What items have you repurposed for use around the farm?

7thswan · #41 04/26/11, 08:21 AM

Our Greenhouse is made of old windows someone threw out, a door reused,the bench-a base to a work table.(under those benches 27 meat chickens with heat lamp) Plastic 55 gal. drums for heat sink, left over cedar shakes from an addition and alot of scrap lumber for the structure. I have an old tin with wood bathtub near the back deck with herbs, double wash tub for vining plants on the arbor, and regular galvanised washtubs for other plants. I was just given a torn down very old barn, so more raised beds,siding of the chicken coop,arbors, grape trellis etc. are being built.

beowoulf90 · #42 04/26/11, 08:33 AM

We've used skids for raised garden beds on rocky ground and have used old bed frames and springs for the climbing plants. We will "re-purpose" anything we can. In the past we've used tread mill belting as safety (non-slip) treads on stairs.

overthrow · #43 04/26/11, 09:18 PM

The best use for an old station wagon was turned into a septic tank in the 70s on a hippy commune in Vermont. It took about 20 of us two days to dig the hole (kids included), then we took out the seats, engine, transmission, and rear end, and dragged it into the hole. 10 years of trouble free flushing, and who knows, it may still be in use.
Just lately I made a woods trailer from and old truck front end and an oil tank. My homestead has too many recycled things to mention, but my next project will be a big tomato house using about 40 old sliding glass doors for the sides. I work at the local transfer station, so this stuff comes easy.

taylorlambert · #44 04/26/11, 09:25 PM

This is my favorite subject. Im the assitant manger and operator of a landfill lol. We use the shavings frma the planer room for animal bedding and composting, rippings from the cabinet sho for been poles and stakes.

My little 13 by 21 green house is made from 1 1/2 trampoline hoops and old fence top rail. Got to the local road side dump and get a all my plastic pots for my plants. I use alot of bed rails welding in the shop on light things. Used an old clean 55 gallon steel drum and weled water fittings to it and a 3 inch thin wall pipe all the way through it. It mounts on a fire box I made and can be hooked to a garden hose and made it into an emergency 55 gallon water heater.

I make all sorts of things from tractor implements at the scrap yard most of my farm tools are this way be it hand or tractor used. You can take the teeth off an old sickle mower section and bolt or rivet them to a 1by1 angle iron 4 to 6 inches wide and weld a pipe on the top to take a handle. Makes a great fire lane rake/ hoe. I have a few Imade for hard hoeing. I also make hoes form chunks of old disk blades.

Took old planer blades and weled them on the the edges of my brush hog that didnt have the right temper on them. Ive run them for 3 years wit one sharpening per year.

The landfill takes waste from the Bath tub plant and I get un squashed blemished tubs. THey make good dog dip tubs, portable raised beds, one with a good sized chunk out of the side made a great chicken shelter.

We get alot of long pallets with 4 to 8 16 to 20 foot 2by4's Also have made coups and other animal shleters from them. Downed trees I get here and there if not big enough to got to the mill or too rotten to burn get made into raised beds.

taylorlambert · #45 04/26/11, 10:25 PM

This is my favorite subject. Im the assitant manger and operator of a landfill lol. We use the shavings frma the planer room for animal bedding and composting, rippings from the cabinet sho for been poles and stakes.

My little 13 by 21 green house is made from 1 1/2 trampoline hoops and old fence top rail. Got to the local road side dump and get a all my plastic pots for my plants. I use alot of bed rails welding in the shop on light things. Used an old clean 55 gallon steel drum and weled water fittings to it and a 3 inch thin wall pipe all the way through it. It mounts on a fire box I made and can be hooked to a garden hose and made it into an emergency 55 gallon water heater.

I make all sorts of things from tractor implements at the scrap yard most of my farm tools are this way be it hand or tractor used. You can take the teeth off an old sickle mower section and bolt or rivet them to a 1by1 angle iron 4 to 6 inches wide and weld a pipe on the top to take a handle. Makes a great fire lane rake/ hoe. I have a few Imade for hard hoeing. I also make hoes form chunks of old disk blades.

Took old planer blades and weled them on the the edges of my brush hog that didnt have the right temper on them. Ive run them for 3 years wit one sharpening per year.

The landfill takes waste from the Bath tub plant and I get un squashed blemished tubs. THey make good dog dip tubs, portable raised beds, one with a good sized chunk out of the side made a great chicken shelter.

We get alot of long pallets with 4 to 8 16 to 20 foot 2by4's Also have made coups and other animal shleters from them. Downed trees I get here and there if not big enough to got to the mill or too rotten to burn get made into raised beds.

DamnearaFarm · #46 04/27/11, 06:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KIT.S

Hmm, well, I was going to say those truck canopys work great as chick brooders too. The turkeys got too tall, so we put one up on a row of concrete blocks so they quit hitting their heads. And of course all the stuff you can do with blue plastic 55 gallon barrels: feeders & waterers out of the top and bottom 1/3, then use the middle 1/3 to plant sweet potatoes in. And my son built me a WhizBang Chicken plucker out of one, too.
Then as I read everyone elses' lists, I recognized many things we've done too that I didn't even remember! I wish I had access to some of the other reusable things people mentioned!Kit

This.

I've been asking on freecycle and CL for a while now for conveyor belts, non-skid mats and truck bed mats to use in the stalls with no response.

JuliaAnn · #47 04/27/11, 01:36 PM

The last post reminded me that we save all the old mudflaps off the tractors & trailers and put them down on the ground right outside the shop to keep weeds down and make a surface I can hose off if it gets muddy. They're heavy enough to lay flat and not move around.

wildhorse · #48 04/27/11, 02:30 PM

Truck bed liners for stall mats and they would work great to put on homemade milk stands.

DamnearaFarm · #49 04/27/11, 04:25 PM

JuliaAnn- you reminded me- DH was supposed to talk to the manager of the shop at his location and see if they'd save me mud flaps.

Also reminds me- we used tractor trailer doors to build a run in shed and we also used them as stall dividers. TT door on the bottom and old chain link fence on the top kept the horses safe from one another but allowed airflow in the barn.

PyroDon · #50 04/27/11, 06:22 PM

We have used the metal wire shelves out of old fridges for cage doors , the new glas adjustable shelves get a track mounted on the wall and used as shelves .
a tongue off a double wide trailer makes a good snow plow when pulled from the hitch end , and a good drive way drag when pulled the other way. .
The 10 year old used a space blanket glued to a little satelite TV dish to make a solar hot dog cooker . was a fun afternoon project

Caitedid · #51 04/27/11, 09:14 PM

In Iowa at least the state runs a program called Iowa Waste Exchange. Companies list things they want to get rid of, then the program finds home for their stuff without it going to a landfill. Got hold of about 50 of those chest coolers like you see pop in at the gas station for free last year. Just a thought!