newbie questions
- Thread starter okiegirl1
- Start date
noobiechickenlady
Almost Self-Reliant
Greywater is the water that drains out of your sinks & washing machines. Lots of people use it to water fruit trees & gardens.
Not a cheesemaker, but I save the whey from yogurt making to ferment foods & for my chickens. I also like to cook pasta in it. You can use it to replace the water in just about anything you cook, I believe.
Not a cheesemaker, but I save the whey from yogurt making to ferment foods & for my chickens. I also like to cook pasta in it. You can use it to replace the water in just about anything you cook, I believe.
patandchickens
Crazy Cat Lady
Stuff from bathing, washing your hands, laundry.okiegirl1 said:
As opposed to "black water" which is contaminated with high nutrient and bacterial loads -- that would be stuff from your toilets and possibly from your kitchen sink (like if you use a garbage disposal).
in some areas it is legal to plumb your house to route gray water to gardens etc. even where that plumbing is not legal (which includes many places), if you do your washing-up in a basin, you can hand-carry it out to the garden
If it is "real" whey you can use it for making ricotta, baking, you can drink it (it's actually pretty good, esp with a sprig of mint), or feed to chickens. (Or hogs if you got em)
If it is whey from just acidifying milk to directly precipitate a curd, it won't make ricotta and isn't as nutritious for livestock (not bad for them or anything, just lacks the protein that real whey has), but I *think* you can still use it for baking if you want and certainly it is still drinkable.
Good luck, have fun, welcome to the forum!,
Pat
- Thread starter
- #4
patandchickens
Crazy Cat Lady
it is ok "up to a point". Many people who use graywater on their gardens are doing it because the alternative is no water and no gardenokiegirl1 said:
If you're going to try it, use as little soap and detergent as possible, and in particular avoid laundry detergents with borax in them as borates build up in the soil and many plants can't handle that. In general it works fine though, especially if it is just an occasional drought measure.Pat
freemotion
Food Guru
Do a search here on whey, there will be many ideas on how to use it. All whey is not created equal, though. Some has live cultures in it, some are pasteurized, and some are just from acidifying the milk, as stated. So what you do with it depends in part on how it was produced.
I keep some to use, and some goes to the compost pile. My spoiled chickens have no interest in it anymore. I was producing 3-4 gallons a week for a while, there!
I keep some to use, and some goes to the compost pile. My spoiled chickens have no interest in it anymore. I was producing 3-4 gallons a week for a while, there!
FarmerChick
Super Self-Sufficient
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2008
- Messages
- 11,417
- Reaction score
- 14
- Points
- 248
yea for gray water usage, be sure to use as natural products as possible in your daily life. always smart either way if water is used or not
gray water is also un-used animal water. when I clean my troughs I use that water elsewhere also instead of just dumping and cleaning.
gray water is also un-used animal water. when I clean my troughs I use that water elsewhere also instead of just dumping and cleaning.
ohiofarmgirl
Sipping Bacon Martinis
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2009
- Messages
- 5,488
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 189
every animal in your barnyard and your dogs and cats will LOVE the whey! you can make a 'cereal' for the poultry with some cracked corn and whey...
i've used it sometimes for baking but honestly, all the critters go wild for it.
i've used it sometimes for baking but honestly, all the critters go wild for it.
