Most of Matthew and my waste these days comes from the leftovers from our produce; rinds, cores, and the like. I know it seems like this is innocuous stuff to send to the landfill because it's totally biodegradable, but unfortunately it's not. In short, the conditions in a landfill are not those such that food waste can biodegrade. (For more information about this, you can read about it here and here.) What's worse is that because the waste is in an anaerobic environment, it ends up producing a lot of methane which is a major greenhouse gas that is 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide. (Which is another reason to consider eating less beef, since cows are amazing methane producers, but I digress...)
In Corvallis, we did our best to keep our food waste from going to the landfill by hauling most of each week's scraps to church on Sunday and handing them off to a family who owns goats and chickens who eat said scraps. If you happen to live in Corvallis, you might be interested in their municipal compost heap. They have "green carts" that you can put in all kinds of plant and food matter along with paper towels and certain paper plates/cups. (You have to verify that the plates/cups that you use do not have a plastic coating on them which many of them do... You may think it's wax, but it's probably plastic. Look for plates that say they are compostable, or contact the manufacturer and ask them what the coating is. Or, better yet, just use reusable plates.) We were unable to participate in this awesome program, though, because we lived in an apartment that didn't have a bin. I considered asking our manager to get one, but I realized that based on what I found in the recycling bins, I didn't think that the people in our apartment would use the green cart properly. I digress yet again...
Now that we are in Aloha, we know no farmers, have no green cart, but still eat fruits and veggies! We also have a little outdoor storage closet... Enter the worm bin.
I found directions about how to set one up here and found fairly local worms here. I bought my plastic tub at Goodwill for $2.99, and I used our drill to put holes in it for ventilation and draining. As I was walking home with my container (seriously... who walks 1.7 miles hauling one of these things? I do.), I remembered that worms don't like light, but I had just bought a clear plastic container. I remedied this by using some random spray paint that we have. (For the record, I hate spray paint. It is full of nasties, as your lungs will attest as you spray it. From here on out, I'm only buying canned paint and use a brush when we need to paint... preferably the low-VOC variety.) I happened to have pink, so I painted on a worm. Or a "W". Or whatever your imagination says it is. My wormies arrived in a little box in the mail today, and they were still wriggling, so they're alive. I prepared their bedding, and I placed them in it, and then I tossed in the few scraps that I managed to save today.
Make worm poop, young pinkish wrigglers! Then make more worms! Then I will steal your lovely worm poop and throw it at plants! It shall be MARVELOUS!
2 comments:
What will you do with the dirt? I'm really interested in finding out how much dirt you actually produce like this, and if it turns out to be a manageable amount. My biggest concern would just be that there would be too much to handle! However, it would be fun to to some ninja dirt dumping in places around the apartment complex...hmmm
I have thought of a few options for my dirt production: Fertilize my current potted plants, save a bag and use it for future potted plants, offer it up a bag at a time to friends or on Craigslist, throw it at the shrub by my patio (there's just bare ground now - no mulch, so it wouldn't be a big deal).
I think I read somewhere the the dirt production isn't hugely overwhelming, and it sounded like you generally only harvest it a 3-4 times a year. Knowing me, I'll probably post about it when I harvest, but you're also welcome to pester me in a few months to see how the little guys are doing.
In your current complex, you can just throw it on the gardens. I guess you might move to a different place at some point, though.
Post a Comment