Compost

     I really want to compost in the summer.  I hear objections each time I mention it, "The bears will get into it." "The bins they make are too small."  "It will stink."  The last time I asked I heard, "Fine, if you want one then figure it out and build it." 

     I’m not a carpenter and I don’t have a clue how to go about creating a compost bin that would keep bears out and not stink.  If you have any suggestions or places to look, then please let me know.  I’m willing to give it a try.  Here’s what Idealbyte has to say about the subject.

 How can yesterday’s table scraps feed hundreds?

The Bite
Of worms, that is. Easy: Compost your organic waste and use the soil for your garden or houseplants for smiles all around.

The Benefits

• Meals, not dumps. A Biter household can keep 500 lb of perfectly biodegradable kitchen and garden waste out of landfills every year (and most stuff doesn’t decompose in landfills).
• Fine botanical dining. Composting recycles nutrients in your scraps, producing soil that’s like a gourmet dinner for your plants.
• It’s as simple as 1-2-3-flora. New in-kitchen compost gadgets make composting easy and isolate the stink, so your house won’t smell like a barn. Some cities even offer curbside bin pickup (à la recycling bins).

 

Personally Speaking
Jen gives each of her seven chickens turns in the compost heap while she works in her backyard.

Wanna Try?

• Just a few of the items you can compost: bread, cereals, and pastas, coffee grounds and filters, eggshells, fruits and veggies, grass clippings, and most teabags.
• Check with your garbage company, and see if it offers curbside bins for compost pickup.
• EnviroCycle Composter – 5-gal composter for your garage or yard; just give it a spin for easy mixing and aerating ($169).
• Worm Chalet – three-tiered worm-based composter; keep it in your kitchen if you collect the fresh compost from its spigot regularly. Also: worms ($159).
• Kitchen Compost Crock – nifty, stinkless ceramic pot you can put on your counter or under the sink for collecting compostables until you get around to carting them outdoors ($24).
• The Complete Compost Gardening Guide – new, easy-does-it guide, including DIY instructions for making your own compost bins ($14).
• Compost Guide – everything you ever wanted to know about composting, and then some.
• Compost This – UK site that lets you know what you can and can’t compost (aubergine means eggplant, BTW).

If 10,000 Biters compost 3 lb of kitchen scraps each week, we’ll keep the weight of more than 10,000 sanitation workers worth of waste outta landfills every year.