Composting Chip bags

Erik brought this home last month ... a bag that you can stick in the compost pile!!!!!


Check it OUT! Seriously, I'm NOT a dork for thinking this is ultra-cool. I swear!!!!


But the bag IS loud.

For more info about the bag, CLICK HERE.

My only wish is that I could actually EAT Sun Chips! Because I'd totally buy the brand b/c of the bag. But they have sugar or yeast in their chips (probably sugar), so alas ... no Sun Chips for me!

Cool Composter

Hi bliggidy bloggidy world!

Ok, so after yesterday's "Debbie Downer" post, I could help with some solutions.

I know I've previously blogged about composting HERE.

So here's the deal, my friend, Juno. Well, her compost bin is better than MY compost bin and now I have compost bin envy. Go check it out HERE and see why I'm jealous.

Let me remind you what MY compost bin looks like:



Way less cool.

And now I want to build one like Juno's. But I have about a million other projects in line before I get to this, so it'll have to wait, and I tip my hat to Juno and her cool composting bin (and the idea for 2 doors? Genius, Juno! You WIN!)

Trash Talk

Would you believe an average of 100 people a week stop in on our blog? And I suspect that doesn't include those who have it on their RSS feeds. Really? I say something at least 100 people want to read? iiiiiinteresting.

Anyhow, knowing there are people who stop by to see what rant I have gone on, and to find no new posts, well I feel like a slacker. So here we go! ;)

A few months ago, I went to something regarding environmental issues here in Salina. And I was SHOCKED to see the numbers. Are you ready?????

- 24% of the trash in the U.S. is from yard trimmings and food waste. In Salina, it's 23%. SERIOUSLY .... nearly a quarter of the trash going to the landfill is yard clippings or food that we could compost???? wow. I am stunned.

- 61% of Salina's trash includes the following: wood waste, paper products, yard waste and food waste. MORE THAN HALF???? REALLY????? How much could we be recycling?????

Let's pause for a minute to reflect. IF residents of my fair city would 1) recycle paper and 2) compost, we could cut our landfill contributions by MORE than 50 percent??? Woah. That's heavy. And stunning.

I have to be honest: One of the things I miss most from living in Hays was the ease of which I could recycle. You just put your stuff in a blue bag and it was collected every week. Every household paid some nominal fee ($4-$5) and everyone could recycle.

Here in Salina, we have to pay for a bin, then everything has to fit INSIDE of that bin. Ugh. Fortunately, when I asked, they were awesome and gave us another bin for FREE. :) One of my brides here in town has THREE bins, which she tells me is the max you can get without extra fees. I have to say, using three recycling bins would be something I aspire to. But for the time being, I'll settle for the two.

SO ... rambly post (didn't I warn you?). But here's the message: If you ever thought "Oh, it's just the junk mail" or "What I do can't make that much of a difference" ... THINK AGAIN. Look at the above numbers and think again. Even if you do just ONE thing, it would be way better than nothing.

Start by getting an extra trash can. Designate it as your paper bin. Toss the extra junk mail, fliers and handouts from church into there. I honestly think you'll be surprised at how quickly it fills up. And if you haul it to the recycling center, then it won't go into a landfill!!!! If the 100 people who read this blog all start recycling paper ... think of how much paper that is!!!!

Last interesting fact, then I'll close. Recycling does take energy, but requires less energy than starting from scratch. Here are the numbers: "Recycling aluminum can cut energy consumption by 95%; plastics by 70%; steel by 60%; paper by 40%; and glass by 30%."

Be well. And if you recycle, leave a comment! If you don't but can commit to start, even if it's just paper, leave a comment!

Additional info about composting and the like ...

I have an addition to THIS post on composting.

I was in downtown Salina this week and came across a flier that's trying to raise awareness about environmental issues. This is interesting: 14% of the Salina landfill is filled with food waste. Click on the above link to see all about composting ... it's another way to rid yourself of food scraps. BUT, be sure to NOT put meat in your compost, or you'll have the neighborhood dogs and coons in it.

It also compares water usage of Salina residents to that of Hays residents. Now, THIS is extremely interesting. In Hays, residents use an average of 89/gal/person/day. Any guesses for Salina?????

124. An average person in Salina uses 124 gal/person/day. When I first moved here, I suggested to the Salina city commission that they make water reduction a priority. In Hays, the city puts aside $1,000/year toward washer rebates. Yes, that's right. If you buy a high-efficency washer, the city will give you $100 towards its purchase. I believe they also take your old shower head and will give you a low-flow shower head gratis.

One of the most frustrating things about living in Salina is how wasteful people are with their water. I just cringe during the summer months. Maybe that's why I work so hard to use my rain barrels. I suppose I hope that my excessive collection and not using water will make up for the extra water that others are using.

Composting

About a week ago, I made THIS post about gardening.

It's taken awhile (sorry!), but now I am taking the time to put words to the promise of blogging about composting. :)

But before I start, let me say that Erik and I have about 1 to 1.5 bags of trash that we put into the collection bin PER WEEK. I don't know how much your garbage out put is, but I'm pretty proud of that. We attain that by recycling everything possible (and we recently received a SECOND recycling bin from the city so we can put out even MORE recycling!!!), along with composting.

So, first things first, here is a photo of our compost pile:


(There are some dirt piles behind the pile, but the area inside of the wire inclosure is our compost pile).

There are certainly more elaborate setups, but this home-made setup works for us.

I simply went to Lowe's and purchased the 4 metal pole thingies, and the wire mesh stuff. I don't know the exact name of it. But I guess even chicken wire would work.

I hooked the wire stuff around the metal poles, but did make sort of a "door" that I can open it if I need to.


So, how do you start? Well, it's not terribly difficult. Seriously, VERY little actual SKILL is involved!

You take items you don't eat, or maybe they've gone bad, and toss it on the pile.

THAT'S IT!!! :)

Ok, so what do you add on to the pile? Fruit and veggie scraps.

It could include:
• apple core
• bananna peel
• the outer portion of the corn
• the center of the tomato
• the core of a pepper
• ends of an onion.
• garlic peel
• egg shells
• plants I've pulled from the garden at the end of the summer

Also .... GRASS CLIPPINGS!!!!! AND LEAVES. The first year, I didn't have leaves in the pile, just the grass clippings and the food scraps. It was a pretty smelly pile (my neighbor across the fence wasn't appreciative of the pile's placement). I did some reading, and realized we needed some "brown" in the pile ... so on the leaves went! (the neighbor is less objective to the pile now).

Really, lots of stuff. If we have lettuce that sits around too long, we toss it onto the pile.

Oh, I also put some peat into it when I started.


During the summer, I have my pitchfork and turn the pile about once a week. It's also important to be sure the pile gets some moisture. If it doesn't rain for a month or so, wet the pile down, because it will help to break down the pile.

Also, I will say that I have sort of a "backup pile." This is for when I've decided it's time to put the compost into the garden. Now, HOW do I know it's ready? Well, when you're turning the pile regularly, you'll notice that the pile sort of starts to look like dark, dark, dark dirt. Once I start to see that, I don't keep piling new stuff in because I want the compost to "finish" so to speak. I pile stuff onto a smaller area, and once the compost looks like rich dirt, I remove it and put it into the garden. Then I move the stuff from the "backup" site into the regular compost pile.


And this is what we use as transport. I learned this idea over the summer from the people Paul lived with. They had a nice stainless steel container WITH A LID. Previously, we'd just been using a big yogurt container with a lid. It would get gross and icky ... but with the stainless steel container, we can give it a really good thorough cleaning.

Oh, one last thought before I pull some photos of compost piles/devices I pulled from the web: It's important to have some slats or some way air can flow through/into your pile. I wouldn't suggest just sticking it into a trash can or something that is completely enclosed.

Ok, some photos of other ways of doing this I pulled from the web:



I really like the next two:




PLEASE don't feel like you have to spend a lot of money on one like this:


(but you can if you *really* want to).