May
2007
Becoming a Composting Mama
I finally bought a composter last week. As a result I had to clean up the yard so I could gather up all the leaves and dead grass to mix with our food scraps. We got snow so early last fall that no one had time to rake leaves, leaving a big mess for everyone this spring, but lots of good composting material. We’ve been playing outside alot and the boys have been getting to watch the composting process. Brandon has been really enjoying learning how to compost. He helps me put fruit and veggie scraps in a container and then we dump them into the composter. His favorite part is adding the grass and leaves. He says “grass, grass” while standing on his tip toes to reach the top of the composter. I thought about vermicomposting and even found the most awesome article in our local paper on “becoming a vermicomposting mama”, the name alone made me want to do it. But I don’t really have the space for a container of soil and worms in my kitchen and even though I don’t mind worms per se, the thought of hundreds of them in my house is a little more than I can handle at the moment. For the time being I will be satisfied being a “composting mama”.
Both boys are also learning about recycling. They love to throw things away and we have to decide whether it’s garbage or recycleable. Honestly they don’t really care which one it is, they just want to throw it away. 
My friend Connie had this little quiz linked to her blog. How green are you?
Your Life is 52% Green |
 Your life is pretty green – and you know a lot about how to live an eco friendly life.So congratulate yourself for being good to the earth. And maybe think about implementing some of the ideas from this quiz! |
You should see our worms. They are actually very cute. You should put them in the basement somewhere.
So my problem is that I heard that if you get it too moist all the worms rush to the top and when you pick up the lid they might all be on the bottom of the lid trying to escape the moisture. I don’t mind worms, but the thought of hundreds of them all over the lid when I pick it up kind of grosses me out. Maybe I’ll try it after we’ve had a season of composting. I have a hard enough time getting laundry done and remembering to get birthday cards out in time…
Its actually really easy. The first week I had a few learning experiences (like if you put garlic in your bin, your basement will smell like garlic…. and not in a good way!) but once I got the hang of it, its been really easy. Too moist is usually not a problem… I haven’t had any problems with that… but I hear you about the gross factor. The first time I dug my hand into my worm bin to stir it around, I came up with a handful of slimy worms and it TOTALLY grossed me out. But now I love my little worm factory and I think the worms are cute. Really. Maybe there’s something wrong with me.
But also, there’s stuff you can’t put in a worm composter (onion, garlic, dairy products – cause they stink, and citrus, cause its not good for the worms) that you can put in a normal composter, so its not a bad idea to have both anyways. I bet when the boys are just a little bit older they would have lots of fun with the worms! Have fun with your compost
And if you decide to start vermicomposting at some point, let me know… I will send you my book that I got on how to start a worm composter.