Frugaldom: recycling

Frugaldom is a voluntarily run recreational project. It is home to an abundance of wildlife, ponies, goats and feral cats. Set in rural southwest Scotland, we have dark skies and views of the Galloway Hills. We promote frugal living, recycling, sustainability and nature conservation. The site offers park-up for self-sufficient campervans & motorhomes (max 7.5m), off-grid hutting and wildlife watching opportunities. Open all year. You can join Friends of Frugaldom to help support the project.

Showing posts with label recycling. Show all posts

Thursday, 11 September 2025

Frugal and Free

FREEBIES!

But what does one do with such frugal gifts? Some may say this is mere waste and, in a way, it is. Someone, somewhere paid a company to remove a dangerous tree and clip back a hedge then remove all this 'waste' so everything went through a big chipping machine and loaded onto a lorry. From there, it is 'disposed of appropriately and legally'.

Frugaldom is on the disposal list. We recycle chipped up trees and logs into mulch, compost and wildlife habitats that become homes or feeding stations to a plethora of critters and beasties.

Log piles make fabulous critter dens and feeding areas for wildlife. For our visitors stopping overnight, these areas also make great photo points when spotting the foxes, badgers or pine martens.

We often set out trail cameras and we supplement the feed of our visiting wildlife. Food for the animals is our biggest expense so we love when visitors arrive bearing gifts of peanuts, monkey nuts, fresh eggs, suet blocks and crunchy peanut butter (100% peanuts).

We also recycle any pallets we are given. Most get used for fencing or for floating footpaths over the marshy areas but we also built a small hide for summer use by the river.

As well as all of this, the donated logs, tree chippings and pallets can be incorporated into Frugaldom's art in nature project. Harvey is in charge of that, creating all the wildwood and driftwood sculptures, making art from beach trash and dreaming up all manner of woodland creatures that can now be found here.

Currently, the installation known as 'The Four Horses if Frugaldom' is being moved from its previous location in the goat enclosure to be set up by the main driveway into the project. Truth, Honesty, Integrity and Respect will soon be in place, seen taking their leap of faith over nature's obstacles. Ecoarts play a huge part of what we do here, both telling a story and raising awareness, as well as helping raise much needed funds to help us keep going.

But back to the free tree chippings...

Thanks to the chippings, we can mulch the footpaths that run between the cabins and around the wildlife feeding stations. Hut 2 is the current focus as we top up the paths around it, following in the footsteps of the deer, foxes, badgers and pine martens who frequently visit.

Frugal living isn't for everyone and nor is the whole off-grid experience but our aim is to make such experiences affordable and accessible to all. Nature and wildlife lovers, especially, are being offered memberships to our support group known as FRIENDS OF FRUGALDOM. In turn, this tiny bit income helps us cover costs of feeding the rescued, retired and rehomed animals we have here while offering members the chance to visit and stay.

Another fundraising feature we have is "Badger's Holt", a super corner of Frugaldom that permits campervans, motorhomes or even small caravans to park up and watch the wildlife while here. Stays can range from one day/night up to 28 days with pricing to suit any budget.

Frugaldom is also home to several feral cats, two of which can often be spotted roaming around the barn, hay shelters and feed rooms. Seen here is Caramel but we also have Macaroon, Minstrel, Socks and, on occasion, Commander.

All in all, Frugaldom is about frugality and the freedom to enjoy nature. Whether you are cabin camping, campervanning or motorhoming, we have an option that should suit every budget

Please contact me (Susan) if you have any questions or if you would like to help out here. Frugaldom is unfunded and run voluntarily as a social enterprise. We are neither a business nor are we a charity, we are simply two people spending our income on creating a magical little wilderness that can be enjoyed by all.

Monday, 15 September 2014

More Simple Savings in September

Into week three of our 'Simple Savings in September' Challenge and the courgettes are still growing - fabulous plants that just keep on giving more and more - I cook them in everything at this time of year, even omelettes and chocolate cake.

…

Having already begun setting up the project and welcoming various visitors, my thoughts are continually wandering over there, plotting and planning the overall lay-out and design of what will become a horticultural farm or smallholding with its own nature reserve. It has to be self-sustainable, in keeping with the frugal living ethos and with open access to allow our members the opportunity to become a part of it. The first plantings have been done but with all these … read more here

More Simple Savings in September

Tuesday, 2 September 2014

Zero Waste Week at Frugaldom

Sunset at frugaldom wild camp

Waste not, want not… let’s all do our bit to reduce what ends up in the landfill and make the most of every penny we spend.

This week, we have been wild camping, repurposing an old log burner, picking home grown produce, knitting string dish cloths and taking cuttings from the herbs in the garden.

Read the first instalment of our Zero Waste Week here

Wednesday, 2 July 2014

Public Opinion on Recycling

From tin can to plastic milk cartons and anything else we can recycle – part of frugal life is making the most of everything. Public opinion, however, seems to vary, depending on who you ask about green living and being environmentally friendly.

Check out some of these facts and figures obtained by Pod Space on the subject… most interesting and very surprising, in my opinion. Read the full post here

Tuesday, 20 May 2014

Make Do and Mend in May

Having attended the Home Renovation Show in Glasgow’s SSEC at the weekend, I returned to Frugaldom filled with ideas and impatient to get back to doing something constructive inside the house. The kitchen cannot be done until the bathroom (shower room) is in reasonable shape but impatience has got the better of me… I’m going to make do and mend what I can in the bathroom so I can plough on with the kitchen!

I have set myself a budget of just £30 to give the bathroom a quick makeover, making do with whatever I can find lying about the house and mending anything that can be salvaged as useable. Making the wall panelling by recycling old wooden window blinds was a plan I had been toying with for several weeks, so… read more here

Friday, 16 May 2014

Frugal Fantasy Garden

A photo blog about recycling 'stuff' into exciting fantasy creations.

This whole ‘Make do and mend in May’ challenge is really rather fun! (Read more about that in the Frugal Forums) It's frugal fun and I just know the grand children will love investigating what I have been making and mending when they visit during summer.

Equally exciting is the diversity of wildlife that is now finding its way into our microholding, even if it is just the latest addition to the patio pond - a new frog. It's another leap in the direction of slug control! Not too sure I like the moles in the mini-orchard, though.

Plans for integrating wildlife cameras in the garden are now afoot, so stay tuned for future revelations regarding that aspect of the project.

From the beginnings of the Frugaldom fairy garden to Hoolet the driftwood owl, Hiss Lordship the snake, the nest of golden eggs and the funny face among the flowers… the Frualdom fantasy garden is really coming to life…

Sunday, 27 April 2014

Eco Arts blog coming to you from Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.

Eco Arts | Eco Arts blog coming to you from Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.

The Frugaldom garden reflects our on-going attempts at home-based self-sustainability. It is from here that we should derive both income and food. It is an environment within which we can relax and enjoy a simple and frugal lifestyle, surrounded by the fruits of our own labours. The garden is being created as a microholding, or tiny smallholding, while following the basic principles of permaculture. But it has an artistic twist by way of the fact that we host an eco arts project.

One project that H has been contemplating for a long time was the making of a driftwood horse that can take pride of place in the garden. He was inspired by the magnificent sculptures of Heather Jansch and began gathering up bits of driftwood over a year ago. The fine Easter weather presented a perfect opportunity to finally put all of the foraged driftwood to good use, recycling it into a ‘living’ sculpture.

Follow the progress from start to finish in our frugal Ecoarts Blog

Sunday, 13 April 2014

Frugal Blog - Repairing the Poly Tunnel and Recycling Milk Cartons

Scottish Multimedia | Repairing the Polytunnel and Recycling Milk Cartons

Today proved to be quite a productive one for achieving major tasks, like getting repairing the storm battered polytunnel and making a start on my 'Mishy Challenge' vertical pod garden.

Living where we do, access to large, plastic milk cartons isn't something that happens regularly, so I have only managed to accrue 8 in total, but one of those is being used to hold my homemade laundry liquid for now. I still hadn't a clue where I was going to build my vertical garden, as we don't have any fences from which to hang anything, so we concentrated on putting the polytunnel back together. First up, sorting out the base - there is none. For the moment, we have cardboard, builders' bags, fish crates and compost bags… continue

Friday, 11 April 2014

Frugal Blog - Stir Frying, Recycling and Planting Onion Sets

Scottish Multimedia | Stir Frying, Recycling and Planting Onion Sets

The sun didn't exactly shine today, nor was it particularly warm, but the overcast, cloudy sky held back the rain for long enough to steal a few hours in the garden. Not before time, I might add!

H succeeded in completing the reroofing of the shed, so that should hopefully put an end to the leaks. While he was busy doing that, I decided to make the most of two small raised beds that were made nearly 3 years ago from the old kitchen units we ripped out when we first bought this place. Since then, these recycled wonders have been used to grow my leeks. They have served that purpose well; so well, in fact, that I am still picking leeks without having sown or planted any since 2012. I brought the three largest ones in to use and dug up another dozen smaller ones that have now been transplanted into the crocus bed… read more

Saturday, 8 March 2014

Day 8 of Making it in March - How to Make a Duck Eggshell Planter

Day 8 of 31 - Today we got our First Duck Egg of the Year!

White duck egg

Phoebe, our oldest surviving duck, has started to lay after her winter break, so today we had a lovely white duck egg. (I know it's Phoebe's because 'Custard Cream' lays pale green eggs and 'Oreo' lays blue eggs.) Cue an attempt at making one of those eggshell planters to hang in a home made mini macramé potholder.

Scoring the egg shell

I used a filleting knife to gently saw through the narrower end of the egg - don't cut right through, we want to save the egg inside for cooking!

Empty egg shell

Once sliced through enough to open the end off the egg, tip the contents into a dish or cup and put them in the fridge to use up for cooking. (Think I might make bread and butter pudding tomorrow!)

Wash out the shell before priming it

After giving the shell a good wash, allow it to stand upside down to drip dry and then give it a couple of coats of bonding - I used my PVA glue. This strengthens the shell. Omit this stage if you are planning on sowing seeds in it because once the seeds germinate, you can simply plant the entire egg shell into the ground.

Painting the eggshell

Once the bonding had dried, I used food colouring to paint this first shell a rosy red! I'll try different colours, depending on what I find in the baking cupboard.

Duck eggshell planter

I selected a brown embroidery thread and then knotted up another of the mini macramé hangers. (See earlier post for how to make these.) The colouring wasn't properly dried in time for me to plant up this shell for photographing, but I'll do that tomorrow. I have taken a couple more cuttings from my Money (Jade) Plant, so they should be ready to pot by then.

Turkey mince pie

And finally, for today, there were a couple of other makes! I made a batch of ice cream for daughter to take home with her and I made some pastry to turn some of the turkey 'Nile' mince into a pie to mark the end of National Pie Week! This one has turkey mince, sage & onion stuffing and mixed vegetables already added to the filling. As usual, I forgot to photograph it when it came out the oven, so this is what's left of it. There is still sufficient mince to make another pie, so I've frozen that for future use. If I count a pie as 4 portions, my 400g pack of turkey mince stretched to 12 meals, six for each of us here.

NYK, Frugaldom

Thursday, 6 March 2014

Day 6 of Making it in March - Secret Books and Turkey Burgers #MIIM

Day 6 of 31 - Reminiscing, Recycling, Crafting and Cooking

15 years ago

NYK newspaper

NYK Magazine

Today was National Book Day, so I thought this would be an excellent day to review my own book interests - writing, editing, blogging, publishing and even recycling an old book that was destined for the bin.

First, a quick look back at our first ever publication named 'Now You Know'. It is 15 years ago this week since issue 1 hit the shelves in March 1999.

I'm dedicating this post to all the writers who have taken part in our writing, publishing and crafting projects over the past 15 years!

To each and every one of you, I am truly grateful - you helped create NYK despite all odds. The financial aspects of every project played a pivotal part and we may not have 'made it big' but do you know what? We survived it all and are still here to tell the stories. So many memories, from our frugal wine tasters/reviewers (The Plonkers) to our grocery challengers, recipe contributors, roving reporters and wannabe investigative journalists who got our little monthly rag into all sorts of pickles! Bring back Millie May, Eddie Elwood, the Woman Zone and every other part of it, I say! Jordan, Armand, Rovin' Ronnie, McDade, Rosemary, Derum...

OK, getting back to recycling, let's not pulp, bin, burn or bury this book, let's try...

Making a Secret Book

Making a secret book

This is quite self explanatory but I have to hold up my hands and say that it is much easier said than done when it comes to making something like this. As a bibliophile, I had a serious problem finding a hardback book that I could bring myself to mutilate! After several attempts, I failed to put the knife into the bedraggled Greek text copy of Homer's 'Odyssey' and, instead, had to opt for one that was rescued from someone else's bin!

Step 1 Cover the book in kitchen film the way you used to cover school books. Include a few of the front pages to allow for any sticky mistakes while gluing. Close the book and paint all around the page edges with a clear-setting glue. I used ordinary PVA glue for this. Sit something heavy on top once you're done and leave to dry.

Making a secret book

Step 2 Open the book carefully to make sure all the pages remain glued together. The cover and first few pages should be glue free, as they were protected by the kitchen film. Draw a box on the top page. I used a small ruler and drew the ruler's width in from the page edge. Next, using an awl or nail or similar, make a hole in each corner of the box you just drew; these will be your cutting markers. I used a crafting blade for this next bit - carefully begin slicing out the pages within the lines you just drew, cutting from one corner hole to the next. This creates the secret compartment within your book. I lined mine with a piece of glossy paper. Next, paint glue around the inside cut edges to bind these together. Close the book, give the outside page edges another coat of glue, sit a heavy object on the closed book and leave for the glue to set. I'll upload a photo of the finished project tomorrow - my glue hasn't fully set yet.

Edited in - photos of the finished 'secret book' using old batteries to show the size of the storage space inside it. Would have used a bar of chocolate or wad of cash if I had any of those things - I like the chocolate idea best! :)

The secret book.

NOW, LET'S TALK MINCE!

Turkey mince, that is! Remember I mentioned the superb offer I managed to bag from MuscleFood*? 400g Norfolk Turkey mince for £1, maximum 5 per customer? Well this is what I have done with the first pack.

Making fresh turkey burgers

Ingredients: turkey mince, onion, herbs, salt, pepper, bread crumbs, egg, cheap sage & onion stuffing - I mixed all of these together in a baking bowl. If you don't have breadcrumbs, here's how I do mine:

Making bread crumbs

I'm sure I'll be showing my age here, but does anyone remember making these as children helping mum in the kitchen? We'd simply rub two pieces of dry bread together until it crumbled. It seemed to take forever! Nowadays, it takes seconds to chop some dry bread and give it a whizz with a stick blender. Store all your extra crumbs in a bag in the freezer.

Making turkey burgers

After scrubbing up and getting in there, mixing the meat, I removed 4 handfuls and shaped each in the same way you make fishcakes. These got coated in bread crumbs and then fried in a little oil. Served with oven-baked hash browns and mixed vegetables made for a filling meal.

The remainder of the mix has now had the last of the bag of frozen mixed vegetables added to it and has been refrigerated for cooking tomorrow. I'll slow cook it with some gravy and then treat it like 'Nile' mince.

NYK, Frugaldom

* Friend referral link includes code for 4 free chicken fillets with your first order.

Wednesday, 5 March 2014

Day 5 of Making it in March - Hot Dogs and How to Make a #Frugal Bean Sprouter #MIIM

Day 5 of 31 - Spuds, Tin Cans, Sprouters and Hot Dogs!

Lemon & mango drizzle cake

Here goes for day 5 of my 'Making it in March' challenge.

The day began early, as I didn't want to miss the coalman when he was driving along the lane. The coal bunker was almost empty, so best filling it up in the hope that it does us through to spring. 5 x 50kg bags costs £70 and we get through about 10kg each day the fire is lit. Price wise, there isn't much difference between coal and logs, except the coal, in this house, also heats 5 radiators and the water, not just one room.

I made the most of the extra 'morning time' and baked the remaining cookie dough (mango, apricot, fig, pistachio & almond) then baked a lemon drizzle cake, but added in some of the mango pulp to try and use that up, too.

POTATOES

Seed potatoes 'chitting' in egg cartons

The above are my 2014 indulgence of the year, so far - heritage seed potatoes! On the left are the Shetland Blacks that arrived a couple of weeks ago and on the right are my Salad Blues, which arrived a couple of days ago. They are sitting in cardboard egg boxes to allow them to 'chit'. ('Chitting' is the gardeners' term for letting them start to sprout.) The Shetland Black is a dark-skinned potato with white flesh that carries a blue/purple ring around it. The Salad Blue, which isn't really a salad potato, is my favourite of all time, both for growing and eating. These stay deep purple throughout cooking, so you can get some very colourful and interesting mash!

The potato peelings I kept

Last month, during my 'Extremely Frugal February' challenge, we had a fabulous time stretching the pennies as far as they would go. It was a month of finding out just how extreme we could be in our quest for moneysaving and zero waste, so even the potato peelings were being saved. (Link to post)

Planting the sprouted potato skin

My potato peelings are normally treated as organic waste and added to the compost, fed to the garden poultry (potato peelings need to be cooked first), added to the wormery or used to bank the fire at night. But I wanted to show you that from one potato can come many, so I picked out the best sprouted piece of peel and it has now been planted into a tub on the patio. With care and luck, this piece of peel that would otherwise have been discarded has the potential to produce over 1kg of potatoes.

TIN CAN PLANTERS

Making tin can planters safe

I do love my tin cans - I'm collecting them all for a specific summer project but keep dipping into them for other things! Before you make anything from them, make sure all the sharp edges have been flattened.

Don't forget to add drainage holes in the bottom of the tins

I managed to fit a dozen tin cans onto an old baking tray. I'm using a piece of non-slip rubber mesh underneath so there's no water-logging.

Ready for planting

Remember the damp pea and bean seeds that I washed and soaked to try and save them? I have now filled each of these tins with compost and vermiculite and added a row each of the runner beans, dwarf beans and peas. We'll soon know if they are still 'alive'.

Wrapped wallpaper around them to prevent spills

After wrapping some old wallpaper around all the tins, I sat the tray on the windowsill and have topped it with the glass out of the broken picture frame. (You know the one - I used part of it to make the apex roof for the cat's den yesterday.)

SPROUTING BEANS INTO BEAN SPROUTS

Mung Beans

Frugal living means making the most of anything we can make or grow for ourselves. Mung beans are great for sprouting and adding into salads and stir fries and let's face it - frugalers love their home grown salads and their 'leftovers' stir fries. But how do we sprout mung beans without a fancy, extravagant sprouter?

Homemade frugal sprouter

Get a clean jar with a screw cap metal lid, a hammer and an awl. You don't even need the hammer, as most jar lids are now thin enough to pierce with minimal force. Now punch a whole load of holes in the lid - do this on top of thick card or a folded towel to avoid scoring or puncturing floors or worktops. Now give everything a final rinse.

Hey presto! A homemade sprouter

Place a couple of handfuls of mung beans in the jar and rinse them several times with water. Take the lid off to add the water, screw it back on again to drain the water back out of the jar.

Easy drainer

I'm leaving my mung beans to soak for 24 hours before giving them a final rinse. I'll follow up this post with progress as and when I see anything happening in the jar, which is now on a shelf in my kitchen.

HOT DOGS IN HOT DOGS

99p bread mix and cheap hot dogs

Now before anyone starts commenting about the unhealthy aspects of this snack, hold your typing fingers still and let me explain - this was an inexpensive and fun experiment and if we were having it as a proper meal, I would normally serve this with onions, cheese and tomato and/or plenty of salad stuff. Today, however, lunch was just a hot dog with tomato ketchup. Cost = less than 5p per person! Worth a shilling for the novelty factor alone!

Knead and prove your dough

Bit of cheating going on here as I am using the 99p per 3.5kg bread roll mix I got from Approved Food*, so it's a simple case of 'just add water', mix, knead, rest, knead, rest, split into finger roll size, wrap around a cheap hot dog, leave to prove for 20 minutes then bake for about 20 minutes.

- PHOTOS DELETED -

I did take a full set of progress photos but to be perfectly blunt, I fear some may have found them obscene! So here is the finished article.

Use smaller pieces of dough for legs and ears

Bake the rolls with the hot dogs inside them - I used the cheap tinned hot dogs, I think they were 5 tins for £1 from Approved Food when I bought them!

Hot dog rolls

I made only two 'hot dogs in hot dogs', one for each of us here in Frugaldom. I got some very curious looks when I presented 'the dog' on a plate at lunchtime today, that's for sure! We'll need to eat the other rolls tomorrow lunchtime to use up the rest of the hotdogs, too!

Now I am retiring to bed with a cup of tea and planning out my next phase of rag rugging!

NYK, Frugaldom

References and acknowledgements
http://www.goodshomedesign.com/hot-dog-dog/

* Friend referral link - thank you for my £1 commission earned this week. :)

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