10 Reasons Not to Throw Away Your Teabags

April 9, 2017

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This is a clever post my Grandmom sent me this week:

1. The bags decompose: Did you know that most British tea bags are made from a relative of the banana? Manila hemp is made from the fiber of abaca leaf stalks. The bag itself will break down and the very little plastic they use to seal the tea bags virtually disappears within 6 months, according to the UK Tea & Infusions Association.

2. Tea adds nutrients to the soil: Tea leaves contain tannic acid and nutrients that are natural fertilizers for a garden. As the tea leaves decompose, they release nutrients into the soil, creating a healthier growing environment, according to The Gardening Cook.

3. Reduce garbage: Burying your teabags in the garden or tossing them in your compost pile helps eliminate excess waste.

4. Tea bags keep pests at bay: Used tea bags (and coffee grounds) will help keep bugs away from your plants. The odor deters the pests from chewing on your flowers and veggies.

5. The smell of tea works on cats too: Sprinkle coffee grounds or used tea grounds around your garden to keep fluffy from urinating on your favorite plants too. (You can do use this with indoor plants as well), Earth911 recommends.

6. Your teabags can grow a garden: Believe it or not, you can grow your own garden with used teabags, seeds, a plastic tray, water and a paper towel. You’ll germinate your seeds with the tea bags and then plant them in the garden, according to the Kiwi Conservation Club…

Click here to read the rest.

Teabags break down quickly and make good compost. Coffee grounds are also a no-brainer. Some worry that they’ll acidify the soil but I’ve never had a problem – and I’ve composted tons of coffee.

Compost everything!

*Teabag image by Sarah Baker, CC license

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I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

When my enemies turn back,
they stumble and perish before your presence.
For you have maintained my just cause;
you have sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment.

You have rebuked the nations; you have made the wicked perish;
    you have blotted out their name forever and ever.
The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins;
    their cities you rooted out;
    the very memory of them has perished.

But the Lord sits enthroned forever;
he has established his throne for justice,
and he judges the world with righteousness;
he judges the peoples with uprightness.

The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
And those who know your name put their trust in you,
for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

Sing praises to the Lord, who sits enthroned in Zion!
Tell among the peoples his deeds!
For he who avenges blood is mindful of them;
he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.

Be gracious to me, O Lord!
    See my affliction from those who hate me,
    O you who lift me up from the gates of death,
that I may recount all your praises,
    that in the gates of the daughter of Zion
    I may rejoice in your salvation.

The nations have sunk in the pit that they made;
in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught.
The Lord has made himself known; he has executed judgment;
the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion.^[d] Selah

The wicked shall return to Sheol,
all the nations that forget God.

For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.

Arise, O Lord! Let not man prevail;
let the nations be judged before you!
Put them in fear, O Lord!
Let the nations know that they are but men!

-Psalm 9, ESV

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