This very simple machine can make coated seeds on a homestead scale.
The clay and worm casting mix sticks to the seeds, forming larger and larger spheres as it accumulates.
I think dried fodder, autumn leaves, charcoal dust or sawdust could work in a similar way, but I cant find any evidence of it.
I think there would need to be a regular sized item for the sphere to coalesce around, but I'm not sure.
The feed stock would need to be dry and powdery.
The drum itself could maybe help with that by serving as ball mill!
The work involved in making pellets would still not be insignificant, but fuel pellets can make running IC engines without fossil fuel easier.
Feed pellets can improve storage, palatability and automation on a home stead.
I have quite a few mimosa trees on my property.
The seeds are profuse, very hard, and not known to be edible by man or beast.
The dry pods with seeds inside could be tossed in the drum along with ball bearings or stones.
When the pods were pulverized, the seeds could be sifted out and added back to the drum.
The pods dust would be added back in along with a bit of water and the spheres would form(hopefully)
The resulting pellets' would be dried in the sun and stored for fuel.
This machine could be powered off of solar, and also could be used to make sand from glass bottles, or mix cob, or a bunch of other things, like clay pellets for aquaponics.
2
