OK, so this picture might be confusing. Here’s the explanation: I’ve realized that washing dishes by hand and letting them dry on a tea towel means all the water dripping off ends up wasted. It soaks into the towel, rendering it smelly and in need of laundering, which just uses even more water.
Clearly, the answer to this is a dish rack so that I can use the water collected in the tray for my indoor plants. However, dish racks are often made of plastic and I’d prefer not to buy a new one. Then again, something about getting a used dish rack off Craigslist or Freecycle grosses me out.
So my temporary measure is to let everything dry on the top rack of my dishwasher (currently not in use), and stick some plants underneath to catch whatever drips down.
If anyone has any better ideas for catching dish drippings — ones that don’t involve purchasing anything new or sacrificing the cleanliness of my smoothie blenders — please let me know!
December 14, 2007 at 11:57 am |
I’m pretty sure that right there is pure genius.
December 14, 2007 at 1:29 pm |
Catherine stole my comment…ingenious!! A good way to dust them too. I just spent 10 minutes last night dusting my plants.
December 14, 2007 at 1:45 pm |
Excellent idea! This one should go in your “Hall of Fame”.
December 14, 2007 at 3:39 pm |
Wow! What a creative idea! And one more illustration of why you have been awarded the “Roar for Powerful Words” blog award. Please see this website for details: http://theshamelesslionswritingcircle.blogspot.com/2007/11/roar-for-powerful-words.html
December 14, 2007 at 3:42 pm |
EXCELLENT IDEA!!!
WAY TO GO!!!
And you are GREAT INSPIRATION!! THANK YOU!!!
December 14, 2007 at 4:01 pm |
Very clever solution! Well done.
December 14, 2007 at 4:07 pm |
brilliant!
shame you can’t get a patent on that
December 14, 2007 at 4:37 pm |
u take cool photos.
December 14, 2007 at 4:42 pm |
That is such a good idea! Why don’t you just put a baking sheet or something underneath that will catch all the water, and then you can pour it onto your plants?
December 14, 2007 at 6:07 pm |
There is an incredible prototype invented by John Arndt that completely captures your concept and more. It is called Flow and it incorporates whole systems in drying dishes, watering plants and composting kitchen scraps. I don’t even know if it is for sale. I know that I am going to create my own knock off of this inspired design. I think you will enjoy this. Check out Flow.
December 14, 2007 at 9:38 pm |
dammit. where’s the glass dildo post??
December 14, 2007 at 9:57 pm |
I got my dishrack at a garage sale, which made me feel at least somewhat better about the chunk of plastic I brought into the house. You might also try Goodwill
December 14, 2007 at 10:07 pm |
This is beside the point of what to do with dish drippings, but I when I refresh my cats’ water bowls I use the “stale” water on my indoor plants.
December 15, 2007 at 1:26 am |
depending on the acessability of your dishwasher’s hoses you could disconnect the hose going out and stick it into a jug or pan.
Mine hooks up to the sink and expells water out the connection so I usually put a jug under it to reuse the water.
December 15, 2007 at 7:12 pm |
You are listed on my website. This is so cool.
December 16, 2007 at 12:20 pm |
You don’t show us your sink. Most sinks have a flat space either side to put dishes. I’d put the dishrack on one side, and simply let the dishes drip off that – I don’t understand why you need a tea towel at all.
To catch the water, either let it simply dribble into the sink with the plug in, or else as someone else said put a baking tray under it.
December 16, 2007 at 6:11 pm |
Hey katecontinued — that’s an AWESOME site! Such a cool invention, and it looks purdy too! And Kyle, I do not have a flat space on either side of my sink (at least not any flat space that leads water back down into my sink). If I didn’t use a tea towel (or the rack in my dishwasher), my dishes would be sliding around the counter top and most likely falling onto the floor.
May 28, 2009 at 2:01 pm |
[...] Dishwater drip irrigation. Green as a Thistle** came up with this interesting idea: “let everything dry on the top rack of my dishwasher [...]
November 23, 2009 at 9:27 pm |
Hi, I have just come across your blog browsing on online as I am researching some material on dishwashers. appears like a good site so I have bookmarked your site and I will return tomorrow to give it a more indepth read when i have more time. Great site!.