Curbside food composting

It's coming. Soon. Really, really soon. Curbside food composting is -almost- here.

Backyard Makeover Exhibit at the Oregon Zoo

One of the exhibits at the Oregon Zoo is the Backyard Makeover. There are two little demonstration “backyards” side by side. One is fairly standard: lawn with a fair-sized concrete patio, a few flowers along the fence, the fence is solid wood slats, one small tree and a birdhouse. The other has a smaller area of lawn, far more flowers & shrubs (of varying height), a couple of trees, the patio is made of stone blocks and has patio chairs on it, and the fence is slatted wood that lets a bit of light and air through but still affords privacy. The game is to find the seven things the same in the two yards, and to also notice what’s different about the yards. There is also some signage about what plants are in the yards, how the second, “improved” yard allows for more and more-varied wildlife passing through, requires less watering overall and gives reasons for using less (or no) pesticides and fertilizers. Next to these two yards is a booth where volunteers are often on hand to talk about how to reorganize your yard to bring in beneficial bugs, more birds & other wildlife, how to reduce use of pesticides & fertilizers, how to compost, how & why to set up worm bins and all that good stuff.

The last few years, the exhibit has been staffed by Oregon Zoo volunteers and Master Gardeners. This year, once a month, the exhibit is staffed by Master Recyclers (such as yours truly). We might not have been able to identify all the plants in the exhibit, but we did spend all day talking about composting and rainwater harvesting and why having more bugs in your yard can be a good thing. We also borrowed a worm bin from the Oregon Zoo horticulturists and invited kids (and the grownups!) to pet the worms. The kids were fantastic! They started out as or quickly became expert worm-handlers. We talked about where worms live, how to hold them, and what worms do in the bins and in the gardens at home. We only lost one worm to a very small toddler’s instinctive squishing as the worm wriggled about and tickled his palm.

As I (or another volunteer) helped the kids pet the worms, other volunteers talked with the grownups about recycling and composting and gardening questions. Most of the volunteers had some gardening experience and one of our volunteers is a long-time Master Gardener as well, so we were able to at least give good resources if not actual answers and advice.

The Backyard Makeover exhibit is a permanent part of the zoo, with volunteers available everyday 10am-4pm. Weekdays, the booth is usually staffed by Oregon Zoo volunteers, weekends by Master Gardeners, and for the next two months, Master Recyclers will be out there as well on the first Fridays. I will be back on September 2nd. I’ll do another “take a picture with the Trashmaster, win a prize” event as well. Come on out, say hello and pet a worm with me!

Backyard Makeover event at the Oregon Zoo

I will be at the Oregon Zoo’s Backyard Makeover exhibit tomorrow, Friday July 1, 10am-2pm. We’ll be on hand to answer questions and talk about composting, ways to increase wildlife habitat in your yard (birds, butterflies, & such), how to decrease use of toxic chemicals (fertilizers & pesticides), and generally find ways to enjoy your yard even more. Bring your questions, bring your stories, and check out the exhibit!

Regular zoo admission and $2 parking, or take the MAX!

Come by and say hi! Get your picture taking with me and win a prize! (I don’t know what the prizes are yet, but I’ll come up with something!)

Compost Giveaways at Whole Foods Market

The compost news just keeps coming! All you lucky Portland/Metro area folk can take advantage of a free compost giveaway at Whole Foods for all of April.

Whole Foods Markets joins Recology to giveaway compost every Saturday during Earth Month. Come and collect the equivalent of two-to-five gallon buckets of compost for free! Everyone is encouraged to bring their own containers.

April 2nd – Tanasbourne -- 19440 NW Cornell Rd. Hillsboro, OR 97214

April 9th – Laurelhurst -- 2825 E Burnside St. Portland, OR 97214

April 16th – Mill Plain -- 815 SE 160th Ave. Vancouver, WA 98683

April 23rd – Fremont -- 3535 NE 15th Ave. Portland, OR 97212

April 30th – Bridgeport  -- 7380 SW Bridgeport Rd. Tigard, OR 97224

Seattle Mariners offer Free Compost Night

Sports teams in Portland, OR, Seattle, WA, and Vancouver, B.C. have teamed up to form the Green Sports Alliance (with more teams already wanting to get involved), dedicated towards “real progress toward reducing their environmental impact”. Plans include reducing energy costs by switching from incandescent to LED lights, switching urinals to low-flow models, more thoughtful decisions on away-game traveling, and free venue parking for carpools.

None of this would have been terribly newsworthy, at least outside of Time, Newsweek or Fred’s Weekly Recycling Newsletter if it weren’t for Compost Giveaway nights.

Yes, as the articles say, it’s no Ichiro bobblehead, but hey, freebies are freebies, right?

First, there’s the question of whether fans will receive their compost on the way in or out of the stadium, and what they might do with the compost should they disagree with the referee’s call or with other fans.

Then there’s looking at what the compost is made of. Food waste? Check. Packaging material? Um, check. Paper and “degradable corn product” cups and utensils? Erk, check. True enough though, the compost is made by Cedar Grove Composting, whose facilities are designed to heat up the materials to where even the paper and “biodegradable” utensils will break down. This compost is then sold throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Should I even get started on the plastic packaging it will take for all those little bags?

Still, it’s an interesting promotional tool. It’s a way to demonstrate some of the greener steps that franchise owners & executives are taking, and it’s a way to start conversations with the public (my favorite statistic: “during the first six games of the season, the Safeco Field recycling rate has jumped from 38% last year to 75.9% so far this season”*). It’s also a way to show that being green isn’t just for those Left-Wing Liberal Hippie Tree Huggers. You tobacco-spitting, beer-drinking, foam-finger-wearing fans are welcome to join the environmental agenda too! On April 21, the second annual Zero Waste Game Day, Cedar Grove Composting and Seattle City Light will staff tables in various locations in the stadium to share information with fans about composting, recycling and energy conservation.

The only date I can find for sure for the Compost Giveaway is the Zero Waste game on April 21st, but on the official Seattle Mariners website it looks like there will be green-related goings-on throughout the season.

For folks wanting to get more involved in sports-related environmental issues – you might want to be part of the Green Sports Summit over August 1-3, 2011 at the World Trade Center in Portland, OR.

Hey, if you go, let me know what you think of the compost, eh?

Time magazine
Yahoo! Sports
The Seattle Times
*Seattle Mariners official site
Cedar Grove Composting
Green Sports Alliance

Giveaway: Composting books

Alrighty - I promised this a while back, and I'm making good on my promise. It's time for a giveaway! But wait, there's more! Two giveaways! Two prizes to win!



Comment below for a chance to win one of these fabulous prizes. Tell me about your experience composting, or maybe about gardening, or about the garden you'd like to have, or just tell me how fabulous this blog is.

For a second chance to win, become a follower, then comment here that you've done so.

The deadline for commenting is midnight April 2 (no chance of April foolin' with the prizes that way!). The first person I draw on April 3 will get to choose between the books, and the second person will receive the remaining book.

About these books: These are used books I picked up at Powells with my own money.

Note: relatives of the Trashmaster are not eligible for prizes. However, they are eligible to receive the benefits from the Trashmaster compost pile

Compost as Stuffing: An analogy

Last night, a flash of insight hit me like a ton of fertilizer. An analogy.  Compost is a lot like stuffing.

You know, stuffing - like at Thanksgiving.  (Yes, yes, for some of you, unless it's actually in the bird, it's properly called "dressing". In my household, even when its in a separate pan, we still call it "stuffing." Deal.)

Now, bear with me a minute.

The fruit and vegetables in the stuffing (apples, celery, onions, whathaveyou) are like the greens in the compost pile.

The bread is the browns.

The broth (or whatever you use to moisten your stuffing) is the water.

You need a bit of air in each as well.


Making stuffing, like making compost, isn't all that complicated. Just a few considerations:

-If you have just fruits & vegetables (greens), you end up with a lovely side dish, but it's not really stuffing.

-If you have just bread (browns), you can have a different lovely side dish, and it's technically stuffing, but not very interesting.

-If you don't have enough water, nothing much happens, and it doesn't make for very good stuffing.

-If you have too much water, you end up with more of a bread pudding, which is fine and all, but it's not really stuffing.

-If you pack it all down too tightly (or have too much water), it all compacts and doesn't really make for very good stuffing either.

-If you just pile the fruit & vegetables on top of the bread (or vice versa) and don't stir it and the liquid through, the stuffing probably won't be all that interesting.

As long as you have the basics accounted for, here's a fair bit of flexibility in making a good stuffing, as there is in making a good compost pile. Lots of leeway, and lots of room for a beginner to still get good compost.

(Mr. Trashmaster, bless his heart, asked "How do the worms and bacteria and other bugs factor into your Compost Stuffing model?" 
I told him to get stuffed.)

Composting: A rind is a terrible thing to waste

One of the things I got to talk about at the Portland Home & Garden show was compost. That lovely dark earthy stuff that helps your plants & soil be healthy. Making compost is one of the neatest magic tricks there are.

1. Put your kitchen scraps in a pile.
2. Add some dried leaves or cut grass from the yard.
3. Make sure it’s moist – not wet, not dry, but moist.
4. Mix it up a bit.
5. Wait.

That’s pretty much it.

You can make the process as complicated as you want. You can measure out exact amounts of greens (the kitchen scraps & green yard waste), browns (the dried yard waste, such as leaves & cut grass) and water, and be absolutely anal-retentive about how often you mix the pile. While cutting your kitchen scraps and yard waste into small pieces helps the process along (more surface area for the compost critters to feed on), you can be excessively fussy about not just chopping up your potato peels and carrots tops and eggshells but you can pulverize them into sludge with your food processor, if you really want. You can even add composting activators that will hasten the process further. If this is you, I say go for it. Everyone’s gotta have a hobby, and this is as good as any to have. Heck, entire online forums are dedicated to the topic.

You can simplify the process even further. Simplest of all: a pile of kitchen scraps on their own will eventually decompose. They might take a while, but honestly, Nature will find a way. Adding the dried leaves or cut grass will help it decompose faster as well as help keep the smell down (the carbon from the dried materials helps take care of the smell). Making sure the pile stays moist will help it decompose faster than either drowning or not watering the pile (the moisture is necessary for the life of the critters in your compost pile). Mixing the materials through the pile will help it decompose faster than just letting everything sit and compact (oxygen is also necessary for the life of the critters in your pile), which of course you can do with a hand-held device designed specifically for your bin or you can invest in one of those giant rotating composting bins. Some people choose to do a three-part composting method where they put all their greens into a bin and let it rot for a while. Then they move that pile to another bin, add some browns, mix it up and let it rot for a while. Then they move it all to a third bin, mix it around, and let it rot some more until it’s ready for use.

Me, I’m fairly lazy. My own compost pile is a mix. I try to chop up my kitchen scraps, and sometimes I remember to add dried leaves to the pile. I keep it all in an Earth Machine bin I bought from the city, partly to keep out rodents & other local wildlife, and partly just to keep the pile, um, piled up. Sometimes I remember to mix it up. Mostly I let it sit and do its thing. I add some water periodically in the summer during the dry stretches. That’s about it. I dig out the useful stuff from the bottom and mix it into the raised beds as we build them, or tuck in a large spoonful as I put a plant start into the ground. Every now and then I’ll pick up a bag of coffee grounds from Starbucks and mix that into the compost pile (and sometimes apply it directly to the ground around the acid-loving plants like the blueberries and huckleberries). I’m starting to get better about crushing my eggshells for the calcium. But it’s really more about finding some way of dealing with my eggshells in a useful manner instead of putting them in the landfill (some folks pay top dollar for bonemeal soil amendments). I also add a handful of soil a couple of times a year to reintroduce the useful critters to the compost pile. My compost pile takes longer to break down because I don’t usually remember to add enough browns. One of my goals for the garden this year is to remember more browns, and remember to turn the pile more often.

You’re providing food and water (and making sure there’s air) for bacteria, mycorrizhae, worms and a whole host of bugs. They eat this food and make poop casting.

Why do we care about composting?

-> it helps take yard debris and kitchen waste out of the landfills. Yard debris and kitchen waste make up as much as 30% of the waste stream!

-> it helps reduce the need for fertilizers and pest control products. Fewer chemicals in my yard means for safer eating of the edible plants, and fewer chemicals on the grass we and our cats walk on (which means we’re not tracking those chemicals into the house either!). It also means fewer chemicals running off into our waterways

-> it helps amend the soil. In my area, this is important – I’ve got packed clay with river rocks. Adding the organic material helps loosen the soil, which means my plants can develop better root systems, which makes for healthier plants.

-> do I really need to mention the cost-savings? If I’m making my own soil amendment and plant food out of my yard & kitchen waste, then I’m not buying soil amendment and plant food. Dollars in my pocket!

Consider reading:
Guide to what goes in, what stays out of the compost pile
Make a simple compost bin – video
Mother Earth News: Compost made easy
Basic composting info, including composing demonstration sites and where to get an Earth Machine bin in Portland, OR

If you *really* want to geek out about composting (and I support geekiness in all its forms), check out the microbiology involved in the process:
Soil Foodweb
Mother Nature’s Farms, Inc: Compost Microbiology