A New Mission

Waste not, want not. We're on a mission: City Composting 101. Growing up, we composted just about everything that was biodegradable, but I never knew it would be so easy to do in town, without making the neighbors mad and all. This summer I started becoming frustrated with the amount of avoidable/food trash the two of us have (yes, we definitely do recycle), so I started looking at compost bins online. Mostly, they're super expensive. But not ours...

I found directions here, and I've been wanting to try for a while. However, with the (now former!) state of our posterior exterior there was no place to put it. Since our backyard was dredged out, filled in, graded, and seeded this past week, it was finally time.

So this afternoon, in about five minutes flat, we created our own little composting spot.


Get a big plastic storage tub. Check. We bypassed the lime green and electric blue versions in favor of something a little more subtle. To my chagrin, there was no beige (according to Brad - and my walls - shades of brown are my favorite home improvement colors).


Drill holes in the bottom. Check.


Fill the bottom with shredded newspaper or leaves. Check - sort of. We do not subscribe to any newspapers (just pick up the Sunday Eagle on our way to church), or much print journalism at all for that matter (just Time and BHG), so we came up with our own alternative. It was good timing, because the shredder was getting a little full.


Cover with dirt. Check. I think the tub is supposed to be about half full at this point, but it's not quite. We may need to add more dirt as we go.


Add your compost. Check. I'm sparing you the photos of this part, because brown pear parts are not pleasant, even when stored in airtight containers. One tip for storing composting items is to buy one of these Oxo pop top containers. I love my Oxo. (I also use these to store dry goods like flour and sugar.)

Stir, then water just a bit. Check.

Put on the lid and drill some holes. Check.

We will continue to add our scraps (mostly fruit and vegetable scraps, no meat, but lint apparently works well) as we collect them, stirring each time. And next summer, when we plant our garden in those newly filled raised beds, we will have plenty of rich, organic fertilizer to add.

Obviously, it's not as easy as the big barrels that you just turn with the handle, but it's considerably cheaper, to the tune of several hundred dollars. We'll let you know how it works...