10 Exciting Reasons Why I Love to Compost

The kitchen scraps crock was personal quest. Why get the conventional bucket from the Internet? I promised myself a handmade pottery vessel from a local artist or friend.

The blue bowl made by Crispin Gonzalez looks beautiful on my counter. The bowl is easy for tossing in vegetable trimmings. I had the silicone lid and I am happy. I enjoy my friend's work everyday and the dogs know exactly where I am going when I have the bowl in hand and head for the back of the yard.

See some of Crispin's work at Garden Party Art Show

Once the kitchen bowl is filled I am sure to get a walk outside. A retiree crafting at a desk or visiting the Internet may not get out of the house if activities get too absorbing.

With my beautiful bowl by the kitchen sink I have a nice reminder to get outside for awhile.

The dogs get excited and I get a walk with them in the backyard.

The additional exercise of turning the compost for aeration is an excellent upper body workout.

When it is time to harvest compost shoveling and placing the amendment in the garden is rewarding and very good exercise. Not even boring.

My plastic compost bin is like a changing chameleon. A science project in the corner of the yard.

It is interesting to see what works, how it is transforming and how fast. Heat, mold, fungus and bugs are some of the changing activity in the composting bin.

In my photo to the right is the earwig. Even though their name suggests getting in your ears, they do not. They are about an inch long. Earwigs spend their lives in debris and come out at night to eat aphids and small insects. These bugs are good for the garden and do not damage plants.

One day there were more visitors than bugs occupying the tower. The Beagle and Jack Russell were going crazy. They wanted in the bin and started to dig crazily. I opened the bottom gate and started removing material with the turning fork. Soon 3 rats shot out in three different directions. My daughter came out and told me to stop screaming.

Later I found an expired rat in front of the compost bin. The dogs were triumphant. Now that it was lying in such a sad state they could care less.

There has not been such excitement since but everyday I notice the rats have visited the night before. The evidence is short trails and snug looking dens on the surface of the compost. They take advantage of the natural composting heat and the "tasty" materials when they like. They come and go in the dead of night. I never see them during the day.

At top right is a small two inch wide den from a mouse or a rat. Photo by Paperfacets

Two new doors are visible as new easy access entries. I think it is the rat species that can chew plastic.

The shredded paper from the shredder machine does not go in the trash bin. I saw it on TV; but there is a software program that can put shredded documents back together again. Blue meanies or deep covert organizations can not put my papers back together again.

The shreds and all the dust it creates goes into the compost bin. In three days I see not a trace of that paper left.

It is like adding dried leaves.

I am so happy to have mulch or soil amendment handily available and free for the taking.

The good feeling that I am doing a small part for the environment. Saving landfill space and creating only CO2 instead of the more harmful methane.

I get to relieve Starbucks of a bag of used coffee grounds. I also get some coffee filters and occasionally banana peels. All good stuff for my bin. The stores give out 5 pound bags. It is moist and always starts lots of gray matter, a good sign that materials are breaking down. I add a bag once a month. I add it over the course of a few days.

I was concerned about acidity but the acid is removed during the brewing process. I will pick up the bag more often now. I retrieve the bag from the Starbuck's in the grocery market. They just leave it at the foot of the counter and you can grab it without any formality. If they are not busy I give them a big Thanks.

See Starbucks Environmental Stewardship page. The Shared Plant site has lots of information and is visually a fun site to explore.

Our compost bin generates family conversation. Many times it is my lead with the discussions, but sometimes I am surprised that others in the house are interested in what is happening in the comer of the yard.

Also, sparks conversation from visitors. I always talk up the adventures. I do not want newbies of this technology to thinks it is a scary thing because of critters, smells and bugs. It just produces amendment for good dirt.

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Lavies, Bianca. Compost Critters. Text and Photographs by Bianca Lavies. New York, New York: Dutton Children's Books, 1993.

Milne, Lorus and Margery. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects and Spiders. New York, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc, 1992.