Itty Bitty Bonzai #5

April 21st, 2009 - filed under: Furthermore » Itty Bitty Bonzai

Itty Bitty Bonzai is a collection of tiny tips and tricks for living a life more mindful. Small actions, collectively and compounded, become a powerful force of change.

#5  This Itty Bitty is actually a follow up to your Monday Monthly Mission, which is all about starting your own home composting program.  I thought perhaps you could use some encouragement (consider it an ever-so-gentle and loving *nudge*). And you know what always works to light a fire beneath my tuckus?  Statistics, yep, the cold hard ones.  So check this:

According to the EPA, in the US alone over 250 million tons of solid waste is produced each year.  That’s so gross.

Yard and food scraps account for a whopping 24% of the solid waste being shipped off to landfills, also according to the EPA.

Over 60% of yard trimmings are composted, and many cities offer yard waste removal along with weekly trash and recycling hauls.  That is awesome!

Unfortunately, kitchen scraps are woefully overlooked and under-utilized.  But that’s where we all come in!  Let’s keep the space-wasting, methane producing biomass out of the trash heap, and put it to good use fertilizing our lawns and gardens.  

Let me know how your mission is going!

BONZAI!
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  • http://www.lemonademama.com Gwynne

    We took a plastic bin last week and started using it for compost. So far we’ve put fruit remains, grass that was dug up from the garden patch, and various papers in there. This time next year, I’ll have the most awesome soil for my garden!

  • Jenny

    what do you need to start composting?? a how-to on this would be awesome, especially with earth day tomarrow:)

  • http://bonzaiaphrodite.com Sayward

    @ Gwynne – Yes! I’m so looking forward to a new spring ritual of emptying the incredible soil into the new veggie beds. Next year!

    @ Jenny – That is a *great* idea. Hmm . . .

  • http://www.countryfried.wordpress.com Charley

    The area where I lived in London, before I came back home, collected household compost waste and used it to compost the parks and greens spaces. Great idea, shame they didn’t quite follow through in other ways.

    I’m at it!

  • http://www.theorganiclife.wordpress.com sarah

    I grew up on a farm… recycling kitchen scraps meant feeding them to the chickens (they will eat ANYTHING). We, however, do not… so we are going to make a composting bin soon hopefully. It’s on the ever-so-long to do list.

    I found this link yesterday and thought of you – it’s a vegan recipe pack free for download from vegalicious. I’m considering purchasing the MacGourmet software (ever the tech head, I must have software for my recipes too so I can keep them on my Mac – I like this one because I can also sync with the iPhone app so I always have my recipes with me!) You can download a trial of the app in order to view the recipes. I will probably end up buying it (hee hee).

    Anyway it’s probably just because I’m on the Master Cleanse but I HAD to look through the recipe pack and there is some stuff in there that looks DEElicious! I’m also currently reading the China Study so I am reconsidering my thoughts on the vegan diet.

    It seems all I can think about is food right now… my husband went mushroom hunting and hit the jackpot today, so I fried him up a whole batch of morel mushrooms and couldn’t eat any! GAA!! If only one could turn off the sense of smell…

    http://www.vegalicious.org/2007/01/08/free-vegan-recipe-bundle-for-new-macgourmet-20/

  • http://bonzaiaphrodite.com Sayward

    @ Charley – It’s so great that so many cities are making an effort to recycle yard debris. I’m with you though – I wish they took all compostables! Or at least offered information on home composting. I feel like a lot more people would do it, if they knew how easy it was, you know?

    @ sarah – Ooooh new technology, must check it out! And, yeah, I think about food all the time too, whether I’m cleansing or fasting or raw-ing or feasting. I was never so much a foodie, until I got into nutrition and became vegan. Funny, that.

    Thanks for the techno tip. And let me know what you think of The China Study!

  • Marita Shaffer

    Just found your blog and love it! We take the banana peels from our daily fruit shakes and cut them in small pieces wizz them through the blender and fertilize the roses and tomatoes with them. You can also just cut them up and make a sun tea with them and just use the tea part to fertilize with. Any acid loving plants will love it!

  • http://bonzaiaphrodite.com Sayward

    @ Marita – I eat bananas like they’re going out of style, thanks for the tip!

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