I am a compost convert...I am completely sold on the idea of closing the nutrient cycle of everything that grows and comes onto someones property. Of course apartment dwellers can't do this easily, but so many people live on suburban lots. There are lots of excuses why people don't compost and most of them are crappy ones. Basic knowledge shouldn't be one of those excuses. You can find all kinds of advice...everything from detailed scientific or pro-farmer experiences all the way down to average yokels like me. Here is one simple lesson.
Where to site your pile is a common question. Common pointers: not near trees (roots will suck nutrients), not in the shade (heat helps decomposition), close to your garden (for convenience). Sometimes they add "close to your kitchen." Well...guess where mine is? Not close to my kitchen. Look below:
All the way at the back of the lot near the corner of the neighbor's fence.
Do you know why they recommend putting it near the kitchen? Because this is what you collect to put in the pile:
Not exactly what you want lingering in your kitchen.
Now Northwest Arkansas has mild winters...but this one was extreme. We had four snows in a six week period. The first was the dusting above.
The second was several inches..okay, normal. And usually it melts off fast.
The third was a very decent snow by our standards. And some very cold weather to go along with it.
The fourth snow was 14 inches at our house. A record during my lifetime for Fayetteville. And BITTER COLD for days. (don't the raised beds look like shallow graves covered in snow?)Well guess what happens when you don't want to trudge through knee high snow at 4 degrees?
PILEUP!!!!!
Lesson learned.
6 comments:
At least when the weather is freezing you can stick that shit outside. No stinky. :)
Misty, that's exactly what I did! I had all three sitting just outside the back door. Froze solid!
I bought a compost canister (looks like a cookie jar with small holes in the lid and a filter hooked inside the lid). Got it at TJMaxx for about $10 and it looks as good as my flour & sugar canister and it's dishwasher safe too. The handle on the canister makes it easy to transport outside and the filtered lid makes it easy to skip a day running it outside. I highly recommend getting one casey!
Casey, the last entry from anonymous was from me...Pam from MPG
Anonymous, I have seen those and considered, but my roommate bought the white lidless container that you see in the picture. It's a modular piece of Ikea..the lip fits perfect over the edge of the waste bin. So it hangs on the inside of the waste bin and if you miss it you will just hit the normal trash!
My roommate already has an admitted habit of "out of sight, out of mind" so we have to make sure things like that are visible. Not just the container, but the actual stuff. Our dry canisters on the counter have glass lids and I have been piecing together a small set of glass ones to aid in knowing what is there and actually using it...or avoid buying double.
Interesting how two of my favorite women of all time both commented on this post. Love you Pam! And Misty...well..you know.
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