L.E.D. Bulbs

If you were to ask 3 years ago what type of light bulbs there are most people would say incandescent or isn’t there only one?  But with the government removing the use of most incandescent bulbs we now know about the other two.

Florescent Light Tubes which have been twisted to fit into a typical socket and Halogens now have been placed into a standard  incandescent. this has happen very swiftly, but until now a lot of people had forgotten that little light that shows you your using caps lock or your TV is on standby.

Yes Light Emitting Diodes, LED’s use less power per lumen and last longer then incandescent, florescent and halogen as shown in this graph.

The LED has said to be non-toxic compared to the CFL. If you search this on the internet there are now studies saying that this is not true, however unlike CFL which use a gas to conduct electricity LED's are solid so transporting becomes a whole lot safer.

I have personally been using them all over my house and plan to start selling them VERY shortly. I have tested a huge range before selling the. The duller ones I have been using in the dunny and porch light, the medium brightness is in our lounge area, laundry and spare room while the brightest is over the dining table and I just love using them and as I'm renting I've kept all the CFL's from when we moved in so I can take the LED's when we move.

Let me know if you too are using L.E.D lighting in your house or business and leave a comment on how you find them. Feel free to visit my Facebook page at any time, the link is below.

NATURAL HARVEST
Garden tools, Organic Seeds, Fruit Trees & Seedlings

Address: (Inside) 49 Henley Beach Road,

   Henley Beach South, 5022, SA

Phone/Fax: 08 8356 2316
Email: naturalharvest@live.com.au
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Natural.Harvest.Seeds

Veggie scraps

There are a few different things you can do with your veggie scraps which I have written in this post. In fact I often find myself wishing I had more. Using a kitchen caddy makes moving scraps easier and means you don’t have to rush into the garden every time you chop something up.

One thing you can do with those food scraps is start a compost bin. There are so many varieties from standing plastic, rotating barrels and wooden framed.  Composting is when organic matter brakes down with the help of bacteria that rely on oxygen, do not get it mixed up with rotting which is organic matter being broken down by bacteria that live in an environment with little or no oxygen which leaves a bad small of methane.  

In order to prevent rotting and encourage composting your organic matter will need turning with a garden fork or some other method like using a turning barrel to get oxygen to its centre. I have a barrel composter for some of my veggie scrapes and it works a treat and most garden shops or hardware’s should sell these or be able to get one in for you.

Barrel Compost Bin

A newer method I have been hearing about is a method of breaking down organic matter other then rotting or composting and that is fermenting. Bokashi uses yeast to ferment the scraps until it is what you might say is pickled. There is light smell of yeast (beer), it doesn’t attract vermin and is said to only take two weeks. You can buy the kits which normally contain a kitchen caddy to place scrapes into and satchels of yeast to start the fermentation process.

Bokashi Kit

Worms love most scraps so it’s perfect to get a worm farm and use those scraps to feed them. Most worm farms go on about pH levels and all sorts to get them going but I just used cheap potting mix and a Styrofoam box and they seem to love it. When the worm population builds up I often take a handful out and place them in some of my larger pot then from time to time I place some scraps directly into the pot for them to feed on. If you do get a worm farm it does make it easier to gather worm castings (poo) and urine for your plants to feed on.

Worm Farm

Our landlord has planted one lemon tree a long time ago which was doing very poorly when we moved in. Since then I have been using a post hole digger to make a hole close to the tree in which I simply throw the scraps down, as it fills I use a cultivator to turn it and push it back down. When it cannot take anymore I dig another hole and use the new soil to cover it over, with the last few days of rain it has really started to grow back. 

My Tree Composting Method

Those are just some ways of using scraps, others are keeping bones with meat still on to make stock for soup and feeding them to pets (like our rabbits who make good manure).

Like always leave comments, your ideas and subscribe

NATURAL HARVEST
Garden tools, Organic Seeds, Fruit Trees & Seedlings

Address: (Inside) 49 Henley Beach Road,

   Henley Beach South, 5022, SA

Phone/Fax: 08 8356 2316
Email: naturalharvest@live.com.au
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Natural.Harvest.Seeds

Greywater – Washing machine

Today I am going to talk to you about greywater from the washing machine and how to reduce the water needed and reused the “waste” water.  Washing machines use about 80 litres per wash for a front loader and 170 litres per wash for a top loader. So the main way to reduce the amount of water you use for washing your cloths is what type you buy. Today we have the 6 stars efficiency rating in Australia and New Zealand, This can help you choose which models are best at saving you water, electricity and money.

Depending what you are going to use the greywater for determines if you need to treat it before use. If you are using this water to fill a toilet system it should need no filtering, though some form of filtering may slow down corrosion problems.

Watering plants with greywater is becoming a popular way of reusing “waste water”. Through working in the hardware I have even heard of a customer/plumber building a shed at the back of his yard just so his washing machine is closer to his plants and lawn. Most of the time grey water is alright to use direct on lawns or ornamental plants unless they are practically delicate or to be eaten.  You should always use greywater safe soaps.

There are some ways to treat greywater at low costs. One is to let it stand for a few days so the stilt which gives it that grey colour settles to the bottom. Another is to use filtering sand which many hardware and pool places sell, add the sand to a bucket or tank with a tap at the bottom and place some kind of material behind the tap that will stop the sand running out  but allow the water to flow. You may even want to plant small reed or sedge species who’s roots both help adsorb chemical and create a haven for beneficial bacteria to exist.

It is not recommended at all to use greywater for drinking even with filtration. I have not even  seen any commercial filter they say they can purify the water to the point of drinking. I have read of people who have used a big area to make a reedbed filter to create water drinkable however they get their water tested regularly to make sure it’s safe which should be done with any water being treated for drinking.

In the way of using other water source to fill a washing machine I’m not sure but you probably could hook up a way to feed it with rainwater and pump as an alternative. It most likely wouldn’t be something your landlord would want.

I personally have a portable plastic camping dishwashing basin that gets placed in our basin where our greywater diverter hose would normally go, when it over flows the water run out of the handle holes and down the drain to prevent flooding. I have also brought a water level alarm from a cheap shop so I know when to get my smaller bucket take out the water. The greywater goes into a large plant pot filled with sand in the middle of a temporary pod I made, as the water goes through the sand it filters some of the water and the dragonflies don’t mind it.

As always let me know your idea, leave a comment and subscribe

Brad

NATURAL HARVEST
Garden tools, Organic Seeds, Fruit Trees & Seedlings

Address: (Inside) 49 Henley Beach Road,

   Henley Beach South, 5022, SA

Phone/Fax: 08 8356 2316
Email: naturalharvest@live.com.au
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Natural.Harvest.Seeds