Monday, December 17, 2012

I've Got Compost Fever

Well it's finally happened. If you regularly read this blog or know me personally you may have seen this one coming. I did - but not this soon. I've got composting fever.

The other week I was throwing out banana peels left from my daughters snacking and something in me sort of snapped, not in an angry way, more in a  - WHY AM I DOING THIS!? . . . sort of way.

In my attempts to become greener and greener and all I have been learning needless waste is something that is frequently (if not constantly) on my mind. Throwing away banana peels that could be composted along with other table type scraps just felt so completely wasteful.

I'd learned a little bit about vermicomposting from watching the documentary, "No Impact Man." So on the night of this "revelation" I went to bed dreaming of an indoor worm composting bin and growing fresh, wonderful tomatoes. And if I wanted that compost to take any part in my spring and summer gardening I needed to start now.

Disheartened that I didn't have the funds for a vermicompost bin and not yet finding a site detailing how to make a bin that would be "as good" as the kind you buy I hit up Pintrest. This fantastic pin gave me the first ray of sunshine. Knowing that I wanted to start my compost bin in a month or less I still felt unhappy with throwing away things I knew I would one day (hopefully soon) be composting. There was the answer, freeze it. If you have too much food that will be going into your bin you're advised to freeze it. Why not just begin freezing it now!?

I got out my freezer bags.

Then went through my fridge to find out what had gone bad and what needed to be thrown away anyway.

I felt a tad stupid. My grandmother had been freezing her compostables all of my life and I never thought anything of it and the idea never occurred to me. She keeps a small ceramic container that looks like a tiny garbage can on  the counter and when it's full she would put it into a plastic bag and freeze it.

After I began bagging I looked at the amount of food that would have just gone to waste and felt a bit better. Who knows if I will always have the amount of food I need to provide for my little worms to be? This way at least I may have some food here and ready to go for them.

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