We have hit upon a stunning new conversation stopper: saving all food scraps for compost and for the new worms. Seriously -- it just leaves people speechless. Maybe they think it's gross, or maybe it's just not nice conversation at dinner. Maybe people just don't want to deal with the reality of their trash for an extended amount of time. Who knows? Scrap-saving is actually super-easy, and if you cook a lot, it's something that's worth doing. I started thinking about it last year and figuring out how we would make it happen in our kitchen after reading this article. And now I try even more to avoid wasting anything I buy because of this. So we have a scrap bag that we keep in the freezer, and once we have a few of them full, we drop their contents into the compost bins at Urban Farms or hand a bag or two over to Steve for his plunge into vermiculture. Since we started it this year, we have very little trash to put out on trash day, the trash can does not reek, and overall, it has become an easy habit to adopt. It also has opened our eyes to the fact that just about everything -- egg shells, dryer lint, vegetable and fruit peels, seeds, core, leafy tops, whatever -- can be and is supposed to be used again.
Photos by Austin Grisham
On to procuring our own worms and our own compost bin soon. Not to be preachy, though -- this is actually kind of fun.
Do you compost? If so, what is your method?
11 comments:
I love to compost and have been doing it for years. I keep a small ceramic compost container next to my trash can in the kitchen and drop all the scraps in there. Before I got the ceramic container, I used an old Folgers container. When it's full, it gets emptied into the composter outside. I made the composter from an old garbage can. The bottom has been cut off, so it's easy to remove the compost when it's ready. I also punched holes in the can, so air can reach the compost. It works really well. Good luck with your compost bin.
I've wanted to compost for ages, but I don't garden (as you know) and I couldn't imagine what I'd do with all that stuff. I guess I could take it to Urban Farms too...but my freezer is already way overstuffed.
No need to be a gardener to compost. just leave it right where it is in the bin. It breaks down in a compacted form, not taking up that much space and can be kept there forever.
keeping the scraps in the kitchen is the most inspired thing I've heard in a long time! Makes complete sense when you can't take it straight to the garden (as we did growing up at my folks' house) but don't want stinky in the kitchen either. Brilliant.
Our bin was a large wire bin that our neighbor's flagstones were delivered in. We just pulled the wire "cage" from the pallet it was attached to, put it in the back yard and started adding scraps and leaves. It's not getting very hot and it's slow to break down but who cares? It smells earthy & wonderful. I love turning it over with a pitchfork.
We do compost. Used to we'd just open up the door and throw scraps out into the flower beds. This year, however, we actually bought a compost bin and have just started filling it up. We're hoping to have some good compost to use by the end of the summer. :)
I love the trash can idea and also that people are thinking about compost even when they don't personally have a garden. We composted for a while and now have chickens to eat the vegetable scraps. Either way it ends up as compost for us.
Interesting - I come from a city that collects compost all the same as it collects garbage and recycling each week. Composting is everywhere around here!
Love, love, love to compost....also, have been doing it for many years. It is so satisfying to make your own dirt and twice a year I get to empty my compost bin and dig that luscious stuff into my garden plot. It amazes me that everybody DOESN'T compost...it is so easy.
Composting is a way of life for me and my family- and yes, it is kind of fun, especially when you see the beautiful flowers and lush vegetables a good organic compost can produce. We grow a lot of fruit and vegetables organically, and can't do without composting. You hear a lot about separating grass cuttings and leaves from composting scraps, but we just bung it all in and it works just fine. It's a kind of alchemy, in fact...
Where I live in the UK pretty much everyone does this! Even our council provides us with two bins. A small one for the kitchen and a large one outside they collect each week. If you dont have a dog or a garden it makes you feel much greener :)
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