Alumnium recycles

On July 7, 2019 By CarynIn Craft, Life Hack

I switched to buying sparkling water in aluminum cans. As much fun as it is to make plastic string from bottles, I now have more string than I know what to do with (I have ideas, but not the time yet!) But aluminum is one of the few recyclables that actually make money (it is easier to melt recycled aluminum than it is to mine and process bauxite and recycling reduces the need to strip mine for bauxite). We don’t have recycling where we live, so the choice of containers makes a big impact on the amount of trash we produce.

I have some ideas on things to make with aluminum cans, but again, the time to process and make has been thin (chickens). I took a large bag to the middle school science teacher for a high/low pressure experiment (and the school has recycling, yay!), but it didn’t take long to build up another big bag. I called around and the local scrap yard takes aluminum! And pays for it. What? Not much, but still, it made me rethink my bag of uncrushed cans. A 33 gallon bag full of empty cans weighs about 7 pounds. Crushed we can at least double that, and reduce the amount of space taken up in the house while the cans are waiting for recycling.

So I looked up DIY can crusher and the first hit was a good one. I gathered some 2×4 scrap, a spare gate hinge, and two pint canning jar lids. All from around the house.

Then my kids and I made it a project. We set the hinge on the ends of the 2x4s, and used 1 inch screws to set the jar lids as guides between the 2x4s. They each took turns using the drill to set screws, then they took turns putting in cans and stepping down to crush the cans.

Canning jar lid on each 2×4 makes a good guide for holding the cans

We started off with the screws that came with the hinge, and after a few cans, changed to 1 inch screws, then to 2.5 inch screws. I think in the original video the guy used lag screws, which would be even better (but I was out of those). The jar lids took a beating, but still worked well!

Styrofoam cooler

On June 4, 2019June 3, 2019 By CarynIn Life Hack

My young chickens are panting. The “feels like” temperature has been regularly reaching the 100s in the afternoon here. Their coop today was 88 (which is at least cooler than the 94 actual temperature outside the coop). There is a fan in the coop (which I regularly dust to remove buildup). I put out ice water foot baths (which my chickens love). I give them watermelon straight from the fridge.

My Mom mentioned a DIY project using a fan and a styrofoam cooler to make an air conditioner. I did it. I had a styrofoam cooler from a medicine delivery, used an extra accessory for our shopvac as the air outport, and bought an inexpensive clip-on corded fan for the air intake.

I cut holes in the cooler to fit the tube and fan (here is a decent youtube tutorial), and put ice packs (also from the medicine delivery) in the cooler.

I could definitely feel the cool air when I turned on the fan! I started with the cooler in the enclosed section of the work table in the coop, so the chickens couldn’t pick at the styrofoam, but felt like the cool didn’t reach the chickens. So I put the the cooler in a plastic storage bin (it fit! Phew!), which has a fold down, two-part lid.

Sliding the plastic bin under the work table keeps the chickens out, and off, but allows the cool air to blow near ground/chicken level.

Cooler plastic bin tucked under the work table

The chickens were all lined up in front of the cooler, so I think they appreciated the relief. It certainly didn’t lower the temperature of the whole coop, but just made an area of slightly cooler air.

Easy adjustable hanging

On May 11, 2019May 10, 2019 By CarynIn Life Hack

My metal chick water bases rusted, so I bought a plastic hanging waterer. No fancy macrame this time, like busy moms everywhere, I did what was fast and easy.

Simple adjustable hangers using rope and carabiners.

I doubled some poly twine over the hanging loop on the waterer, then tied overhand knots about an inch apart all along the doubled rope. This makes a simple row of loops that you can slip the carabiner through and easily change the height of the waterer.

It was pretty amusing watching the chicks try to figure out what the new big red thing was all about.

It didn’t take them long. I expected the chickens to be, well, feather brained, but they really seem quite clever. For chickens.

Freezing ginger

On March 17, 2019March 16, 2019 By CarynIn Life Hack

I love ginger root. I use crystalized ginger in my ginger snaps as well as ground ginger. Fresh ginger is wonderful in my favorite egg drop soup, and adds a good zing to another of my favorite dishes: Thai Basil Chicken.

My grandmother used to keep a thumb of ginger root in the freezer. After having several ginger roots get moldy in the fridge, I tried this too. The freezer keeps the mold away, and makes it easier to grate, but oh so cold to hold, and very hard to slice. So I now process my ginger before I freeze it. Much easier to handle! And the slices break or can be minced easily.

I wash the ginger root, peel it with a peeler, slice it thin, and sandwich it between two layers of Press and Seal cling film, then store it in the freezer. When I need some, I just peel open the cling film and take a few slices. Easy peasy!

Sliced ginger root between two layers of Press and Seal, ready for the freezer.

Spools

On February 24, 2019February 20, 2019 By CarynIn Life Hack

So I’ve been madly making plastic bottle string with my cutter. As it piled up on the kitchen counter, I started to wonder the best way to keep it neat, because all that curly string loves to tangle. I did have a left-over ribbon spool, which works OK, but doesn’t hold much.

Paper bowl spool made by attaching the two bowls together with a metal brad.

I had another idea to use a brad to attach two paper bowls. This one holds a bunch of string and is very inexpensive.

My best idea, though, was to use the bottle tops that were left over from making the string and melt the rims together to make spools! The plastic melts together over a candle and sticks together really well. Plus, more of the plastic bottle gets used! Yay! (I’m sure I can figure out some uses of the neat little cup that was the bottom of the bottle too. It just has to percolate for awhile in my brain.)

So here is a short video on how to make the spools from plastic bottles. Happy Day!

Critters and Craft

Category: Life Hack