Admittedly, some people do not like the mess of a real Christmas tree.  I, myself, love the fragrance of a real tree—needles be damned.  But, if you’re one of those people who can’t handle the mess or simply don’t have the room for a real tree, I have found DIY alternatives!

(Most of these seem self-explanatory, but I included the link at the bottom if you need it.)

PASTA NOODLE TREE

PLASTIC SPOON TREE

NORDIC SWEATER TREE

COFFEE FILTER TREE

FLEECE CONE TREE

PUMPKIN SEED TREE

ENJOY!

SOURCE: PRUDENTPENNYPINCHER

(50 DIY mini Christmas Trees)

If you like to feed the birds over the winter, you can make your own suet! I found this project on the KAYTEE.COM website.

Items you’ll need for this craft:

Bundt cake pan – You can use mini Bundt cake molds if you want to make multiple wreaths for multiple gifts.
4 cups Kaytee bird seed – Choose a seed that fits with your region to attract birds in your area.
Cranberries
1 and 1/2 packets of unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup warm water
1/3 cup corn starch 
3 Tablespoons light corn syrup
Thick ribbon
Gift wrap – If you’re making this as a gift, you’ll want to find a box that fits the wreath and wrapping supplies to make it festive.
Kitchen items – You’ll need a drying rack, medium-sized sauce pan, spatula, stove, refrigerator, and measuring utensils. This craft requires heat and cooling, so children will need assistance and supervision if helping with this craft.
Nonstick cooking spray.

Spray the Bundt pan mold liberally with nonstick cooking spray. Place the cranberries in the pan how you would like them to look on the front of the wreath. Set aside for use after the mixture is ready.

Measure out four cups of bird seed in an easy-to-pour container. Set aside and have this ready for when the mixture is ready.

In a medium-sized sauce pan on medium heat, whisk together the packets of unflavored gelatin and warm water. Whisk until it is dissolved. 

Add in the corn starch and light corn syrup, as shown in the image above. Whisk until there are no lumps of cornstarch left. 

The mixture will start to form a thick paste after all the ingredients begin to bind. The paste should be smooth and thick.

Once the paste is formed, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the four cups of bird seed that was set aside from step three. Tip: spray your spatula with nonstick cooking spray before mixing together to make clean up easier! 

Carefully add the combined mixture into the Bundt pan mold, making sure to pack it down and keep the cranberries in place. Evenly distribute the mixture so the wreath will be balanced when it sets.

Pack the seed down with the spatula. Once all the mixture is in the pan, place the entire pan in the fridge. Remove it from the fridge when it’s hard to the touch. This should take no longer than an hour.
After the wreath is hardened, take it out of the fridge and gently remove the wreath from the pan by flipping it upside down onto a cooling rack. Let it dry completely before adding ribbon or handling it too much. It’s best to let it dry for 12-24 hours. 

Tie a thick ribbon around the wreath and then to a tree or feeder hanger. Bring it outside and carefully hang it where the birds will see it. If you’re giving it as a gift, wrap it up gently and give the gift as soon as possible so the wreath materials stay fresh for the birds. 

SOURCE: KAYTEE.COM

I found this helpful article on the eatingwell.com website:

Gravy—you slather it on turkey and pool it on top of mashed potatoes. You let its rich and meaty flavor mingle a little with sweet potato casserole and sop up what’s left over with a dinner roll. No Thanksgiving dinner is complete without a good old-fashioned gravy. To give you the best shot at success, here are six common mistakes that make gravy less than perfect and how you can fix them.

Mistake to Avoid No. 1: Your Gravy Has Lumps

Nobody likes lumpy gravy. Reasons for lumpy gravy include using a spoon to stir instead of a whisk and dumping your thickener into the gravy without making a roux first. What’s a roux? A roux is a paste made from flour and fat that thickens sauces, and it’s essential to a good gravy. You can make it with fat from the bottom of the roasting pan, butter or oil. Aim for one part fat to one part flour. Heat the fat in a saucepan or directly in the roasting pan. Add the flour and cook, stirring, until the mixture begins to bubble (the longer you cook it, the nuttier the flavor—just don’t take it too far or it will burn). Once your roux is nice and bubbly, add your liquid and whisk (don’t stir!) until the mixture bubbles and thickens. Crisis averted. Now, just in case you ignored the whole roux-making step and you have a finished gravy (with lumps), all is not lost. Pouring the gravy through a fine mesh strainer should do the trick.

Mistake to Avoid No. 2: Your Gravy Is Too Thick

So you made a delicious gravy except it’s too thick. It’s gummy, in fact, and you’re not quite sure where you went wrong or how to fix it. No problem! One mistake that can result in gravy that’s too thick is adding too much thickener (or too little liquid). Another mistake is not taking into account the fact that gravy tends to thicken as it cools. When it’s hot, gravy should be thick enough to just coat the back of a spoon, but not so thick that it sticks to the spoon like glue. If your gravy is hot and still too thick, add broth a little at a time to thin it out. Remember to check the seasoning when you’re done and adjust if needed.

Mistake to Avoid No. 3: Your Gravy Is Too Thin

Gravy’s job is to coat mashed potatoes, turkey, stuffing (or everything) on your plate with a thin layer of meaty goodness, and it can’t do its job if it pools at the bottom of your plate like water. If you started with a roux and your gravy is just too thin, there are a few things you can do to correct it. If you’ve added too much liquid, you can try cooking it longer. Reducing the volume may be enough to thicken it up. However, if your gravy is thin and the seasoning is where you want it, cooking it down may make it too salty. Here is where you’ll have to make a slurry. A slurry is much like a roux with a less attractive name and a few other minor differences. Like the roux it thickens sauces, but unlike the roux, it uses a thickener (like flour) combined with a little bit of liquid like broth or water instead of fat. Simply whisk your thickener (a couple tablespoons of flour is a good place to start) into 1/2 cup or so of liquid and then whisk that mixture into your gravy. As it heats, it will thicken.

Mistake to Avoid No. 4: Your Gravy Is Greasy

Making gravy straight from the roasting pan is always best, but you’ll need to take some steps to prevent your roasting pan gravy from tasting like an oil slick. What we’re really after from the pan are those browned bits that form at the bottom. They’re a flavor powerhouse. You’ll want them in your gravy, but not the fat that they’re often swimming in. The solution? Deglaze the hot roasting pan with broth (or wine if you want to spare some) and pour the liquid into a fat separator or glass measuring cup. This will help loosen those tasty brown bits from the pan while getting rid of the fat that has also collected at the bottom. You can use the fat that floats to the top of your separator for your roux while saving the liquid for the gravy itself. If your finished gravy is oily, let it sit and try skimming any fat that rises to the top. Whisk any fat that’s left into the gravy and serve immediately.

Mistake to Avoid No. 5: Your Gravy Tastes Burnt

This is perhaps the worst-case scenario in the world of gravy-making. It happens when those deliciously concentrated pan drippings burn, and you decide to make gravy out of them anyway. Your choices are (A) Insist that the gravy tastes fine and everyone else must be mistaken, or (B) Have a backup plan. Let’s entertain Plan B…. If you’re fortuitous enough, you can work on Plan B even before disaster strikes, and here it is: Most turkeys come with a neck and a little packet of other pleasantries like the heart, gizzard and liver stuffed into the cavity. Hold onto these. If your pan is burnt, these will provide you with a much-needed flavor boost for your second attempt. You can sauté them in a separate pan with a bit of mirepoix (onion, carrot and celery) to create some new brown bits to work with, then simmer them in broth to add flavor.

Mistake to Avoid No. 6: Your Gravy Is a Salt Bomb

A well-seasoned gravy complements both sweet and savory elements on the plate, but a gravy that’s too salty can ruin everything it touches. As gravy cooks, it loses volume and concentrates the flavor (and hence the saltiness) of your end product. To avoid gravy that tastes like a salt lick, season it at the end of the cooking process, not the beginning. If you’ve got homemade broth or stock, use that as the body of your gravy. If you’re using broth or stock from a box, opt for a low-sodium option. If your gravy is finished and it’s just too salty, add some broth or water to tamp it down. That will also thin it out, so you may have to thicken it back up again.

SOURCE: EATINGWELL.COM

I normally do not go to the trouble of place cards at our Thanksgiving meal.  There is usually only 4 of us and we all know each other…lol.  But I did see this idea for a place card that I thought would just be an interesting “pumpkin” craft.

The supplies list is simple: Styrofoam balls, yarns, sticks, craft paint and a glue gun.

Wrap yarn around the ball until covered, then glue the yarn end to the bottom.

Cut a leaf out of paper; add a name and glue to the top. Enjoy!!

I found this wonderful article about DIY Halloween makeover ideas for decorating or a party.  The article has pictures and links to the sites you can find the directions and tips for the projects themselves.  The idea above I fell in love with!  It’s from sadieseasongoods.com and I think it’s a creative way to repurpose old liquor bottles or just unusually shaped bottled into pumpkins!

She started with liquor bottles (her county no longer recycles glass bottles.)

She sprayed them with white primer paints.  (She recommends using acrylics for the pumpkins and they can be difficult to work with unless the glass in primed.)

She used several different shades of paints (in the directions, she says she also used a green that isn’t pictured).

“I had this idea that I could slightly swirl two or three colors in order to get striations of color, like on real gourds. 

Note that I said swirl, not mix, the various paint colors. It’s an important distinction to make here!

First, I squeezed out dollops of paint in various colors so that the edges touched. Then, I used toothpicks to pull the paint into each other, like a spiderweb effect. Finally, I carefully dipped my paint brush into the swirl and brushed it on the glass bottles in long, even strokes.”

In case the jute doesn’t completely cover the stems, she painted those a dark green/brown.

“To finish up my fall pumpkin decor, I wound the jute twine around the dark green neck using my hot glue gunto hold the twine in place.

Next, I scavenged some leaves from a floral stem that had “veiny” leaves, like those found on pumpkin and gourd vines.  I hot glued them in place and continued to wrap the necks with twine.”

The finished jar is AWESOME!

I have to try some of these!!

SOURCE: upcyclethisdiythat.com and sadieseasongoods.com

Since we’re beginning apple season, I wanted to share an article I found on ways to use up apple peels.  This was written by Brittany Davies on the tastingtable.com website:

Apples are delicious, versatile fruits that can be enjoyed fresh or cooked, sweet or savory, on their own or as a tasty addition to anything from oatmeal to salads to baked goods. After making a batch of applesauce, preparing a flaky pie, or peeling apple slices to appease a picky eater, you have probably found yourself with a pile of apple skins on the brink of being tossed in the garbage. In addition to making the most of your produce, reducing food waste by utilizing every part of the apple contributes to positive outcomes for the environment and the food supply. The USDA estimates between 30% to 40% of the food supply goes to waste with 31% of food loss occurring at the retail and consumer levels. Valuable nutrients and resources used to produce, transport, prepare, and store wasted food are all lost in a landfill. To combat this problem, the United Nations suggests consumers get creative to reduce food waste at home while speaking up in their communities and local governments.

Although food waste is a big problem, small actions daily such as finding ways to reuse apple peels are easy opportunities to minimize your impact. Wash your apples before peeling them to eliminate any residual pesticides, then enjoy the peels as a nutritious snack, transformed into baked goods, and even as a natural cleaner. Save money and the planet while making the most of your produce with these ways to use up apple peelings.

Turn them into a crunchy snack

Eating apples provide a variety of nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants, (via Harvard School of Public Health). However, much of the fiber and beneficial flavonoids are found in apple skins. Finding ways to incorporate the entire apple into your meals, whether eating it whole or finding innovative ways to consume the peels, is the best way to reap the most benefit from the fruit.

Using an oven, air fryer, or dehydrator, you can transform apple peelings into a crunchy, nutrient-rich snack. Environmentally-minded snack producers like RIND are already doing this with dried fruit products, all with skins intact. Meal kit service HelloFresh also offers suggestions for reinventing fruit peels as chips, candy, seasoning, and tea. To make crunchy apple skin chips in the oven, preheat to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and place the apple peels on a lined baking sheet. Season with a dash of cinnamon or get creative with your favorite blend of spices. Bake the peels for about 30 minutes, tossing halfway through to get them nice and crisp. Enjoy these crunchy snacks on their own, or as a way to add texture to salads, sandwiches, and wraps.

Stay hydrated with fruit infused water

Soak up the benefits of fruit-infused water by adding apple peels to your reusable bottle. In addition to keeping you hydrated, Dr. Danielle Hairston-Green of Prairie View A&M University, explains that infusing water with fruit and herbs offers flavor. The nutrients from the fruit can also support healthy skin and digestive systems.

Enjoy the refreshing flavor of apple skins on their own, or enhance them with other fruits, herbs, and spices. For a fall-inspired flavor, add orange peel, ginger, and cinnamon sticks to your water along with the apple peels, or give your water a bright, refreshing boost with apple peels, cucumber, and lemon. Infused water is a fun, versatile way to get the most out of produce scraps such as apple peels and cores, citrus rinds, mango peels, strawberry tops, herb stems, and even celery leaves. Check the produce for mold, then add scraps to the bottom of a pitcher or water bottle, stir, and let sit for at least an hour or up to overnight in the fridge, giving the fruit and herbs time to release their flavors.

Make tea

Apples are the perfect complement to chilly autumn evenings, especially paired with cinnamon and served hot in a cute mug. Apple peel tea is a quick way to warm up on a cool autumn day. Simmer apple peels and spices such as cinnamon and clove with water for about 10 minutes, add some lemon or orange zest and cook for an additional minute, then strain the peels and spices before serving the cozy drink with lemon slices and a drizzle of honey. You can also use dried apple skins as the base of a spiced tea mix that is ready to brew whenever you want it.

For those in search of a cool and refreshing apple beverage, try transforming leftover apple peels and cores into an herbaceous iced tea. Apples pair naturally well with robust herbs such as sage, rosemary, and thyme to create a unique flavor profile. To make apple peel and herb iced tea, boil herb leaves with one part maple syrup to one part water for herbed simple syrup. Combine your favorite loose-leaf tea, herb stems, apple peels and cores, and cold water in a pitcher. Stir and press down the scraps, making sure they are covered by water. Let the ingredients steep in the refrigerator overnight. Strain the scraps and serve the brewed tea over ice, sweetened with your homemade simple syrup.

Boost a smoothie

Packed with important nutrients, apple peels are a great way to boost your favorite smoothie. If using apples in your smoothie, save prep time by setting aside the peeler and using the whole fruit. If you’re debating whether to peel or not to peel prior to blending, know that apple peels, even when blended, might leave bits and pieces in the mixture. If you don’t enjoy the texture of the blended peels, consider making some homemade dried apple powder as a way to boost the flavor and nutrients in smoothies, oatmeal, and more.

With its many health benefits, it is no surprise that apple peel powder is a sought-after supplement that can be purchased in health stores to increase fiber and other nutrients in your food. According to research in the National Library of Medicine, dried apple peel powder has been associated with increased joint function and range of motion, among other benefits. With leftover apple peelings, you can make your own fiber-rich smoothie booster at home. Use an oven or dehydrator to dry the apple pieces, then pulse the dried peels in a blender until they form a powder. Condition the powder in a low-temperature oven for 15 minutes, then store in an airtight container.

Sweeten a salad

With their subtle sweetness, apples work equally well when paired with sweet or savory dishes and are a great way to liven up an average salad. The best salad ingredients enhance the dish with color, variety, and texture. Adding a hint of sweetness along with a unique mouthfeel, leftover apple peels make a tasty and versatile topping for salads. Try incorporating apple peelings in a hearty spinach salad topped with walnuts, sharp cheddar, and dried cranberries, which also pair well with the apples.

Chopped leftover apple skins could make an interesting change to a classic chicken salad as well, offering a fresh element to balance rich and savory ingredients. Thinly sliced apple peelings can also help stretch out coleslaw while adding a subtle touch of sweetness to the mix. Whether using red or green apple peels, the vibrant skins are a colorful and nutrient-dense addition to the vegetable blend.

Bulk up breakfast and baked goods

Savory or sweet, there are many creative ways to cook with apples. Incorporating leftover apple peels adds texture, flavor, and nutrients to a variety of breakfast options and tasty baked goods. They can be included whole for the most texture as well as chopped or blended into a finer mixture. Apple peel powder can also bring a sweet and nutritious boost to your breakfast and baked goods.

Bulk up your oatmeal, pancakes, waffles, or yogurt with a handful of apple skins or apple peel powder for an extra dose of fiber in your morning meal. For a savory breakfast delight, try including chopped apple peels in your homemade sausage recipe to add a touch of sweetness to the mix. You can also enhance bread, muffins, pies, cinnamon rolls, marshmallow treats, and other desserts with leftover apple peelings. They work especially well in recipes featuring warm spices like cinnamon, cloves, or star anise for a fragrant, fall treat.

Upgrade your baking with homemade apple extract

Level up your baking with even more apple-forward flavor by transforming leftover apple peelings into homemade apple extract. Pure extracts made from scratch are easy to prepare and taste better than synthetic versions. You can make extracts of any flavor using a few simple ingredients that are free of artificial flavors, colors, and heavy corn syrup.

To prepare your homemade extracts, you only need vodka and natural ingredients such as apple peels, citrus rinds, or vanilla beans. A water and vegetable glycerin mixture can be used as an alternative to alcohol, or you can swap the vodka for bourbon for a richer flavor. It only takes a few minutes to combine the ingredients, but the process of extracting the flavor can take five to six weeks. If you have access to the sous vide machine, you can speed up the process and intensify the flavor using this helpful device. Extracts made with vodka or bourbon will keep for a long time thanks to the high alcohol content. The bottles should be stored closed and away from light and heat in a cabinet or cupboard.

Make apple syrup

Leftover apple peelings are made even more delicious with some added sugar. We suggest saving apple peels to make rich, homemade apple syrup by reducing the peels with maple syrup or brown sugar and water. The result will be a little thinner than traditional maple syrup, but not as runny as plain simple syrup, and can be further enriched with cream, honey, or butter. You can even make spiced syrup by mixing in cinnamon and other warm spices or create interesting and complex syrup flavors by incorporating ingredients such as citrus peels, herbs, bourbon, or berries.

Use your homemade apple syrup to sweeten coffee, tea, and cocktails. Drizzle your fruity syrup over yogurt or oatmeal, mix it into homemade granola, or pour some over French toast, waffles, or pancakes for an elevated morning meal. You can even use your homemade syrup to make a sweet compound butter to spread over bread, bagels, and muffins.

Reduce them into jelly

Pectin-rich apple peels are perfect for making a batch of homemade apple jelly. Science Direct explains that pectin is a carbohydrate and natural gelling agent found in fruits, particularly citrus rinds and apple peels. Pectin is used to solidify jams, jellies, or preserves and has been included in juices and other beverages to improve the viscosity and mouthfeel. Plant-based pectin mimics the effects of gelatin, which is derived from animals and has a variety of culinary uses from making a glaze for fruit tarts to firming up gummy candies.

Because apples naturally contain higher amounts of pectin, making apple jelly requires only a few ingredients including apple peels and cores, water, sugar, and lemon juice. The pectin in the peels will thicken the mixture as it boils, creating a delicious jelly that can be stored in the refrigerator to enjoy right away or processed in a water bath canner for long-term storage. You can also use leftover apple peelings to extract pectin for use in other recipes. The best type of apples for making pectin are very firm, green apples because pectin levels decrease as the fruit ripens. Use your homemade apple pectin for a wide range of cooking, baking, and canning projects.

Turn them into apple cider vinegar

There are many myths and claims attached to apple cider vinegar, but regardless of the purported health benefits, the tangy substance has a number of versatile uses in and out of the kitchen. Apple cider vinegar is a fermented product that can be time-consuming to prepare but is well worth the effort for its myriad of uses from making salad dressing to cleaning your home. Although it can be a long, laborious process, all you need to make apple cider vinegar are apple peels and cores, a little bit of sugar, and water.

In addition to whipping up homemade salad dressings, we suggest using your homemade apple cider vinegar as an all-purpose solution for just about everything from killing weeds and deterring flies to washing produce and enhancing your beauty regimen. In the kitchen, you can employ apple cider vinegar to make a quick buttermilk substitute by mixing it with milk or include it in marinades to tenderize meat. The sour liquid can be used in pickle recipes as well as to make salsas, homemade mayonnaise, relishes, and more.

Infuse your booze

No longer a mere garnish, leftover apple peels can infuse your booze with a boost of apple flavor. To make a simple, apple-infused liquor, pack a sterilized jar with apple scraps such as peels and cores and fill the container with liquor and seal it with a lid. Store the container in a cool dark place for several weeks, shaking the jar every few days. Strain the apple remnants and enjoy straight or creative cocktails. Customize your infused liquors with herbs, spices, and other fruits for unique, signature additions to your liquor cabinet.

For a boozy use for apple peelings that takes less patience, try adding them to sangria along with citrus peels for a fragrant addition to the fruity beverage. Creative connoisseurs might try infusing their homemade alcoholic concoctions with leftover peels. We suggest those interested in making their own wine consider adding leftover apple skins to the mix or incorporating them into a cozy recipe for hard cider.

Treat your pets

Many pet parents love to please give furry friends special treats. After talking with your veterinarian about your individual pet’s needs, you might use your kitchen scraps to create tasty homemade treats your pet will love. According to the American Kennel Club, apple peels are good for dogs and can help ease digestive issues and maintain a healthy weight thanks to the extra fiber. However, refrain from feeding dogs apple seeds or cores as they contain small amounts of cyanide and may be a choking hazard. The apple peels can be eaten raw in small amounts or baked into chips or dog-friendly cookies.

Apple peels are a great snack for other types of pets as well, such as chickens, goats, and pigs. Offer leftover apple skins in small pieces for chickens to peck to save the peels from going into the trash. Goats and pigs will likely also enjoy the sweet apple treat.

Remove stains from cookware

Leftover apple skins are versatile kitchen scraps with a range of uses beyond the culinary world with surprising applications throughout the home. Fruit and vegetable peelings have many benefits around the home, including as a natural stain remover. The acid in apple peels can help break down grease stains and restore the shine of aluminum cookware and utensils.

To harness the cleaning power of your apple scraps, boil the pieces of apple skin in water and let them simmer in the stained aluminum pot or pan for about half an hour. Let the cookware cool, then wash it with dish soap, rinse, and dry it as usual. After applying this process, the stains and discoloration should be gone and your cookware will be restored to its original glory. Thanks to the fragrant fruit, you can also enjoy a fresh, lovely apple scent in your kitchen and home.

Freshen up with potpourri

Along with warm spices, the cozy smell of apples is a signature scent of fall. Freshening up your space with leftover apple peels can be as simple as pouring boiling water over a handful of apple scraps in a bowl, allowing the scent to disperse throughout the room. You can also capture the autumnal aroma with a do-it-yourself potpourri featuring leftover apple peels.

Fill your home with fragrance using a stove-top version in which the ingredients are added to water and simmered until the aroma fills the room or break out the dehydrator to create a dried mix that can be utilized throughout the house, even doubling as a cozy decoration. There are a plethora of uses for potpourri at home, in the car, for bags and suitcases, or as gifts. Dried apple skins can be placed in a small cotton sachet and placed in drawers or linen closets for an easy way to freshen up fabrics.

Enrich compost

If you find yourself with too many leftover apple peels to use before they go bad, note that apple skins can be frozen for future use. If wildlife frequents your yard, you might put them out for the squirrels, chipmunks, or birds to enjoy. However, if you do not wish to save your peels, consider returning any remaining bits to the soil by using them to enrich your compost. Make sure the apples have been washed to remove any potentially harmful pesticides or chemicals and take off any non-biodegradable produce stickers from the apple skins.

There are multiple ways to create compost, even if you are living in an apartment or other small space. The USDA explains that composting benefits the earth by feeding the soil without the use of chemical fertilizers, keeping food waste out of landfills, and conserving water by creating healthy soils. Two popular styles of compost include backyard composting and worm composting, also known as vermicompost. Apple peels can be broken down using either method, enriching the soil with the many nutrients found in the scraps while preventing food waste.

SOURCE: tastingtable.com Brittany Davies

Even though I am NOT a beach person, I can appreciate the many crafts items that can be made with things found at the beach.

Sand Bowls

Sand is mixed with adhesive and allowed to drip and dry over a container.  (These can then be stacked as shown in the photo.  The details can be found at designboom.com)

Shell Candles

Driftwood Fish

Clamshell Wreath

More Ideas can be found at bigdiyideas.com.

This article comes from the ruralsprout.com website:

An eggshell is more than just a useful container for the nutritious yolk and egg white inside: it is a prime example of nature’s perfect packaging. Eggshells are beneficial for us too, consisting of 95% calcium carbonate, making them very similar to our own bones and teeth. It comes as no surprise then, that eggshells help to strengthen our bones and protect our tooth enamel. If we only used the shells, rather than throwing them out.

You may not have heard it yet, but just as you can eat the peels of organic bananas or lemons, the entire egg can also be eaten. The shells are an amazing source of calcium, just half an eggshell provides you with your daily recommended calcium intake. It makes practical sense, not only to feed the shells to your egg-laying chickens, but for you to utilize their unusual strengths too. If you raise backyard chickens, you are likely to go through hundreds of eggs a year. Save those shells from entering the landfill and use them in your own home and garden instead.

Clever Uses for Eggshells

Use eggshells to start seedlings indoors

In the pursuit of a plastic-free life and garden, finding a sustainable solution for starting seeds isn’t always easy. In the past, people reused what they had, yogurt containers or the like, but at some point, plastic pots break down and need to be thrown away/recycled. Of course, there are peat pots, newspaper pots, gourd shells and wooden flats as examples to eco-friendly planting options, though eggshells come out as the garden winner. Fill the shell halfway with soil, carefully place your seeds and wait for them to grow. To keep the eggshells in place, place them back in the eggshell carton. When the plants are large enough, you can transplant the entire pot to the garden, where the shell will break down, providing added calcium to the soil around it.

Garden mulch

After a hearty breakfast, or the baking of a delicious cake, crush your eggshells and carry them straight out into the garden! As they slowly decompose, they will not only help to aerate the soil as they improve water flow, the eggshells will also release calcium over time. The finer you crush them, the faster they will break down.

Nourish your tomatoes with a boost of calcium.

While you can place eggshells directly under your tomatoes as you transplant them, sometimes a volunteer tomato plant from last season pops up and you wish to save it. Think of it as a survivor, and give it some extra love and attention. The addition of calcium to your tomato plants will help prevent blossom-end rot (not a disease, but a physiological disorder created by a calcium imbalance). For the same reason, eggshells are extremely beneficial for your squashes, peppers, cabbage and broccoli too!

Feed eggshells to your chickens

If you want healthy eggs from your chickens, just toss the eggshells right back at them! Laying hens need plenty of calcium, and if you find that your chickens are in fact eating their own eggs, it may be because of a vitamin deficiency. Dry out the eggshells at room temperature, and when you have collected enough, go ahead and crush them lightly, then lay out the shells thinly on a baking sheet. Bake the shells until brittle, 275 degrees for ten minutes or so, then crush some more and serve to the chooks in small amounts.

Use crushed eggshells in the garden to deter pests

Ducks will gladly dine on slugs, but you can’t always allow them in your garden. In that case, try roughly crushed eggshells around the base of plants to deter snails and slugs who wish to devour your lovely greens.

Add them to the compost

Again, it is the calcium content that comes into play. In order to increase the quality of your compost, you will want to add all the biodegradable matter that you can, eggshells included. Having a compost pile reduces your trash and helps the garden too.

Wild bird food

Just as you can feed your chickens, you can also give a little support to the wild birds. The same processes apply: bake, then crush the shells into bite-sized pieces, and sprinkle in their feed mix or on the ground for them to find.

Boil eggshells in your coffee

This is wonderful for two reasons.  Firstly, if you are making campfire coffee over high heat, crushed eggshells will help keep the grounds from boiling over. This isn’t a common problem unless you are roughing it, but now you know how to avoid a ruined coffee if the situation ever arises.

Secondly, eggshells added to coffee make for a less acidic cup. When you experience the overwhelming bitterness from a cup of cheap coffee, or from a pot that was brewed too long, eggshells are here to save the day. The powdered, or finely broken up shell, of just one egg is enough to make 4 cups of fantastic coffee. Try it. It is a great way to get some calcium with your brew, if you are sipping dairy-free.

Toss eggshells in your bone broth or stock pot

Whether you are stirring up an enormous pot of bone broth or a hearty vegetable stock, adding eggshells is extremely beneficial. It is not just calcium that you will be receiving, eggshells also contain small amounts of other minerals:

magnesium

fluoride

selenium

zinc

iron

phosphorus

It won’t change the flavor, though you will feel the nutritional boost!

Add them to your apple cider vinegar

Add some dried eggshells to a jar of apple cider vinegar, with the mother, and let nature science do it’s work. The end result will be a tincture that relieves acid reflux, treats minor skin irritations and itchy skin.

Homemade eggshell toothpaste

Once you make the decision to stop using standard minty fluoride toothpaste with a myriad of unpronounceable ingredients, there is no looking back. You’ll then find all sorts of options to keep your teeth happy and clean – from activated charcoal, to clay and zeolite, all the way to baking soda with coconut oil and essential oils. Remember from up above that eggshells are similar to our own teeth? This gives us great reason to make a very fine eggshell powder toothpaste to brush our pearly whites, holding cavities at bay.

Make an eggshell face mask

To nourish and tighten your skin: crush your dried eggshells in a mortar and pestle to make a fine powder. Then whisk an egg white till it is somewhat stiff and add the eggshell powder. Spread it over your face and allow it to dry. Wash the mask off with cold water and enjoy your free facial treatment.

Whiten your laundry

If your whites are not so bright as they used to be and chlorine is a no-go in your natural laundry routine, why not try the method of putting eggshells into a tightly woven bag (or old stocking) with a few slices of lemon?  It doesn’t cost much, if anything, and is definitely worth a try.

Scrub your tough-to-clean pots

In a pinch, you can crush a few eggshells into a dirty pot, along with soap and hot water to get it clean. The shells will break up and remove the dirt as they are wonderfully abrasive. You can use crushed eggshells in hard-to-clean vases as well for a more glistening glass surface.

Eat your eggshells

The best way to eat your eggshells? Powder them finely and add to juices, smoothies, soups and stews. Don’t go overboard though, if you are already getting enough calcium in your diet, you may want to find another use for them. Half an eggshell a day covers your basic calcium needs, more than that is unnecessary.

Why eat eggshells?

Besides the obvious benefits of bio-available calcium coming from free-range eggshells, and the fact that they improve bone density, as well as helping remineralize teeth, eggshells are known to relieve joint pain and inflammation.

That’s a lot of glowing health when you eat the entire egg!

What kind of eggshells to use?

For the sake of eating a healthy, natural diet, you’ll want to make sure that the eggshells you are about to consume come from organic or free-range chickens. Eggs from factory farms are far less nutritious, and may carry hidden pathogens which you will want to avoid.

If you don’t have your own hens, purchase from a local farmer or the farmers market for the healthiest farm fresh eggs possible.  And yes, you can do this with duck eggs or turkey eggs, even quail eggs too.

SOURCE: RURALSPROUT.COM

I found these creative picnic hacks at onecrazyhouse.com:

Turn a chip bag into a bowl!  This hack comes via thisgrandmaisfun.com. You begin by turning down the top of the bag (purely for aesthetics).

Poke the corners in to prevent the bag from falling over.

As you roll the bottom up, the chips will come to the top. When you need to, roll up some more!

Use a six-pack drink container to hold the utensils!

Use a shower cap to keep cold foods cold!

Use a fitted twin sheet to cover your picnic table!

Create a “sticky finger station” for wipes and such to avoid constant running in and out of the house!

This hack I never heard of, but would love to try: Cooler Corn!  From the onecrazyhouse website:

Did you know you can cook corn in a cooler? Yeah, me too. We’ve all heard of corn on the cob but how much do you know about the different ways you can make it? And keep it hot during your picnic? Cooler corn is probably the easiest way ever to cook corn on the cob.

Just boil some water in a pot on the grill and make sure the water is boiling hot. Place some ears of corn in a clean cooler then fill the cooler with water and firmly shut the lid. The corn cooks and doesn’t get cold. It’s basically science but it’s cool!

SOURCE: ONECRAZYHOUSE.COM