I don't spill food on myself or the floor. I save that for when I'm at home. But she sometimes cringes when I approach the waiter for a to-go box and say: "If I don't eat it, our chickens will." The staff is always happy to hear that the food isn't going to waste, but my wife pretends she doesn't know me.
Too few restaurants and homeowners compost or give their food waste to farmers. And that
What's This?
Our new FREEcycle column will provide on your farm to provide substantial savings, such as making chicken feed from scratch, recycling metal, creating free liquid fertilizer and more. In this column, we'll show you how to recycle some of your natural materials and food scraps into a perfect soil amendment.
contributes to the fact that the average citizen generates 20 pounds of food waste every month, according to the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic. That adds up to about half a ton annually for a family of four.
Citywide, that means food waste from homes, restaurants and institutions composes about 13% of municipal trash that goes to the landfill. That probably costs most cities about $40 a ton or more carried by garbage trucks that get as little as 3 miles per gallon (not a typo). So, every time your customers or a restaurant throws away food, they're creating upward pressure on their own tax bill.
There are also environmental advantages to letting hens eat these food scraps. If these scraps go to a landfill, they slowly decompose in a way that turns them into methane gas.
The methane will escape into the atmosphere where it is 25 times worse for promoting climate disruption than is an equivalent amount of CO₂ coming from your car exhaust or those garbage trucks.
And if you're on a city sewer line and dispose of food scraps down the drain, with or without a garbage disposal, things aren't much better.
Denne historien er fra March - April 2023-utgaven av Hobby Farms.
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Denne historien er fra March - April 2023-utgaven av Hobby Farms.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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The RISE of Opportunist WEEDS
Be prepared to see increasing changes in weeds we fight, such as poison hemlock and poison ivy, and in the crops we grow.
LIVESTOCK Health
Prepare yourself for how to spot symptoms of illness in your farm animals so that you can get them help before it's too late.
CUT FLOWER Farming
If you're considering growing flowers for sale, brush up on these five key things to know before diving in.
WINTER Survival
Keep your land, animals and yourself in good shape this winter with this helpful advice.
COVERAGE CONCERNS
Avoid common insurance mistakes for rural and hobby farm businesses.
FARMER'S GUIDE Berries
Set the stage for tasty strawberries, blueberries and brambles with these soil-boosting garden tips.
Preconditioning CALVES
Follow our step-by-step guide to get more money for your calves.
Soil Conservation
Often, outside of having a specific problem that needs to be addressed, soil conservation isn't something every farmer readily thinks about. Yet conserving the soil should be at or near the top of every farmer owner or manager's list of concerns because absent the prevention of soil erosion, we have the opportunity for another dust bowl.
Year-Round Lettuce & Salad Mixes
It's easy to think of salad greens as just a spring- or fall-garden crop, but it's possible to enjoy freshly harvested lettuces, mustards and more from your own garden year-round.
Barn Improvements
Days are never long enough for a farmer. From dawn to well into the night, tasks arise that often require immediate action. Having to search for tools or equipment is an enormous time waster and incredibly frustrating when you can't find what you need, especially when you know you have it.