This is a fantastic topic for a Homestead! Used tea bags are far too valuable to throw away\u2014they’re essentially small, pre-portioned packets packed with beneficial compounds that fit perfectly into your circular permaculture and “mint and oil” principles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here are 10 clever tricks that are perfect for your garden and home projects:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the garden and the Walipini:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nitrogen boost for your beds: Cut open the tea bags and mix the moist contents into the soil of your vertical raised beds. Roses and ferns, in particular, love the tannins in the tea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moisture retention: Place whole, moist tea bags at the bottom of your plant pots (over the drainage hole) before adding soil. They retain water and prevent soil from spilling out \u2013 ideal for your PVC NFT systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Compost accelerator: The acid in tea speeds up the decomposition process. Toss the tea bags (if they’re paper\/natural fiber) directly onto the compost heap to get valuable fertilizer for your potato towers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pest repellent: Mice and many insects hate the smell of peppermint. Soak used tea bags with a little extra mint oil and place them in the corners of your chicken coop or in pantry cupboards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For household and personal care:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Outdoor kitchen degreaser: Soak stubbornly dirty pans or your DIY grill overnight in water with two used tea bags. The tannins will loosen the grease without aggressive scrubbing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wood polish for natural logs: A weak brew of used black tea bags is excellent for cleaning dark wood and concealing scratches. Rub your log furniture with a drop of oil afterward to keep it puha (supple).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Odor eliminator for the refrigerator: Dried tea bags absorb odors almost as well as baking soda. Perfect for keeping the kitchen fresh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Window cleaner: A second infusion of tea bags can be used to clean glass surfaces streak-free\u2014ideal for the windows of your walipini or chicken coop greenhouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For personal wellness:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gardener’s hand balm: If you have small scratches or swelling after working in the garden, place a cool, damp tea bag (especially green tea or chamomile) on them. It has anti-inflammatory and soothing properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shoe freshener: Place dried, used tea bags in your work boots. They draw out moisture and neutralize odors after a long day on the homestead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One last little “Gazda” tip:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before you work the tea bags into the soil, make sure they don’t contain any plastic staples or other plastic parts. You can note in your logbook which plants respond particularly well to the “tea fertilizer.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Would you like me to show you how to make a special tincture for cleaning your garden tools from used tea bags and your herbs?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is a fantastic topic for a Homestead! Used tea bags are far too valuable to throw away\u2014they’re essentially small, pre-portioned packets packed with beneficial compounds that fit perfectly into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nteresting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19117"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19119,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19117\/revisions\/19119"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}