• On The Blog Again…

    “Just can’t wait to get on the blog again…” Let’s sing that tune, shall we? (with apologies to Willie).

    Yesterday Scott and I attended a home composting workshop in the Seeds Community Garden in Davidson, NC. The class is sponsored by Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s Solid Waste and Recycling Department and go figure, Scott and I were the only folks under the age of 65-ish to attend. Nevertheless, we received a free wire compost bin and a booklet on composting basics. Rock ‘n roll!

    We’ve composted since our move in June and we have a big plastic bin like this (but not as $$$, ours came from the City of Nashville’s Solid Waste Management dept.) A lidded scraps bucket indoors next to our kitchen sink holds  fruit and veg scraps, tea bags, coffee grinds, used paper towels, egg shells, etc. It fills up every few days and we take it to the outdoor bin. It’s amazing how much less goes into our big-ass garbage bin when we compost and recycle. (Us pointed-headed crunchy types like to pat ourselves on the back.)

    Right now our compost bin has all the scraps, plus a few handfuls of leaves, “cooking” and will eventually break down into useful compost for our nascent vegetable garden. 

    I learned that we need a more equal balance of “brown” items like leaves and our “nitrogen” stuff like scraps, egg shells, etc. I think we’ve got more nitrogen and we’re not moistening it or turning it enough to really encourage the decomposition process. Super composters can get a turning tool and a temperature gauge if they really want to dork it up.

    We also met some composting worms, part of the vermiculture movement. I don’t mind worms; it’s those snake things I don’t want to see around my compost. So far, so good.

    Gotta run to brunch; next post will be an update on our garden. I also need to do a CLT dining round up. Hollaaa!


    • 8 months ago