What are the uses of coffee in the outdoors?
Coffee in different forms can be used for a variety of ways outside of consumption for outdoor use. Get outside and explore coffee uses around your home. Coffee is recyclable and earth friendly, so give back when your done enjoying your morning cup!
Coffee Chaff
Chaff - The dried skin of the coffee bean after the roasting process. The "husk" or shell of the coffee bean becomes a waste product during the roasting process. This chaff can be used for a variety of purposes. Most coffee roasters give this away after roasting.
Coffee Grounds for Garden and Flowers
Coffee chaff and used coffee grounds are both great for gardens and flower beds. Great for adding a little acidity and nitrogen to plants.
Don't throw out your used coffee grounds after you make your daily cup or pot of coffee. Save them, use them in and around flower gardens to add nutrients and help control acidity in plants. Certain plants such as hydrangeas, azaleas, roses, blueberry bushes, carrots and radishes love the acidity of spent coffee grounds. Give your plants and vegetables a boost with the richness of coffee.
Coffee chaff also wards off those pests that love eat your plants, such as slugs and snails. Coffee chaff used as an additive will also help speed growth of vegetables.
Coffee Chaff for Chickens
Coffee Chaff is a great alternative for pine shavings. Completely safe to chickens, it creates a great bedding that will breakdown nicely to a clean compost. Mixed in with the soil, it will create a nice additive for future gardening. Coffee chaff is soft and smells great, which is an added bonus!
Coffee Grounds for Mosquitoes
Those pesky mosquitoes, lets admit it, we all hate them when it comes to humidity and the heat of summer. Coffee grounds can create an awesome repellent for mosquitoes. How does it work you ask? Well most insects have a strong sense of smell, think of all the food your grilling out and how flies and other bugs are attracted. Coffee grounds have a strong smell which does more than wake you up! But here's the trick, you burn the coffee grounds! Burning the coffee grounds creates a "bad" smell to insects and also smoke which is a danger to insects.
How to burn coffee grounds for a mosquito repellent?
Step 1: You can use spent or newly ground coffee, recommend using used coffee grounds to eliminate waste.
Step 2: Make sure the grounds are completely dry.
Step 3: Place coffee grounds on a flat surface that is resistant to heat.
Step 4: Burn the coffee grounds like an incense. The smoke will create an aroma that will keep bugs away, more importantly mosquitoes!
There you have it, enjoy your coffee, but more importantly enjoy the outdoors! Some great tips to help you recycle your coffee, give back to the earth, produce an awesome flower and vegetable garden and keep those pesky mosquitoes away!