Gallon sized cooking oil or vinegar bottles graduate to convenient grain, salts, or sugar scoops. Their cut off bottoms make great feed or water bowls to replace the store-bought ones that always crack.
Batteries or marker caps become plugs for unused suction lines on the Surge milker. Can lids screw easily over holes in incubators or chick coops to regulate air flow, or temporarily cover the hole for the heat lamp cord. The possibilities are endless!
So look twice at ALL your recyclables, including the caps. Here are some more ideas:
- lids or caps as furniture or chair skids
- marker caps as spout stoppers
- worn out milking machine inflations cut into washers and spouts for a milk jug (that’s a whole other post!)
- switch plain/solid caps for pour types with snap shut lids
- any wider mouth glass quart bottle (that can fit a scrub brush) for separated cream in your coffee
- scoops from coffee or vitamins can be stored in an unsightly coffee mug (your husband received for writing in a question to the Ag-channel) in your pantry. Put a new scoop into each jar of dehydrated goods, like garlic or onion powder, for easy, no clean-up, no cross contaminating dispensing.
I think I’m so obsessed with re-using stuff because of my real heritage. Oh sure, I came from an Italian mom and Scottish dad, but I’m talking about my real Father in Heaven. He’s the One, after all, who wove me together in my mother’s womb from the elements of the earth (Psalm 139:13-15.) Think about it. Our Creator hand-picked all the atoms and molecules from which we are made! What my mother ate came from plants and animals and the nutrients that they had gained from the earth. What she ate (and my grandmother ate, in fact, since my egg was in my mother when she was born) helped my cells to grow and multiply. So … I came from dirt. Hmmm … so did Adam (Genesis 2:7.)
Where did the dirt come from? That’s right! The recycle bin! My Creative Father fashioned me from used parts and pieces from the depths of the earth.
Later, He picked me up out of the trash bin into which I had dumped my life.
Yes, “Re-use” is my adopted middle name. I inherited it from my Creative Father, Savior, and Friend, Jesus Christ.
Psalm 139:13-15
“For You created my inmost being;
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Your works are wonderful. I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth.”
Genesis 2:7
“The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,
and the man became a living being”
Job 10:9
Remember that You molded me like clay;
Will You now turn me to dust again?
