I do, apparently. And I continue to be amazed at how often we discard something in the morning and then run to the store in the afternoon to spend money on a commercial product that fills the same need.
Yes, there is such a thing as garbage. Some stuff does need to be hauled away -- just not nearly as much as current custom dictates.
Case in point: our reliance on the ubiquitous InSinkErator. In virtually all modern American homes, everything from apple cores to zucchini peels gets shoveled into the sink, ground up and flushed down the sewer. Later we drive our BelchFire Eight down to Lowe's and swap hard-earned cash for a case of Miracle-Gro. It's such a waste.
The KintlaLake household never has had a garbage disposal. We gather all of our leftover vegetable matter (no animal fats) and walk it out back to compost.At our previous rural-suburban home, our compost pile was contained by welded-wire fencing and a half-dozen wooden stakes. This time around we invested $50 in a 115-gallon pre-fab compost bin -- a smartly designed plastic box fitted with a hinged lid that keeps hungry critters out. It also features access doors at the base for harvesting the finished compost.
Beyond onion heels, corn husks and such, we compost things like coffee grounds and egg shells (rinsed), as well as dead jack-o-lanterns and the odd bag of lawn clippings, a wheelbarrow load of shrub prunings here and a bucket of rotting crabapples there. We don't get too terribly scientific about it.We do add water and pitchfork the mix regularly to aerate it and speed decomposition, spiking it occasionally with a scoop or two of pelletized lime. That's about it.
Next April, once I've worked the layer of organic matter (which itself is passive compost) into our garden plot, I'll extract the finished compost from the bottom of our bin, scatter it over the soil and make another pass with our electric tiller. I'll reserve some of the "black gold" for setting shrubs and potting plants.
The rich, earthy fragrance of this natural fertilizer -- the product of harvesting what most people throw away -- heralds the bounty to come. To my senses, there's nothing like it.
(By the way -- if for some reason you object to the aroma of compost, consider that it smells a helluva lot better than supporting an anti-libertarian corporation like Scotts Miracle-Gro.)
