Our lovely old cat Boron has had the last of his teeth taken out this week – he’s always been prone to gum problems and while gummy, he seems happier now his mouth isn’t so inflamed.

Our vet says he might still be able to have dry food – which has made up the bulk of his diet for most of his life – but once he (Boron, not the vet) knows we’ll give him more wet food if it’s too painful/awkward for him to eat biscuits, I suspect he’ll made demands for that all the time.

When we had four cats, we used to feed them cat food from cans – a can per day between the four of them as a treat, alongside unlimited dry biscuits – but after losing two of them, cans were resulting in too much food waste and we had to switch onto pouches. It was a struggle for me, giving up easy-to-recycle cans in favour of annoying just-about-impossible pouches — a toss up between packaging waste and food waste.

Now Boron is going to be eating more wet food, we might be justified in moving back onto cans – or, sigh, we might just end up generating more pouches.

I’ve contacted a couple of cat food companies to see what they advise doing with the pouches – I’ll update this post when I hear back from them – but in the meantime, do you use pet food pouches?

Do you have any reuses or recycling ideas for them?

Dani saw my mention of using a plastic bottle to make a resealable plastic bag last week and got in touch to say she finds ways to reuse the whole bottle in her gardening adventures.

I use an old cereal bag and a bottle top to keep the seeds airtight / waterproof as well as keeping seeds of the different families together.

I use the neck section as a mini collar to protect my plants and I use the base as a plant holder – just perfect for all the lemon pips I have growing.

Great, efficient reusing, Dani!

With all the buy-stuff events coming up over the next couple of months – and because it’s generally wonderful and inspiring, I thought it was high time we had another look around the world of upcycled jewellery – the stuff people are making by reusing and recycling random things that would otherwise be headed for landfill.

• Julie from NotesOnPaper makes fun brooches out of plastic bags and other waste materials – check out this fabric version made from a promotional health & safety advice (!) scarf…
• The fab MaryHoresh sent us two of her favourite recycled jewellery links – first, Niki Guy’s lovely sea glass/tumbled glass creations…
• And second, Judith Williamson’s jewellery and accessories made from old packaging – mostly tinplate from old sweet/biscuit tins. Mary also recommended Judith’s workshops: “good fun”.
• Fluxplay’s Maria Whetman also works in tin – I love her rings but I have to admit that this cute pinwheel brooch is probably my favourite item!
• Kathy from ArtworkbyKD makes fantastic earrings from old plastic bottles – covering the plastic in tissue paper and vintage texts to upcycle them further. She also uses old drinks cans – one of my favourite recycled jewellery materials – to make big hoop earrings – ace!

• LianaKabel makes very fun items using old craft equipment – plastic knitting needle bangles and statement necklaces, and also brooches and hairclips using tape measures.
• The House of Ismay makes deliciously simple brooches and cufflinks using off cuts of wood and vintage magazines, books and maps – sometimes less is more.
• The main “ingredient” in these earrings by Bella Tierra Jewelry is plastic bags – fused together to make a interesting, malleable material. And there is a how-to if you want to make your own!
• And another how-to – Alicia of TheMayFly has written a great tutorial: how-to make old belts into wrist cuffs.
• Finally, if you need somewhere to store your jewellery – somewhere as fun and wonderful as the creations above – how about using an old tennis or squash racket? I regularly see vintage wooden ones popping up in charity shops – they’d look fab on a plain wall.

What are your favourite pieces? Do you have any other great examples of random stuff recycled or upcycled into jewellery?

It’s possibly getting a bit late in the year for this one but I kept forgetting to post it earlier in the autumn ;)

Our house backs onto woodland that includes a lot of oak trees. There are millions of acorns out there. Whenever we’re out on dog walks, we hear and see them them falling – oh, and feel them too when they hit us on the head! There are far too many to all germinate into oak trees – and I suspect even too many to be used by the local squirrel population.

I know some people use them for chicken food – a local, sustainable addition to their diet, but apparently one that can also tint the yolk slightly green (it tastes ok, just looks a bit funky).

We can also eat them too – for example, they’re commonly made into a coffee substitute but I like these falafel and ginger cake ideas. You have to pick the right type to avoid them being too bitter though – and they need peeling too, so it’s a bit fiddly but hey, free food!

What else can acorns be used for?

Tonight is Guy Fawkes Night in the UK – also known as Bonfire Night. Up and down the country, people will be setting fire to stacks of wood and sending millions of £££s up in smoke in firework form, just getting a short “ooh” and “aah” (and occasionally “arrgh!!”) in return.

It’s not all waste-waste-waste though – tomorrow morning, you’ll probably have a substantial pile of ashes left over from your bonfire – and they’re great for the garden:

Ash can be a slug deterrent

The dry, rough surface of ash particles can act as a deterrent for slugs and snails. Chances are, you’re not growing much at the moment but you can scoop up the ash into a bucket, cover it/keep it somewhere dry so it doesn’t get wet over winter, then bring it out again for use next spring for use around your delicate seedlings.

It also has the advantage of being…

A soil neutraliser & fertiliser

Wood ash is alkaline so can help level out acid soils – some people dig it straight into their beds at this time of year so it will start to break down over winter while others cycle it through their compost bins first.

It’s also great for balancing “green”-heavy compost heaps (for example, those which contain a lot of fresh green garden matter, scraps or manure – things that are said to be “nitrogen rich”). Balanced compost heaps rot down quicker and produce better compost in the long run.

As well as a neutraliser, wood ash from bonfires is often also rich in calcium and potassium, so help fertilise the soil as well as neutralise it.

• More reuses for wood ash