It's not Garbage, It's Compost

Composting is something I've been doing for years now.  It is definitely a know better, do better topic.  I have composted when living in a mobile home park, a half acre yard, and on a small acreage.  It has several advantages and no downside that I know of.

I try to eat a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables and use them in my cooking also.  That means veggie scraps.  Growing up we had chickens and no garbage pickup.  This meant feeding scraps to the chickens and occasionally to the pigs if grandpa had some at the time.  I have never had chickens as an adult so what would I do with the scraps.  Composting was the logical choice.

I have had a garden regardless of the size of the property I've lived on.  I use soil, so it is only natural that I would want to make soil.  Composting makes the best, sweetest smelling soil imaginable.  I have never had problems with my compost pile having bad odors.

I have had some wonderful plants come up in my composts piles.  I currently have a 10 foot peach tree that came up in a compost pile about five years ago.  It is a great producer and very healthy. I moved the compost pile on the tree's second year and it has continued to prosper.

I have also 'grown' tomatoes, pumpkins, squash, and cucumbers in the compost.  These were volunteers that came up from scraps I composted.  They are always very healthy plants that produce well with no effort on my part.  Here is a picture of last year's compost pumpkin vine in May.

I collect my food scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds, and occasional paper towel.  Yesterday it was potatoes that I forgot about in the bottom of the pantry. Now those babies have odor.  I gather my compost ingredients on my kitchen counter in a plastic container I've saved from artisan lettuce, cool whip, or currently from cream puffs eaten at Christmas.  I empty as needed which may mean 1-2 times per day or every other day.  Usually it doesn't go longer than that as we tend to fill it fast.

It is now time to start a new compost pile and I've changed the location.  I've started by laying down cardboard to keep weeds from prospering in it.  Kitchen scraps are put on top and after doing some spring yard work today, there is now dried leaves and stalks over what you see in the picture below.

Every person should consider composting if  they have access to any amount of yard at all.  It is a win-win endeavor.  An added bonus is an on-demand source of earthworms for fishing.