imp

I actually thought the small container of the pink spotted pig really cute- especially for some neighborhoods that have neighbors who might object to a compost pile next door.

And, frankly, if your compost pile is attracting flies and rats all the time, something is wrong. (And I think the pink pig would probably keep out most flies and almost all the rats!)

Composting, even on a small scale, and leaving out the government involvement ( do we all need to pay a higher rate for the Cities to do something for us that we all can do for ourselves?!!), is a rewarding way to use up scraps and put it back into your own personal yard environment.

A person KNOWS what they are putting in their compost- but you may not know that a person a street over is using some bad pesticides or doesn't think and throws in something toxic.

Sometimes, even a small thing, like making a small amount of compost ( and you can get it cooking fast enough down here in Texas to rot down into good compost in as little as 6 weeks in the summer in a roller composter)- that can be a small step for one person, but multiply it by many people and you have not only better earth, but less fuel use ( for the city to pick it all up and turn the huge piles with machinery), you have people taking a small control back into their lives and a bit less landfill.

Sometimes a small step can start an avalanche.

ConsiderThis

I totally agree.

Doing it for ourselves is vastly better than relying on government.

Look at the 192 billion okayed for further war in Iraq yesterday. That's a lot of money... while Americans at home are struggling to make ends meet.

One thing I've loved recently is all the news about how vitamin D fights cancer... yet there is little mention of how Americans came to be vitamin D deficient... they were sold sun screen, which was mighty profitable.

What I mean is, doing for ourselves rather than being led by the media into putting our well being into the hands of something much larger than ourselves, is much more healthy.

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ConsiderThis

Boy, I love composting in the big pot! it is sooooo easy to drop things in and stir it all up. And now I've added a pan to catch the run off "tea" after rains.

I took a picture of my new arbor today. The picture includes my compost pot on the far left.

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lspichkin

I love the composting in a pot idea... So, no pest or fly problem with it being completely open like that? That would be my only reservation. Do you have any tips about how you do it? Do you cover the kitchen scraps with dry material every time?

ConsiderThis

When I add corn tortillas the towhees (not sure of the spelling) sort through.

The main thing is to remember to wet it, because without a cover it dries out rather quickly and then nothing much happens, not in the way of composting.

I found a worm in it the other day, which must be left over from when I had my avocado. I moved the worm to my garden because I was afraid it would get hurt when I stir up the pot.

Now that I think about it, I'm surprised that I don't see flies by it. The Rodeo Grounds are just a couple blocks away and while the Rodeo was going on there were a lot of flies in my shady corner where I used steer manure last fall. (I threw some orange peels down and that seemed to throw them off.)

Maybe there are flies there when I'm not around.

What I really think is that the more healthy our gardens are the more things live there and make dinner out of things that might otherwise be problems.

For instance the other day I saw a dead fly on the floor in the kitchen and didn't do anything about it. (I sometimes have a lot of pain and put things off.) Not too much later I saw three ants gathered around the fly... so I scooped them all up, along with the fly, on a big advertising postcard that was to hand, and took them outside, and no ants reappeared.

When I have watermelon rinds or pears that have gone bad I put them in a different compost area near the back wall of my living room, where I don't turn it very often at all. And ants always have a feast on edibles there.

__________________
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ConsiderThis

Okay, here I am reporting back.

I've been watching my compost pot and now know that when I turn the materials in it there is a lot of heat released.

It appears that the most heat builds up when I have a top layer of earth, and the whole is a little moist.

By not having it covered the way that a commercial composter is covered I don't think it gets as hot because seeds that are in it are not killed. For instance I had a wonderful squash that sprang up from the compost I put out for a totally different plant, and so too, tomatoes.

I had it in the house last winter, and if I can keep fighting off foreclosure I will bring it in again this winter. When I had it in the house I was a bit worried that fish and meat I put into it would smell, but it never did, and when I turned it the morning, new earth smell was great. During the winter I was very careful to keep a layer of earth at the top.

A couple weeks ago I put some tuna water into the pot, and that did draw flies.

For me, this is the most efficient composting I have ever done because it is quite quick and it is so easy to get at the compost as well as being easy to turn with a trowel.

__________________
http://www.health-boundaries-bite.com
Your fingernails reflect your health --
Learn some warning signs --
Karen Kline