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Sawdust on the homestead
Here's some tried and true uses of sawdust that always seems to accumulate in huge mounds, at least at our place.
-insulation in walls. In frame buildings for livestock, it has the advantage that mice and ermines can't tunnel through it because it collapses unlike fibreglass. It will settle over time though, creeating airpockets on the top of the walls and on any horizontal braces.
-litter or bedding for livestock. Soaks up manure just great, binds odours, and if you keep adding a bit of fresh stuff and mixing it into the old litter, it won't be dusty. Also composts fairly fast this way.
-icehouse. You can store chunks of river or lake ice in it for months over the summer. A messy and wet affair but maybe worthwhile if no other ways of cooling are available.
-fire starter. With a bit of melted candlewax poured over it, it makes a nifty fire starter for the woodstove or on the trail. Soaking it with a little bit of kerosene works good too but really stinks.
-binding mud. Also good in livestock yards in the spring, when everything turns into churned up mud. The sawdust will soak up a lot of water and solidify he mess quite nicely.
And so on and so forth...I'm sure people have lots of other uses as well!
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