My own Eco-system (Composting and More)

[TheCrazyPlantLady]

Wow, where do you live? There is some community composting that takes place here; for a time I was taking my scraps to the farmer's market before I was able to set up a bin at home, and I use to work at a school that had a garden program.

I live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, right now, and it is one of the conspicuously green areas in Canada. I believe there are significant eco-initiatives in parts of Quebec as well, and of course the West Coast is the green granola hard-core area of Canada

 

[ChanellG]

Intereting, @zigs. Puts me in mind of old movies where people bought candies and such that were then wrapped in butcher or waxed paper. I suppose if the item were being consumed right away it would be okay, depending on what it was. Paper is certainly better for our eco-system than plastic.

Can you get Sun Chips over there? They now come in a bag that can be composted.

 

[zigs]

Don't remember crisps being damp when I was little so I guess it worked ok.

Back then most folk had an open fire in the house, so all the paper went on that, can't do that with plastic.

 

[Jewell]

The county here also does lots of the recycling for us; hot compost for noxious, and seeded weeds, recycles plastic, glass, papers and cardboard (not used in the garden). All clean greens (hedge and tree trimmings are chopped with the lawn mower) are laid on beds for mulch or used in the wood stove. No lawn. Have rain barrels and hope to add a few more this winter daisy-chain style. Living in a small home helps limit our footprint on energy usage as well as using low flow toilets, showers and faucets and energy efficient appliances and hot water heater that have slowly replaced old ones. Use bokasi. All pretty easy stuff that doesn't take a lot of effort. Thirty years on the same property has led to having fruit trees, berries, herbs and perennials that provide food, flowers and shade.

I don't do more than freeze a few fruit butters and berries, but we do eat from our garden through the summer. I used to have a good winter garden, but unpredictably cold winters have frozen it out several winters in a row. It will be interesting to see if the chard and kale make it through this winter. I have kept it simple this year. Slugs were horrible this spring despite my best efforts.

We are still in the planning/talking stages of installing a dry composting toilet. Need to collect some supplies. By this time next year we should have one set up. That will give me time to deal with my prejudices about pee and poop. Yes, I have many prejudices but we are forging ahead anyway. Just seems right politically, socially and environmentally.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/may/12/humanure-composting-toilets
http://faircompanies.com/videos/view/a-composting-toilet-and-humanure-for-garden/

We continue to learn and try things that are new to us. It always makes me laugh at my own discomfort. And how things like bokashi and composting toilets that can be the norm for other societies/cultures are relatively new to me. I feel pretty sheltered and spoiled having the luxury of living where I do.

 

[ChanellG]

The county here also does lots of the recycling for us; hot compost for noxious, and seeded weeds, recycles plastic, glass, papers and cardboard (not used in the garden)... No lawn... Slugs were horrible this spring despite my best efforts.

We continue to learn and try things that are new to us. It always makes me laugh at my own discomfort. And how things like bokashi and composting toilets that can be the norm for other societies/cultures are relatively new to me. I feel pretty sheltered and spoiled having the luxury of living where I do.

I have been wondering about composting noxious and nuisance/invasive plants. I compost mostly kitchen scraps in two large blue storage tubs with holes drilled all around and the bottom for air and to allow entry for earthworms. I guess you could say it's "warm" composting. I wouldn't mind setting up another pin for hot composting of vines and such, but I wonder what kinds of compounds end up in the soil after the plants break down.

I don't think most Americans can grasp the concept of not having a lawn. That's a big part of status in many communities - nice house and beautiful lawn.

I have had a major problem with snails and worms this year as well. It's driving me nuts!

 

[zigs]

You won't get any bad stuff from composting poisonous plants, it gets broken down by the process.

Wonder if that Obama bloke has seen my letter to him about lawns, stuck it on a few websites, maybe i'll stick it on his Facebook

 

[Jewell]

I have been wondering about composting noxious and nuisance/invasive plants. I compost mostly kitchen scraps in two large blue storage tubs with holes drilled all around and the bottom for air and to allow entry for earthworms. I guess you could say it's "warm" composting. I wouldn't mind setting up another pin for hot composting of vines and such, but I wonder what kinds of compounds end up in the soil after the plants break down.

I don't think most Americans can grasp the concept of not having a lawn. That's a big part of status in many communities - nice house and beautiful lawn.

I have had a major problem with snails and worms this year as well. It's driving me nuts!

Chanell, I too a trying to think of ways to compost the noxious weeds I send away in the green bin. I had a hot compost pile years ago but they have to be large (minimum of 4x4x4) and hot (130-140F). With the turning and keeping the right combination of organics to keep the heat up it was just not my style. Plus it took up so much room...that I have now dedicated to a woodland garden.

I am wondering if using a larger bin with bokashi would work to be able to use these unusable greens at home. Would fermenting them kill the roots and seeds? I have just started using bokashi for kitchen waste and so far so good. With my work/home/personality/etc it will probably be years before I follow through to find a large air tight container to try it. It took me two years to figure out how to build stands and set up the rain barrels and tell my hubby where I wanted the drain pipe cut.

We have 6" slugs, not snails. I replanted green beans three times even with hand picking and slug bait. It was just a very cool spring here. They always seem to be a bother, but not quite as bad as this year. Hopefully having some of the trees removed this summer will help next spring.

Lawns in my locality aren't that big a deal. I'd say 50% of homes have just lawns and foundation plantings. Native landscaping, perennial beds and even veggie beds are just as common as lawns. On the neighborhood garden walk of seven garden/yards four of the seven had no lawn at all and the others really only had small areas of lawn. Guess every area is different. I don't know what your water bills are, but here if you water your yard the bill can be significantly more during the summer.

 

[ChanellG]

Well, 4x4x4 is definitely out of the question I would just have to come up with some innovative way of keeping the pile hot, maybe a combination of water and solar something. I just don't have enough of that kind of material at one time to fill a space that size. I'll have to give it some thought.