Reducing Plastics Use on the Farm

I like to consider the footprint I leave in every aspect of farming. One particular issue I keep a close watch on, is my use of plastics. Plastics and agriculture have in many ways become integrated with each other. Plastic mulch, plastic drip lines, feed buckets, containers. It all adds up. Where ever I can, I try to use alternatives, even if the cost is higher.

In my packaging, I make sure to use glass or metal bottles for my essential oils and hydrosols. However, when distilling, I have the problem of where to store the gallons of hydrosol I produce before bottling. For the oil, I use bulk glass bottles. But I must admit, in addition to glass carboys, I have used plastic buckets for the hydrosol. But I decided last year to stop that practise. I acquired a 55 gallon stainless steel drum from a local wine maker. It has been sitting outside, next to the distillery for about 6 months. Preparing for a distillation job next week, I noticed I was out of plastic buckets. Now is the time to make the transition.

One of the reasons the barrel has sat for 6 months, is because I needed a way to fill and empty the hydrosol once it is in the barrel. Completely full, it will be quite heavy. I had planned to rig it up with some stainless spigots and a sight tube, but the additional cost was discouraging.

So I came up with a rolling stand idea. I would make a wooden stand to hold the barrel horizontal, and I would put wheels on the top of the stand, in contact with the cylindrical barrel. Then I could fill from the middle port used in wine making, and when I wanted to take some of the hydrosol, I could simply roll the barrel over and pour out what I needed.

So I built this simple stand. To the right is a picture of the partially assembled stand. The picture at the top shows the barrel mounted on the fully completed stand. I washed out the barrel, and rolled it in the sun to dry out.

I am looking forward to my next distilling run, and placing the fresh hydrosol into the stainless drum, rather than those plastic buckets. Plastic, yuck! And maybe someday, I will find an alternative to those plastic drip lines.