Should I say the advanced way of technology has brought about many changes and developments in our lives? Or it's just that we choose to live in a changed way different from the way we lived in the past. The rate of change nowadays is kinda alarming and it's all for good and nothing worse, though there are some of the underlying disadvantages that come with it.
A few weeks ago, I bought some chemicals for my farm water treatment. I used it to treat the water and forgot to return it inside, I left it in one of the fish ponds. Though there is a pathway people take to get to the other street through the farm, we have been restricting some strange movements.
In the evening that day when I went to check on the fish as usual, I was choked with the concentrated smell of chemicals. I knew it was the chemical I forgot to return inside the farm house. I couldn’t find the bottle anymore and behind it, I saw the trace of where the chemical was poured on the floor.
The expensive and scarce chemicals got wasted just like that? I questioned and blamed myself for being so careless. Mum told me that the person who must have done that would be one of those who picks plastic bottles for recycling.
Ooh. So now plastic bottles aren’t safe anymore. Gone were the days when all of those bottles were littered all around the community. It’s a different story now since the recycling companies are ready to buy back all of them. People took it as an occupation. But why would they have to waste my expensive chemicals at the expense of selling the plastic?
I have moved on but I am still yet to buy another chemical till today. Maybe I will try to get another with time. And remain careful not to allow it to become a waste.
As a farmer, there are always several times we encounter heavy losses on the farm. Now it’s dependent on which aspect of farming you are into, that will decide how much you can turn your waste and loss into something useful.
As for poultry farmers, most times when they encounter losses, there is nothing to be done about it. They most of the time bury those birds but nowadays it's just quite different. They don’t just bury them but they defeather them, sell the feathers, and then sell out the carcass to those who make the feed mix. That's surely not a total loss.
I encountered a big loss on my farm two days ago. One of the biggest fish I have on my farm has lived up to three years now. It weighs about 4 kg on average. It has served a lot of purpose and I am grateful.
Two days ago the fish met its demise. I didn’t know early enough, it was dead for days but didn’t float to the water's surface. I was about to change their water and then I realized that the fish wasn’t moving. It's gone.
Assuming I realized that on time then I can just prepare and oven dry it. Then I can sell it to those who are interested in it. But it's already dead for days. I was thinking of disposing of it before I recalled how much fish loved to eat fish and how well it boosts their growth. Immediately I changed my mind. Thought of how to turn the waste to something useful.
I smoked, then sun-dried it for some time so as to preserve it. Then I fed it to the fish in the pond. I knew they wouldn't be able to finish it in even one day so I kept air drying it.
Nothing should be a total waste nowadays. If bottles and cartons should be recycled then I also have to think of a way to recycle too.
I am working on a recycling system whereby I won't have to waste water I used for rearing those fish. A system where I can reuse the water that I discharge from the farm, restore it into a tank, get it treated, check the pH level, bacterial and ammonia level, sieve, and then pump it back to the fish again and the circulation continues. Nothing should actually be a waste especially in this generation we find ourselves.
All images are mine
