Failure to Compost
One of the things I looked forward to as a homeowner was having a compost pile. Each time my husband G. Grod or I cooked, especially in summer, I winced at all the good stuff that was going down the disposal or into the trash. Having a compost bin would be both environmentally correct and useful.
Sadly, my dream has died. Apparently, I can’t handle something so basic as decomposing matter. Our compost bin is smelly, attracts creatures of all sorts, and when I went to pull out some of that rich dirt, I found moldy lemon peel that probably dated from our possession of the house, last fall.
I looked up the details online, which sounded simple, though was still more complicated than I’d thought before. I tried stirring things around, but just enraged a few bees. I beat a hasty retreat, and we have been throwing our scraps in the garbage ever since.
June 18th, 2005 at 1:48 pm
Check out http://www.greenguardian.com to see if they have any advice.
If all else fails, they have pretty good compost bins. My wife just picked one up at an event in mid-May. (so our lawn clippings, coffee grounds and whatever else are just starting to cook.) She had been pricing them for a while and said what she got for $30 was what was available at many stores for at least $80.
June 20th, 2005 at 2:09 pm
Our bin came with the house, so it was ostensibly free, yet even it’s free-ness can’t mitigate the fact that I can’t even get things to rot properly.
June 20th, 2005 at 8:17 pm
Yeah, compost can be tricky. You’ve got to get the right balance: 50% green stuff to 50% brown stuff, by weight. It’s hard ’cause most people end up with a ton more green grass clippings than brown leaves, sans autumn. Also, some garbage stuff isn’t too good for compost, like bits of meat and fish. I’ve got a ton of extension handouts on composting — I had to give a presentation on it to 2nd and 3rd graders — if you want some.