Guess what the mailman delivered on Friday?
Now, I know what most of you are saying: "What the heck is that? A fire hydrant with a handle?" Except for my sister. She's saying: "Why the heck would you buy that? All you need is a bowl on the counter."
Let me explain. It's a compost crock. I purchased it from Gardeners.com last week. The purpose of said compost crock is really quite simple: It sits on my kitchen countertop, and rather than tossing kitchen waste like eggshells, banana peels, potato skins, and coffee grounds in the garbage, I toss them in the crock. Then, when it's full, I'll take the crock outside to my as-yet-to-be-made compost bin and dump its contents inside the bin.
How about a fact: According to the EPA, food scraps and yard trimmings constitute 24 percent of the U.S. waste stream. But it’s easy to keep both out of the landfill by composting instead—and the result is the perfect fertilizer for your yard!
Because I’m trying to minimize how much waste makes the trip from our house to the landfill, and because I’m about to embark on a great gardening adventure, I decided it was a good time to try my hand at composting.
If you’re interested in learning more about the topic, I’ve written a much more detailed post about it at The Home Know-It-All—it touches on why composting is great, how to do get started, and even some troubleshooting tips should you need them.
In the meantime, stay tuned. This week I’ll be making my own compost bin for the backyard. (I was going to do it today, but the cold weather is deterring me.) And you can expect periodic updates on how the compost is progressing. Thrilling isn’t it?
For now, this is all I have in my handy crock.
But don't worry, it will be filled soon.
But wait, you say. What did the boys in your house think about this endeavor?
You may be surprised to know that one was quite interested and the other actually didn’t seem to mind too much. My fearless buddy Butter was actually instrumental in helping to remove the compost crock from the box. Maybe he didn't actually do anything, but he did sit beside me and happily wag his tail the whole time. (He also helped me make banana bread and load the dishwasher this morning. Here he is after he got to sample the banana bread. Fortunately he's not afraid of the camera anymore—just intensely curious about what it is.)
Conservative Boy was less interested in the crock, but didn’t protest like I thought he would. His first reaction was, of course: “A what?!” But after that he shrugged and went about what he was doing. Later, his main question was: “Is it going to smell?” That’s why I intentionally bought a nice compost crock for the countertop rather than using a more DIY approach—it looks better than having a pile of food waste in a bowl, and it has a handy charcoal filter in the lid so you don’t smell a thing. So that takes care of that. Although he still threw his eggshells away today.
Remember, it's baby steps people.
4.13.2008
Composting
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5 comments:
I wrote a book on composting once. True story. It was for municipal yard waste though, so it isn't directly applicable to the matter at hand. I also wasn't terribly happy with what the editor did to it (I thought I was writing a technical reference manual, they thought we were putting out a promotional booklet). Even still, I feel compelled to include the link: http://www.iowadnr.com/waste/recycling/organics/files/yard.pdf.
i would love to compost, but sadly, i have nothing to do with the compost! no yard, no garden ... sad.
It might not technically be composting, but sometimes I throw things I don't want to put in the trash out my window (apple cores, old potatoes, etc...). Granted it is kind of a special case, since all that's out there is 35W, and I'm not throwing eggshells or coffee grounds, but Rachel, if you have a freeway out your window, I highly recommend it.
Thanks for the link, Mr. Martell. I'm definitely going to check it out. (Sorry about the editor destroying it—we're not all bad people, I promise!)
If, Rachel, you REALLY wanted compost (and, sadly, don't have a freeway nearby), you actually can compost indoors if you use vermicomposting. It involves worms, yes, but is supposed to be smell-free and pretty easy to do. Here's a video that shows you how to get started: http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/2247392/
But, of course, if you wanna wait until you actually live in a place where you can compost outdoors and put said compost to use, I'd understand! I thought about composting in my last apartment for about 10 seconds but quickly talked myself out of it.
I love it! Though yes a bowl on the counter/freezer works just as good, you have inspired me to create some look-a-like ideas! Alternative...second hand stores have millions of strange containers, an old hotel ice bucket, casserole dishes, anything ceramic with a lid, add a little charcoal to kill the smell , holes in the top for air and you are good to go!
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