Ideal Bite

Hey thanks for the great blog, I love this stuff. I don’t usually do much for Earth Day but with everyone going green these days, I thought I’d try to do my part. I am trying to find easy, simple things I can do to help stop global warming (I don’t plan on buying a hybrid). Has anyone seen that www.EarthLab.com is promoting their Earth Day (month) challenge, with the goal to get 1 million people to take their carbon footprint test in April? I took the test, it was easy and only took me about 2 minutes and I am planning on lowering my score with some of their tips. I am looking for more easy fun stuff to do. If you know of any other sites worth my time let me know.

I can attest that worms do a fantastic job of eating all the veggies and fruits that would otherwise be thrown in the trash. In fact I have thousands of the little workers. Easy to maintain. If you think you want to try raising some, let me know. May be able to supply you some of the red wigglers, known for their composting skills. The water from their beds is loved by houseplants. The beds when eaten out will be extra-rich fertilizer for the garden, if it ever warms up.

Does anyone recommend a good container for putting on the counter (or possibly under the sink) to put scraps in until we get them outside? We just moved to a house and will be composting soon, but I've been at friends' places where their kitchen always smells HORRIBLE because they just put things in a bucket on the counter and it sometimes sits there for a couple of days.

Right now I just use a big tin can with a plastic lid. Kind of like the biggest size you can buy coffee in, but mine is kind of a retro looking can left from Zenobia cashews. I reuse a plastic produce bag from the grocery store as a liner for it. It keeps the fruit juices from making such a sticky mess and causing rust. You can also twist the top of the bag closed before putting the lid on, and it keeps most smells contained. When I have the opportunity though, I will probably upgrade to a glass or plastic canister with one of those air-tight gasket lids. Like these: http://www.containerstore.com/browse/Product.jhtml?CATID=74062&PRODID=10...

Hi moderator, any chance someone can delete the spam just posted three times by Dfsadas?

Hi Nicky, We use a plastic container with tight-fitting lid that cat litter is sold in. We keep in the corner of kitchen, out of the way. A bowl on the counter collects daily scraps--when it gets full, we empty it into the plastic bin. When the bin gets full, we bring it out to the heap. Smells are at a minimum.

To answer my own question, in case anyone else wants to know, some more searching online dug up another option. If you Google ceramic compost crock you come up wiht a bunch of hits for a nicer-looking piece with a carbon filter to eliminate odor and it's designed not to obsorb "sticky" or "smelly." Mostly it only comes in white, but www.gardners.com has them in blue and red too. I think I might check one out. A little more expensive that a plastic jar, bin, pail, etc., but looks way better too! Plus it's not see-through.

For people asking for counter-top containers / composting systems. I've tried to use the little stainless steel ones and the ceramic one with the carbon filters. . . but the best I have found so far is just a lock-and-lock container. I think it's their tallest container. . . probably cost about $10. (Yes. It's plastic. You could also try one of those old large glass or ceramic canisters with the rubber seal and the metal clamp.) The others didn't work for me because they were not air-tight and would attract bugs and stink because I'd only empty them about once a week. My mother's isn't air tight--but she empties daily. Totally a personal preference. Also, I went to that website that says not to compost things like orange peels and I'm going to go ahead and share what I do with regards to that. If it will eventually rot, it goes in the compost bin. This includes meat, dairy, orange peels and seasoned food. My worms probably don't love me as much, and my compost takes longer to rot, but it takes us (family of 3) 2-3 weeks to fill up a trash bag, and my trash doesn't stink either because anything that would cause a smell is in the compost. I haven't noticed rats or signs of them near my compost pile. Maybe because it's already been getting nasty on my kitchen counter for so long that by the time it makes it to the compost pile, it's too funky even for rats. . . Maybe our outdoor cats serve as a deterrent. The "pile" outside is 4 wooden pallets, nailed together, picked up for free. We keep a pile of leaves next to it and cover kitchen scraps with leaves as they're dumped in. So that's my system. It's relatively inexpensive and works for me.

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