Waste Not, Want Not....

For a few years now we have been composting all our kitchen scraps. When we lived in an apartment we were able to compost them with the city-collected green waste (which you should all encourage your communities to do!), but ever since moving into a house over a year ago we have been maintaining our own compost piles. So during our recent move when we were unable to compost (Portland has yet to establish a collection of food scraps)I felt like I was wasting so much. It truly made me sad to throw kitchen scraps into the garbage knowing they could be turned into useful compost. So one of our priorities upon moving into our new house was setting up our compost bins.

Composting is super easy. You can buy all sorts of fancy composting systems that speed up the process, make it easier to turn your compost, and keep it hidden away if you desire. But those are expensive. I just sent my husband out to find some free pallets, which he cut down to size and nailed together. Three bins has been a good number for our family of three. We get a good load of compost for the garden twice a year, which works just fine. You can get very scientific about monitoring what exactly you add to your pile and what temperature you maintain it at to create the perfect carbon:nitrogen ratio. We don't get that fancy. We just throw everything in and turn it every once in awhile.

So why pay someone to haul away your food and yard waste and then pay for fertilizer and compost for your garden? Just compost it yourself. You'll have plenty of free, nutrient-rich compost for your garden and decrease your garbage collection costs (you'll be amazed how much of your garbage is compostable).