Here are 8 great (and surprising!) ways to use buckets in homesteads and gardens—and tips on how to get a 5-gallon bucket for free!
Life on a homestead requires a lot of creativity and frugality. The “Five Rs” seem to be in play all the time: reuse, reduce, recycle, reuse, and repair. Nothing can be wasted-today’s rubbish is only tomorrow’s resource.
When I need to buy something new, I usually try to make sure that the item meets at least one of the following criteria:
- First, does the item have multiple alternative uses or purposes?
- Second, is the space occupied by the item the smallest?
- Third, are the products cheap?
My favorite homestead tool
Here are our 8 favorite ways to reuse a 5-gallon bucket in a homestead or garden.
My favorite “tool” on the homestead actually meets all three criteria: a 5-gallon plastic bucket. Not only are these amazing tools neatly stacked in a neat stack, but their uses seem to be limitless.
Whether you are engaged in homesteading, preparation work or sustainable agriculture, the 5-gallon bucket is an indispensable trading tool! The following list provides only a few of the many uses of buckets in homesteads and gardens.
Get a bucket for free
A note on the price: If you buy from a hardware store, you can expect to pay between US$3 and US$5 per barrel. But you can get them for free from the bakery department of the grocery store. All you have to do is nicely ask for their icing to come in the bucket. Other free sources include kimchi barrels in burger restaurants, soap barrels in car washes, and lard barrels in Mexican restaurants.
Of course, get ready to clean them!
Bucket list: 8 uses of buckets in homesteads and gardens
So, once you buy a 5-gallon bucket, what can you do with it? I thought you would never ask! Below, I show some general uses of buckets that I often put into use. (If you are keen on any given idea, you can find a more detailed tutorial on the Internet.)
1. Container Gardening
First of all, this is a great way to reuse 5-gallon buckets: when you drill drainage holes in the bottom of the bucket, they can create excellent container gardens.
You can also enjoy:
“Fertilizing the container garden: 4 steps to success”
“15 Simple and Cheap Homemade Fertilizers”
“Start your composting with these 5 free DIY compost activators”
Although some permanent growers may be dismissive of the idea of container gardens, they can be very useful if you want to prevent invasive (opportunistic) plants such as mint from taking over your garden.
In addition, in the event of a grid outage, you can easily protect your food indoors overnight to prevent potential predators. This brings a whole new meaning to the term “food safety”.
2. Growing mushrooms
The bucket on the homestead has many uses, including the idea of growing mushrooms. source: https://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/18900009/fpart/all/vc/1
Another clever use of the bucket is to grow edible and medicinal mushrooms in it. Just drill staggered holes on the side of the barrel, fill the barrel with free coffee grounds from the local corner coffee shop, and inoculate your favorite mushroom strain.
3. Organize your tools
A 5-gallon bucket is also a good kit.You can buy it online or at your local hardware store Organizer specially made for buckets And there are various compartments.
You can also enjoy: “This simple technique keeps the tool from disappearing!”
The outer sleeve compartment of the bucket is ideal for storing smaller tools such as screwdrivers, wrenches and pliers. On the inside of the barrel, you can store heavy tools such as hammers, axes, and saws.
4. Winemaking
You can even use a 5-gallon barrel to make wine. Just pour in some cider (without preservatives), sugar and yeast.Drill a hole in the lid, insert a rubber gasket, and then insert a Air lock bubbler (You can buy it at most homebrew shops for only $1).
The interpretation of the Big Bird/Biscuit Monster style is that “yeast” eats sugar and basically emits carbon dioxide and alcohol. The airlock bubbler allows carbon dioxide to escape, but prevents oxygen or other contaminants from entering your wine.
There are some more specific steps and ingredients to produce high-quality wine, but this is basically how wine is made!
People drink in good times and bad times. With the power grid shut down, winemaking can prove to be a very valuable and profitable skill.
5. Feed the worms
Reuse your 5-gallon bucket as a worm farm. They are very suitable for earthworm compost! -Source: Mizo CAFNR – Used under license: CC BY-NC 2.0
One of my favorite uses of the 5-gallon bucket is as part of an earthworm composting system (aka worm box). The red swing worm is a greedy eater. I feed them my torn up spam and food scraps. In return, they gave me “black gold”. If the mushroom compost is the Cadillac in the compost, then the worm casting is a Rolls Royce!
You can also enjoy:
“Use this very simple earthworm composting system to turn your garbage into black gold”
6. Make compost tea
In addition to earthworm compost, compost tea happens to be the secret of success for many master gardeners. With a 5-gallon bucket, you can brew your own compost tea at home.
You only need one Aeration pump, Some worm castings (compost), non-chlorinated water and some other ingredients. After two days of brewing, it can be sprayed on your crops using a pump sprayer. Your plants will grow twice as big and at twice the speed!
You can also enjoy:
“Compost tea: a simple way to stretch compost”
“Aerobic compost tea, worm tea and leachate-clarification”
“Extreme Composting: Say goodbye to landfills and say hello to fertile soil”
7. Make a mousetrap
Have a mouse problem, but can’t bear to set up a traditional mousetrap? Well, you can use a bucket and a few pieces of wood, plus peanut butter as bait to make a mousetrap. This device reminds me of the board game mousetrap I played when I was a kid!
8. Filter water
More information about barrel filters is available here: http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?pid=S1816-79502013000400002&script=sci_arttext
The last way to reuse a 5-gallon bucket is to make a heavy-duty water filter with two 5-gallon buckets stacked on top of each other. There is a ceramic water filter on the top bucket, which can filter out the dirty water dumped in it. There is a faucet in the bottom bucket that allows you to extract freshly filtered water.
I hope you enjoy some of the examples I have provided, which illustrate why the 5-gallon bucket is definitely the best and most versatile tool for homesteading, disaster preparedness, and permaculture. The 5-gallon bucket can not only be used as a container for growing food, but also can be used to make fertilizer to enrich your garden. Most importantly, you can use buckets to collect and ultimately store your harvest!
What do you think?
What bucket do you like best to use in your homestead and garden? Share your best ideas for reusing 5-gallon buckets in the comments-and where to find them for free!
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This is an updated version of the article originally published on May 10, 2018. The author may not be able to respond to comments at this time, but we encourage our community members to join and share their experiences and answer questions!
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Brian Moyers claims to be an ambassador for the future and an avid DIY enthusiast. When Brian chose to leave his lucrative position at a large oil company to pursue a growing and sustainable life, he traded dead oil for living land. He likes to educate others about sustainable agriculture, reconnect with nature and food security.
