Oily rag: Turn scraps into worm farm

Recycling your kitchen scraps is great for gardens and saves you council rubbish collection fees. Photo / File

The mail bags are bursting so it's time to dig in and see what tips and titbits lie in wait.

First, a query. Busy Mum from Whangarei is wondering what to prepare for a Christmas feast without high cost. If you can help with thrifty ideas for Christmas Day delicacies then please send them through as we are sure Busy Mum is not the only one with this on her mind!

Now, a blokey tip for vacuum cleaning! Douglas from Featherston writes, "If you are like me and live by yourself, vacuuming under the bed is difficult. Here is a tip. Get the scissor jack out of the car and use it to lift up the bed. Lift, vacuum, put the jack back in the car -- job done. Very easy." Great idea, Douglas, and a lot easier than changing a car tyre!

CT from Onerahi in Whangarei has this way of avoiding council rubbish charges. "I only use a large rubbish bag about once a month for rubbish to go to the dump. I always put fruit and vegetable scraps, tea bags, egg shells, and vacuum cleaner contents into a bucket and when it is full I dig it straight into my small vegetable garden, where it turns into soil in next to no time. The compost bin is used for grass clippings and prunings and the odd weed; items that take much longer to produce soil."

Good idea, CT. A few weeks ago, we emptied our compost bin to find dark rich soil. We formed it into a fertile mound, now a thriving melon and pumpkin patch. Another way of getting rid of kitchen food scraps is to start a worm farm. We read an article recently about one being made from a length of 1.6m downpipe. It was fun for the kids and a great way to have tiger worms turn kitchen waste into plant nutrients.

Anonymous has this tip for broad beans. "I steam broad beans till they are cooked and free flow them on baking trays in the freezer making sure the outer skin is taken off if they are old. Then they can be put into lunch bags to use when needed. Also green beans and carrots can be cooked, cooled and frozen in lunch bags and just heated up when needed."

Nana from Inglewood has this gardening tip. "To keep the birds from scratching your seeds out and eating your vegetable plants, get any old DVD, CD or PC disc and thread fishing nylon through the centre hole and tie to a garden stake. Place stake in the ground on an angle so the disc can spin in the breeze. Works a treat and has kept the birds away from my tomatoes."

Karen from Palmerston North has something to say about cracked heels. "I see the ads on TV for expensive treatments for cracked heels. Just as effective (if not more!) is to apply a coating of petroleum jelly (generic of course!) to the cracked/rough area. Cover with a piece of cling film, then a cotton sock (to keep it in place). Pumice away the dead skin in the shower/bath the next day. You should only need to treat them once or twice, and just maintain by pumicing once or twice a week. (Pumice can be picked up for free on our beaches.) You'll also find that this prolongs the life of your socks/tights/sheets etc."

Karen also has this bathroom tip. "Shampoo is expensive -- we tend to use twice as much as we need to. Because we apply it to one spot on the crown of the head, the hair there can become damaged and break. I now spread a surprisingly small amount of shampoo between the palms of my hands, then apply to the sides of the head first, then to the back and top. Of course it depends on the type and length of your hair, but I use less than the size of a 10c coin. I also find that by not leaving it on for a prolonged period I seldom need to apply conditioner, and my hair has never looked better, so it's a win-win."

• If you have a favourite recipe or oily rag tip that works well for your family, send it to us at www.oilyrag.co.nz, or by writing to Living off the Smell of an Oily Rag, PO Box 984, Whangarei, and we will relay it to the readers of this column.