Rural Land and Dealing with Trash

[mountainmoma]

This year I am going to compost all the paper.  We will see how it goes.

Two other options: One is to sheet compost or Mulch with it. So,(1) just put it on the ground around a fruit tree or between other plantings and cover with some kind of mulch material. Or (1.5) Cover with dirt around that tree, or under a bed you are goin gto plant, then it is providing slow release carbon and moisture retention like a mini-hugalculture effect. Second, is to use it to feed and grow bugs for the chickens. (2)I cant get up to the bookshelf to get it, but in a newsletter from Keith Johnson once, was this idea of having a hole, and putting the paper in it and keeping it moist, not drowning wet, moist, and then as we all know sow bugs are going to find it and eat it and reproduce and chickens absolutely adore sow bugs (rolly-pollys)(2.5) I have seen a video of, is having much more excess carbon(mixed with wood chips too maybe, or way too much paper (moist, or it blows away) thickly mulching an area then the chickens can be let in from time to time to scratch out their own sow bugs, instead of the smaller hole operation where you harvest occasionally and bring to the chickens

[CdnGuy]

I'm trying to think of a way to smash glass that wouldn't require an inordinate amount of cleanup. I guess we could put glass bottles in the bottom of a metal drum and drop a heavy rock or weight on them...

Just wondering if you came up with a solution for yourself.

I think you are on the right track with a metal drum and a heavy rock, but need to tweak that. I think, I am not a pro glass crusher, but I think if you have a drum with a lid that will stay on very well, put the glass in, put the rocks in, flip the whole thing on it's side and give it a roll up the yard. It's essentially stone tumbling, which I have done in a mining research facilty. Adjust the size of the non-crushable medium (rocks or metal rods) and you'll get the glass crushed to different sizes. Experiment with it and find the set up that works best for you.

I see landscaping companies are now selling glass tumbled so there are no sharp edges as a replacement for river stone. You could be trendy!

[T Kehl]

I do a bit of craft work with glass and ran across this that may be helpful to you.

https://glasswithapast.com/knowledgebase/disposal-frit-maker/

[LvsChant]

Very interesting MtnMoma... I haven't heard that idea before. +1

[Applejack]

I have a newspaper machine that makes bricks out of old newspaper.  I have been making these for our fireplace and also for our fire pit. It is work as you have to soak the newspaper and then put it in the machine to press it down to make the brick and then let it dry but it works great. Also have a small pot shaped press that turns newspaper into small pots for seed starters. These also work great as you can plant the plants right into the ground with the newspaper as they decenadigrate over time.

[Hurricane]

years ago, out in the country, most food waste went to the dogs, burned what we could, tin cans and other non-burnables went into a dump (on our land). old TV's, aerosols, whatever. The burn site was on the edge of the yard, never had so much at once that we couldn't watch it. In reach of a hose.

[Stwood]

years ago, out in the country, most food waste went to the dogs, burned what we could, tin cans and other non-burnables went into a dump (on our land). old TV's, aerosols, whatever. The burn site was on the edge of the yard, never had so much at once that we couldn't watch it. In reach of a hose.

We do the same, except the dump is a little farther back from the yard. 

[LvsChant]

Great idea, applejack. Do you have a link for the molds you use?

[T Kehl]

I have a newspaper machine that makes bricks out of old newspaper.  Also have a small pot shaped press that turns newspaper into small pots for seed starters.

What's a newspaper?   
(Says the millennial.)

[Hurricane]

We do the same, except the dump is a little farther back from the yard. 

The tin can, etc. dump was 100 yards or so from the house, in a swamp. Drained into a lake that we swam in and ate fish from.

[LvsChant]

What's a newspaper?   
(Says the millennial.)

Ha! Our local newspaper is pretty worthless, so we don't take it either. However, my parents always did, so we were glad to take the old papers off their hands for starting fires in the woodstove...

[Cyd]

1) We compost a lot. 
2) Meat scraps go to the dog. 
3) There is a large recycling and waste management (dump) facility about 25 miles away from us where we can drop anything off.  There are also recycling pickup bins at our township office which is about 5 miles away.  The people at the dump are really nice and charge us only $2 for a large trash bag full of anything.  Even when we filled (and I really mean filled!) our 10 foot trailer with construction debris, I think they only charged us $60.  We helped unload it and I bring them a couple loaves of pumpkin bread occasionally
4) Anything burnable we use for fuel in our outdoor boiler.  In the summer when we are not heating, we box the papers up and then burn them later.
5) We have dump buckets for old oil from our farm equipment and take it to a local mechanic who heats his shop with a waste oil burner.  He is very appreciative.

We usually keep any bags of trash that have to go to the dump in the garage.  We don't have a problem with things getting smelly since it is a cold climate (we still have about a foot of snow on the ground on 4/23/18).  We had a raccoon problem in the garage once about 5-6 years ago, but my 10/22 handled that issue nicely.

The previous owner of our property dug holes and buried his trash, and from time to time we end up digging up surprises (bicycles, tires, coils of rusted barbed wire, truck parts, broken glass) when we add a garden bed or work on the pasture. I don't like that.

Cyd