Friday, March 25, 2011

Compost Again

I stopped composting over the winter. Not only was the feet of snow covering the bin a little bit of a problem, but I don't think I ever really got it going right. Also, we had mice in the house, and I wanted no food of any kind exposed in any way, and even though the kitchen compost has a lid, I didn't trust it.

Compost is supposed to be hot. It's supposed to steam. A really good compost would be hot enough to keep going through the winter.

But mine never did. Stuff deteriorated, but I think I might as well have buried it in the dirt. In fact, when I went back out after 3 month of inactivity, most of it was still whole. Because the temperature was cold enough so that there were entire carrots and potatoes out there. I could have kept the stuff in the fridge and they would have rotted faster. I wish the mice had attacked the compost instead of my kitchen utensils.

Anyway, I moved the bin. I think a big problem was that the spot I chose didn't get enough sunlight. I overestimated how much would reach it.

Now I have moved the bin to a spot that get much more sunlight. I mixed everything up, and I started the kitchen compost once more. This year, I'll get it right. I know I will.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Typical

Check out this link from National Geographic.

It's part of a series on globalization. I found it oddly touching and informative. Kind of like finding your center again in the middle of a yoga class.

What got to me was the part that mentioned choices, and that each choice we make has a huge impact when multiplied by 7 billion.