![\"\"](\"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/IMG_6859.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe kabobs were delicious.<\/p>\n
The scraps were fried up and seasoned with garlic salt. The we wilted some spinach and wrapped it all up in whole wheat tortillas.\u00a0 So we could pretend it was healthy.<\/p>\n And if the smell of that frying pork was intoxicating, the taste of the grease from the pan was so delicious that Luna couldn’t let go of the pan.\u00a0 She just held onto it.\u00a0 Hoping it would refill with luscious grease and teeny bits of crunchy pork that stuck to the pan.\u00a0 Kind of like a Strega Nona <\/a>pot of pork scraps for dogs.\u00a0 Good thing we still had a baggie of fat chunks to be distributed to the dogs over the next few days.\u00a0 I don’t think I could have gotten my pan back without offering those yummy treats.<\/p>\n Now you might think it was a waste when the fridge malfunctioned the next day.\u00a0 Oh, we managed to salvage the major items and stick them into the farm fridge.\u00a0 But the veggie drawer, filled with leftover veggies from the kabobs, dropped into freezing temperatures and then stopped working altogether.\u00a0 That meant the veggies were frozen into rock hard blocks and then thawed into squishy mush.<\/p>\n Please.\u00a0 The biodynamic nature of the farm cannot be beaten by equipment failure.\u00a0 Some of the veggies were cut up, sauteed, and used as toppings on a lovely, thin crust, veggie pizza.<\/p>\n Some of the veggies were chopped and mixed in with ground beef to make a pan of Mexican meatloaf.<\/p>\n And whatever was just too slimy to be used in the kitchen went to you-know-who.<\/p>\n The pigs also got the husks of the roasted spaghetti squash that we served as a side dish to the meatloaf.\u00a0 Because nothing gets wasted when you have a garbage disposal on hooves in the garden.<\/p>\n And the pigs got the banana peels, too.\u00a0 You know, from the bananas that you throw in the freezer when they start to get too brown for the lunch boxes.\u00a0 You probably use yours to make banana bread.\u00a0 We do, too, but when the freezer went out and those bananas were melting, we decided to make cookies with them instead.\u00a0 ‘Cause after emptying and cleaning out a broken fridge and freezer we felt like we deserved cookies instead of banana bread.\u00a0 Yep, a couple mashed bananas, a cup of oats, and a cup of chocolate chips….<\/p>\n ….makes a pretty decent batch of cookies.<\/p>\n But not all of the reduce, reuse, recycle goes on in the kitchen.<\/p>\n CC is happy to eat some of the greens in the garden that don’t meet our standards.\u00a0 Particularly, last fall’s remaining radishes, that are on the mealy side, are her favorites.<\/p>\n Any dirty eggs, or eggs that are of unknown age because they are discovered in a hidden nest,….<\/p>\n ….get smashed and go right back to the hens.<\/p>\n The chickens love the eggs—-it is excellent protein for them and the shells give them the calcium they need so I don’t have to buy oyster shell.\u00a0 Since we crush the eggs first, I haven’t had a hen that eats eggs right out of the nest box for years and years.\u00a0 Although, now I’ll probably find one doing it tomorrow.<\/p>\n Plants enjoy calcium, too.\u00a0 Every few days when I rinse out the milk bucket, I pour that milky water into the house plants.\u00a0 And once the tomato plants are in the ground, that calcium-rich mixture will be used in the garden to prevent blossom end rot.<\/p>\n The hay never gets wasted either.\u00a0 Oh, sure, the animals tend to pull long strips of hay out of the rolls and leave it on the ground.\u00a0 But any clean hay gets forked right back into the hay racks for eating.<\/p>\n The rest is used for bedding in the sleeping rooms….<\/p>\n or in the nest boxes.<\/p>\n Well, whatever hay the sheep aren’t wearing anyway.<\/p>\n When the hay is too dirty for the barn, it goes to the chicken pasture where the chickens compost it for us and then, eventually, it goes down to the garden where it makes even more garden goodies for us and the critters.<\/p>\n The hay doesn’t just contribute compost, though.\u00a0 Hay rolls provide a never-ending supply of twine.<\/p>\n And that twine is used all over the farm for purposes where I would have needed to purchase hardware or use zip ties.<\/p>\n Sometimes I think our entire farm is held together with twine.<\/p>\n For real, people.<\/p>\n Who would’ve thought there was such a thin line between reuse and co-dependence??<\/p>\n The farm reduces, reuses, and recycles so much that pretty much everyone get in on the act.<\/p>\n This annoying finch throws bird seed on the ground until he gets to his favorite seeds.\u00a0 I suppose his insistence on the best is why he has his summer colors so early.<\/p>\n But he wouldn’t win any nature badges for being green if it wasn’t for his little friends.\u00a0 Well, big friends.\u00a0 The mourning doves hang out under the feeder and finish off what he tosses out.<\/p>\n Even Little has been seen preventing waste.\u00a0 We had the animal cookies out to give treats to the goats after hoof trims and CD&T shots.\u00a0 Little was quite happy to eat the cookies that were leftover.\u00a0 The old, stale, stored-in-the-barn-year-round, cookies.\u00a0 Which I think shows dedication and commitment to the principles of reduce, reuse, and recycle.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n