Monday Monthly Mission #1

April 7th, 2009 - filed under: Furthermore » Monday Monthly Mission

Who loves alliteration?  We do! We do!

The Monday Monthly Mission  is our latest installment, and the name pretty much says it all. On the first Monday of every month, I’ll assign a new ‘mission’ – a shift, a habit, a source of inspiration – for all of us to work on. There’s strength (and support) in numbers!  On the last Friday of the month, we’ll reconvene and see how far we’ve come.  And of course, you can ask questions, compare notes, and share stories each week at the Friday Feedback Forum. (ahhh, alliteration!)

 

#1

So we’re starting this first Triple M off easy, with a new chore that I’m ashamed to admit I don’t already do – composting.  Sure, I save veggie scraps for the hens, and coffee grounds for the garden, but there’s still a lot of organic material that goes into my trash can.  For a girl like me, that’s unacceptable!  So, I’m making it my personal mission to reduce my landfill contribution (and produce amazing topsoil in the process) by starting my own home composting project. I intend to have it up and running within 1 month’s time.  And I’ll expect you all to hold me to it!

Do you compost?  If so, tell us about your experiences and the method you use!  

If you don’t compost yet, do you choose to accept this Mission?

BONZAI!

sign-off

  • http://barefootedvegan.blogspot.com Tammi

    I compost! I do it the hillbilly way, I drilled some holes in a trash can with a locking lid, throw in my scraps and every couple of days I go out and roll it around the yard to aerate. Haha!

    So I’m not making trips to my bin every few hours, I keep an empty ice cream bucket on my counter. I just throw the scraps in there throughout the day then take it out at the end of the day when I’m cleaning up after dinner. That has made it much easier on me to keep up with it, especially since I tend to find small pieces of apples hidden in places.

    I’d like to get into vermiposting, particularly for my boys to help out with, but I think we have too much food scraps for that to be our full time, only composting. Don’t want to overwhelm the worms! But it’s an idea for a science project with my 5 year old.

  • jen

    Hi! Just came across your blog and it’s great! My husband and I have a worm bin and it’s fantastic. The city of Vancouver (BC) holds workshops and for $35 you get instructions, a bin, short-term supplies and WORMS! We feed ours about a gallon of scraps per week. In return they give us worm juice (it drips out the bottom into a holding tray) – diluted it makes great plant fertilizer. We also get worm casings – basically the “dirt” in the bin which will be great spread out over our garden. Easy!

  • http://www.lemonademama.com Gwynne

    I just found your blog, and I am so in! LOL I’m going to be planting my very first garden this year, so it’s a PERFECT time for me to start composting!

  • http://bonzaiaphrodite.com Sayward

    @ Tammi – Thanks for the comment! So, with the trash can method, does it get really difficult/heavy to roll once it gets close to full? How fast does it break down into usable dirt compared to how heavy it gets as it fills? I like the sound of this method, so I’m super curious. Thanks!

    Also, I’m looking into worm bins as well. Let me know if you ‘dig up’ (nuk nuk) anything good!

    @ Jen – That’s so cool that the city does that! So where do you keep your worms – indoors or outdoors? How big is it? I’m curious about the quality of life of the worms, actually. Any thoughts?

    @ Gwynne – yay for taking on the mission, and especially for your first garden! Congrats, that’s fabulous! What are you planting?

  • jen

    We usually keep the bin outside, although it’s been inside since about November because it got so cold this winter. I was worried about bringing it inside because of the smell, but surprisingly there is no smell. It’s about the size of 2 milk crates… not too big. The worms seem pretty happy – they are reproducing like crazy. Every now and then if we don’t feed them they start climbing up the walls and onto the inside of the lid like they are trying to make an escape, but we give them some food and they head back down to munch it all up. If we get too many slugs in the bin (not sure where they come from) the worms get upset and try to escape so we have to watch out for that too.

  • http://bonzaiaphrodite.com Sayward

    @ jen – Wow, that’s crazy that you see such a direct response from them. Like little pets, it sounds like! =)

    Thanks for the info, I’m definitely thinking about this.

  • Amy

    We just bought a compost bin at costco on sunday. it’s a great big, rotating drum (much bigger than some of the other ones I’ve seen). as of this writing, it’s still sitting partially assembled (damn you, assembly-required-products) in the garage, but we’ve got big plans for it. This is our first spring in our new house, and we have a vegetable garden all mapped out (still too early here in wisconsin to the little guys outside).
    we’re also planning on getting a 3-part trash bin, with mini-bins for rubbish, recycling, and compost. the compost bin can serve as our ice cream bucket (i know other people who use one of those too).

    by the way, i’m loving your site. your mindful, judgement-free way of talking about all this stuff is awesome.

  • http://bonzaiaphrodite.com Sayward

    @ Amy – Yay, congratulations on getting a compost bin! That’s really great to know that Costco carries them, I’ll have to pass that along.

    The ice cream bucket seems to be a popular idea, too. I’m so happy that people are getting out there and doing this, altering their lives to make room for conscious habits. YOU GUYS ROCK!

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