Making Sea Glass

Making Sea Glass

Little Lakeview Conservatory LLC made its first Sea Glass this year, June 2020. Here is how we made our Sea Glass out of recycled glass bottles:

Little Lakeview Conservatory LLC started making its Sea Glass for use with our hydroponics and aquaponics, as a growing media. Our location has currently been under construction and I have been using this time to try different methods for plant projects.  

I had thrown some turtle vine cuttings into the sea glass bucket while tending the plants and forgotten them. They all rooted. 

 

 What Little Lakeview Conservatory LLC used to make Sea Glass:

• Glass bottles, jars or other glass items 
• Sand
• Salt
• Safety Glasses and Gloves
• A Hammer
• 5 gallon bucket and Colander. 
• Water, We used the garden hose.
• A Rock Tumbler, but in this case a Cement mixer for large batches.

How Little Lakeview Conservatory LLC made our Sea Glass:

• To start we collected all the items and prepped in proper safety gear to protect against sharp glass. Also the cement mixer was locked in the Garage to protect children and animals from getting hurt during the process, as well as being supervised. 
• After collecting glass bottles, jars and misc. broken glass items, the collected glass was smashed with a hammer into small pieces.
• Those pieces of broken glass, roughly a 1/2 full 5 gallon bucket for a batch, were placed into the cement mixer.
• About a gallon of sand, we grabbed sand from our property, was added to the cement mixer mix.
• About 4 cups of salt, regular table salt, was added to the cement mixer mix.
• Then water was sprayed into the mix with the hose to make a slushy mix. 
• Turned on the cement mixer and let it run in the locked garage, supervised, for a few hours during the day while tending the gardens and doing everyday tasks.
• Afterwards the mixed mix was poured into the 5 gallon bucket again and with the hose water and the colander the new formed seaglass was cleaned of sand and salt.

All DIY projects shown on LittleLakeviewConservatory.com are purely “at your own risk”. As with any DIY project, unfamiliarity with the tools and process can be dangerous. Posts should be construed as theoretical advice only.

If you are at all uncomfortable or inexperienced working on these projects (especially but not limited to electronics and mechanical), please reconsider doing the job yourself. It is very possible on any DIY project to damage your cottage, void your property insurance, create a hazardous condition, or harm or even kill yourself or others.

Little Lakeview Conservatory LLC will not be held responsible for any injury due to any featured DIY project.

          

Little Lakeview Conservatory, LLC

Please feel free to contact us at LittleLakeviewConservatory@gmail.com be added to our email list or with any questions, requests and comments.

Little Lakeview 

Conservatory, LLC * Grow a little!™

Sustainable Scraps

Sustainable Scraps

Some foods, such as celery, can be regrown from the produce you would normally toss. Instead of tossing our Celery scraps into our compost, we have decided to regrow our Celery. This is a great family project to do with kids or for anyone's own self sustaining household.

Celery from Scraps:

What you will need:

Celery Stalk Cutting
A Cup/or Dish
Water
Sunlight/Plant Light

A method for transplanting the Celery once it is restarted:

• Dirt indoors in a planter or outdoors in your garden.
• Hydroponic planting system
• Aquaponic planting system. 

How to:

Once you have finished using your Celery, you will be left with a cut Celery Stalk. 

Take the Celery Stalk Cutting and place in a Cup or Dish with water covering the bottom of the Celery and leaving the top exposed to air. Place the Cup or Dish in a window for sunlight or under a Plant light if you have one. 

Change the water out with fresh water daily. After about a week or two you should see some growth in roots in the water, and leaves appearing on top.

Once there is regrowth, you can transplant your Celery to Dirt in a planter or outside depending on the season in your area. Celery is a harder plant to grow outside.

We have gone with an indoor small Hydroponic System to replant our Starters. 

What we used:

• Organic Clay Pebbles for a Media
• A Net Cup Pot
• A 32 oz Wide Mouth Mason Jar
• A water soluble Fertilizer to feed our Celery.

 

Little Lakeview Conservatory, LLC

Little Lakeview Conservatory, LLC was est. in 2019 to provide sustainable plants in NH and to share information to help people create self sustainability in their own homes.

Please feel free to contact us at LittleLakeviewConservatory@gmail.com be added to our email list or with any questions, requests and comments.

Little Lakeview Conservatory, LLC * Grow a little!™

Self-Sufficient

"Self-sufficiency is the greatest of all wealth" Epicurus.

Self-sufficiency, the ability to take care of oneself, is an all encompassing ideal. Sustainable Living isn't an impossible goal. Life skills are skills we have acquired, whether through formal education or life experience, that enable us to effectively handle issues and the problems that we encounter in daily life. Applying learned life skills to how we function can help us become more self-sufficient.

Self-sufficiency, like self care, is relative to the individual and circumstances. Time, Energy, Costs, Available Resources, Geographical Circumstances, Weather and Knowledge are all factors that affect how we are able to function in our environment. Learning, Adapting, Persisting and Growing are choices that can help achieve a more self-sufficient lifestyle. Do the best you can. As Maya Angelou said...

"Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better do better." Maya Angelou.

Why take steps to a more Self-sustainable lifestyle?

• Money
• Self empowerment
• Food Security
• Improved nutrition
• Becoming more in touch with nature
• A better understanding and respect for our resources
• Positive affect on the environment, positive affect on climate change.
• Independance
• Sense of control

Some Steps to take to become more self-reliant: 

• Start growing. Grow herbs in the kitchen, indoor house plants, and/or adding new plants to your yard.
• Make the most of what you have. Choose plants that grow best in the environment that you are able to provide them. 
• Get creative. Try new ways to grow. Vertical Hydroponic gardens are an easy way to grow more in a smaller space, and faster. Upcycling your recycling into planters or finding fun new ideas from sources such as https://www.pinterest.com/.
• Immerse yourself in your community. Find the community gardens and farm shares in your area. Many cities have community gardens and farm shares because many people that live in larger cities have less space available to garden. 
• Talk, talk, talk. Check out your local farmers markets. Ask local farmers for tips from their experience with gardening in your area. http://nfmd.org 
  
• Collect rain water (if it's legal in your area) and/or look into a grey water system. https://greywateraction.org/greywater-reuse/
• Raise your own Chickens. Chickens provide eggs and eat insects like ticks.
• Forage. Foraging for local resources is a great way to save money and better learn about your surroundings. 
• Learn to fish or hunt. And how to clean, store and prepare your catches.
• Raise meat rabbits or dairy animals. Goat milk is naturally homogenized.
• Tan your hides. Waste not want not. Make the most of what you caught hunting or even raised yourself. 
• Hang your clothes to dry when possible. Save money and energy.
• Learn how to mend or make your own clothing or blankets. Learn to sew, quilt, knit and/or crochet.  
• Make your own cleaners. Placing your orange peels in a jar with vinegar for two weeks makes a powerful cleaner. There are endless recipes online to make a variety of cleaners that are natural, non-toxic and sometimes upcycling from what would've been tossed out, like orange peels.
• Beekeeping. Raise your own Bees.
• Learn to make candles and start a fire.
• Learn how to preserve your food. Research food preservation and choose the best methods to accomodate your lifestyle. 
• Learn how to ferment food. Try new recipes you find for items that you already have.
• Research the uses for plants or products you have.
• Tap your trees. Identify and tap your maple trees if you have them.
• Do what you do, better. Make small changes to your own routines, without changing what you love doing.

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Little Lakeview Conservatory, LLC

Little Lakeview Conservatory, LLC was est. in 2019 to provide sustainable plants in NH and to share information to help people create self sustainability in their own homes.

Please feel free to contact us at LittleLakeviewConservatory@gmail.com be added to our email list or with any questions, requests and comments.

Little Lakeview Conservatory, LLC * Grow a little!