Author Archives: trevor

Ice Blocks

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Category: 5 Gallon Bucket Uses
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Blocks of ice can last a shocking long time if stored correctly. In the 19th century, Fredric Tutor made his fortune shipping ice from frozen American ponds all the way to Cuba.

With the convenience of electricity, we don’t need to harvest ice from ponds anymore. But sometimes electricity stops working, such as during Hurricane Sandy. To prepare for such a scenario where business as usual comes to a sudden grind, you may want to make an emergency bucket, full of supplies that can come in handy during such circumstances.

These bucket-shaped ice blocks were made by the National Aquarium in Washington DC in preparation for Hurricane Sandy. If they had lost power these would be instrumental in regulating water temperatures for their aquariums.

5 gallon bucket ice

If any readers know how long this ice would stay frozen, please share in the comments!

Worm Farm

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Category: 5 Gallon Bucket Uses
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Originally I didn’t want to publish this here because it uses larger 18-gallon bins, but under my new definition of bucket it’s allowed in.

plastic worm bin

I built my worm farm last winter and stocked it with red worms from our backyard compost bin. It was a successful project, and a great experience, so I’ll probably build another one in my new place soon.

I fed it a very rich food scraps diet for a month or two, then neglected it for four months. When I harvested it, the worms were still alive and happy and the compost they lived in was the richest, sweetest smelling compost I ever laid my nostrils on (and I’ve handled a lot of compost.)

The three-bin worm farm I built is much easier to maintain than a one-bin systems. You can see the full tutorial on DIYwormbin.com