Uses for burlap coffee bags

This is the sixth inside our “From our farmers” series, which was added by Sue Nackoney of Gentle Rain Farm, one of several farmers signed up for our Farm Incubator Program. Initially written in February, this piece features a few clever techniques Sue along with other farmers at Headwaters are conserving sources and reusing materials!

Due to the fact days lengthen so we leave our very own hibernation, the urge to get involved with the earth starts, but frequently it is still also damp and cool to-do a lot now of year here in the north climes. Listed here are a handful of ideas to save, reuse and re-purpose when it comes to farm or garden that you can do inside before the hectic garden time begins.

Repurposed pants for soil or sand bags

It's nearly painful to dispose of a couple of jeans simply because obtained a hole in leg. And given that 10.5 million a lot of garments minds towards the landfill on a yearly basis – or around 5% for the landfill waste overall – it hurts more than simply my very own sensibilities. Thus I ended up being thrilled to get a blog post from Fiddlehead Farm (link) about making use of old jeans to generate sand or earth bags. The bags are widely used to hold-down shadecloth, tarps, drifting line covers (used for plant protection from pests and cold weather), or a myriad of various other utilizes on a farm in a land that's blessedly perhaps not full of huge stones.

To make the bags, I cut the pants on knees and sewed up the cuff with my sewing-machine, then slashed all of them in two through waistband at zipper and rear seams and sewed those up. Viola! Four bags from a single old couple of jeans. It absolutely was also form of cute to see those jeans my 5-yr old child wore, those because of the froggie plot regarding leg, having a new life “outstanding” in the field.

Earth blocks

When you look at the character of sending less toward landfill, farmers have actually pioneered ways to make planting medium operate in little cubes in a tray for starting seeds inside; no throwaway plastic containers required. At the start soil obstructs appear to be a tray packed with dirt brownies that just a little kid might provide you with (mmm!), however the plants start developing out of the tops of every block and you will start to see the origins completing on the exposed edges.

As my fellow Headwaters farmer, Pete of Udan Farm, states, “blocks mimic natural earth circumstances better than pots because a block allows the plant develop a healthy root system that's less surprised by transplanting.” Plant roots when you look at the block stop developing when they reach environment (the best thing), instead of circling around inside a plastic pot making a difficult-to-transplant root knot. Therefore, stronger flowers suggests Pete and Claire of Udan Farm can harvest previously with regards to their various farmers areas, and perhaps need less fertilizer in the act.

Mulch with burlap bags

A terrific way to protect soil from erosion by wind and rain, while also stopping weeds from overtaking farm paths, is always to reuse old burlap coffee bags. Though never within cafes high in coffee, there are plenty of areas to get the utilized burlap. We came upon the vacant bags at OSU’s Small Farms class, where Clair Klock of Clackamas Soil liquid Conservation District had been handing all of them from a giant tote that have to have held hundreds. Whenever made use of as surface cover, these do give the yard a specific vintage visual that's nicer than, state, mulching with cardboard. Have a look at image of Angela’s calendula rows at the woman medicinal herb farm, Alquimia Botanicals, here at Headwaters.

I just get therefore excited when I think about all those great things, specifically through the vantage point of February’s cool rainy times of making farm plans and indulging my passion for seed catalogs. Headwaters farmers have lots of great tricks, and I also enjoy witnessing exactly what we have all up their particular sleeves because of this approaching year!