From the green book:
"Keep your kitchen scraps from fruits, vegetables and coffee grounds in a composting bin or container. Try adding them to your garden or starting a composting site in the yard. You'll grow a better garden, create deeper topsoil, recycle nutrients and save landfill space. If, over the course of a year, everyone in the United States composted their kitchen scraps instead of sending them away in the trash, the organic waste diverted from landfills could make a three-foot-high compost pile to cover the city of San Fransisco."
OK, I'm making the first one an easy one...at least for me! It will be easy for you too, you'll see! My husband and I have been composting since the beginning of the year. We actually purchased a composting bin (AKA, large plastic box to keep in the corner of the yard) right after Christmas. It was about $40 at Sam's Club. I kept a bowl beside the sink and would throw any food scraps, coffee grounds, tea bags, etc. into the bowl. Once it filled up David would take it outside to the bin. This was nice until the warm weather hit. Along with the warmer weather came gnats and fruit flies-YUCK! I searched (and searched) for a canister, cookie jar or anything with a lid that was NOT see-through. I'll be the first to tell you that I wasn't too keen on having (or seeing) rotting food in my immaculate kitchen (ha!). I had no luck. So I figured I would embrace the ugliness of compost and I created the vessel you see above. It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but it does the job!
Since we have been composting (and recycling), we usually put our trash to the curb with one or two trash bags in it. Plus, I don't feel as bad throwing food out! The final product will also help us save money on potting soil and fertilizers since it will make the soil we already have so much healthier. Give it a try and let me know what you think. Also, let me know if you have any tips for other readers.
For a list of items you can compost, check out this link:
http://www.plantea.com/compost-materials.htm
Like tossing a starfish back into the ocean, you can make a difference by composting.
FYI: Although this is the first "step" in the book, I'm not necessarily going to go in order.
OK, I'm making the first one an easy one...at least for me! It will be easy for you too, you'll see! My husband and I have been composting since the beginning of the year. We actually purchased a composting bin (AKA, large plastic box to keep in the corner of the yard) right after Christmas. It was about $40 at Sam's Club. I kept a bowl beside the sink and would throw any food scraps, coffee grounds, tea bags, etc. into the bowl. Once it filled up David would take it outside to the bin. This was nice until the warm weather hit. Along with the warmer weather came gnats and fruit flies-YUCK! I searched (and searched) for a canister, cookie jar or anything with a lid that was NOT see-through. I'll be the first to tell you that I wasn't too keen on having (or seeing) rotting food in my immaculate kitchen (ha!). I had no luck. So I figured I would embrace the ugliness of compost and I created the vessel you see above. It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but it does the job!
Since we have been composting (and recycling), we usually put our trash to the curb with one or two trash bags in it. Plus, I don't feel as bad throwing food out! The final product will also help us save money on potting soil and fertilizers since it will make the soil we already have so much healthier. Give it a try and let me know what you think. Also, let me know if you have any tips for other readers.
For a list of items you can compost, check out this link:
http://www.plantea.com/compost-materials.htm
Like tossing a starfish back into the ocean, you can make a difference by composting.
FYI: Although this is the first "step" in the book, I'm not necessarily going to go in order.
This is such an awesome thing you are doing Lindsey!! You are inspiring me to finally get to the ever growing to do list of things "i'll get to another day". Question for you about composting...as a fellow dog owner, I have always worried about doing this for fear of our dog getting into the outside bin. How big of a bin did you have to get? Does your dog get into it? Good luck and looking forward to reading your blog!!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad!!! That was my hope in doing this. The bin is especially made for being outside, so I think it's pretty animal proof. Mattie doesn't bother it. I don't think she would want to either-David says it smells pretty bad. The box is maybe 3 foot cubed. We got ours at Sam's Club, but I am sure they have them at Lowe's, too. Good luck!!!
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