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Compost Confidential
How hard can composting be?
Unsure if I could commit to composting, I happened upon the book Composting: An Easy Household Guide in a local bookstore. While flipping through I read this sentence that basically made my decision for me: "Compost happens even if you do nothing."
Well, I can certainly do that.
The book, written by British community compost activist (yes, they have that sort of thing over there) Nicky Scott, is full of such reassuring advice: You can shred your "brown matter" or just throw it in there. You can make four-inch alternating layers of green and brown, or not. Composting can be a complex science or it can be a no-brainer. For now, at least, I choose the latter.
Why do I want to compost at all? Besides constantly hunting for things to write about in this blog, I had gotten myself into a pickle (or maybe a rotting cucumber) by joining an organic produce buying club. On the one hand, I'm eating lots more greens and I feel great — literally, physically great.
On the other, even after eating collard green smoothies and throwing mushrooms and fresh garlic into practically every dish, I still find the occasional carrot or stray orange that I just can't gobble down before it goes bad. Throwing this produce in the garbage feels like defeat.
So in the same way, in the old days, I might have eaten a package of Kraft macaroni and cheese, felt sick afterward, and then sent the box to a trash heap, along with the clothes I could no longer squeeze into, I am now locked into a food-trash-fitness cycle. Only this time, it's a good one.
Well, I can certainly do that.
The book, written by British community compost activist (yes, they have that sort of thing over there) Nicky Scott, is full of such reassuring advice: You can shred your "brown matter" or just throw it in there. You can make four-inch alternating layers of green and brown, or not. Composting can be a complex science or it can be a no-brainer. For now, at least, I choose the latter.
Why do I want to compost at all? Besides constantly hunting for things to write about in this blog, I had gotten myself into a pickle (or maybe a rotting cucumber) by joining an organic produce buying club. On the one hand, I'm eating lots more greens and I feel great — literally, physically great.
On the other, even after eating collard green smoothies and throwing mushrooms and fresh garlic into practically every dish, I still find the occasional carrot or stray orange that I just can't gobble down before it goes bad. Throwing this produce in the garbage feels like defeat.
So in the same way, in the old days, I might have eaten a package of Kraft macaroni and cheese, felt sick afterward, and then sent the box to a trash heap, along with the clothes I could no longer squeeze into, I am now locked into a food-trash-fitness cycle. Only this time, it's a good one.
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11:59 EST, 16.Jan.08