The compost queen
It didn’t take long to earn a reputation.
In March, I built a compost bin for my backyard.
This week, somebody in the newsroom called me “Compost Queen.”
I’ve been called worse. Like in second grade when one of the boys called me “Boy Boots” because I wore my hunting boots to school.
That hurt.
Compost Queen isn’t so bad.
When I built a bin out of a garbage can, I had visions of sprinkling rich, fluffy compost on my garden by June.
Not so much.
For one thing, my bin is too small to create the heat needed for rapid composting. My little bin gets warm but not hot.
After a few weeks, I got tired of sprinkling the bin with water and regularly shaking the contents to aerate them. By April, I had better things to do in the yard.
Like stare at my growing lettuce.
I gave up on the “active” composting. Instead, I staked poultry wire in a 3-foot-wide circle in the yard. I’ve just been dumping the scraps and strips of newspaper in there. I won’t have useable compost until next year, but I also will put in almost no effort.
That’s freed me up to expand the range of my composting sources.
I’ve been leaving a bucket near the community coffee pots in The Janesville Gazette building. Everyone’s been dumping used coffee grounds and filters into my bucket.
I’m bringing home two five-gallon buckets full of coffee grounds every week.
Also, a couple of my coworkers are saving their kitchen scraps and sending them home with me in sealed containers.
I think it was the bowl of veggie scraps stacked on an empty bucket next to my desk that earned me the “Compost Queen” remark last week.
We’re not saving the world or anything. But with very little effort, we’re diverting a little waste out of the landfill. And I’ll have a well-fertilized garden next summer.
Do you think compost collection would work in your office building? Why or why not?
Jun 16, 2009 at 6:46 p.m.
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Ann Marie
Next time you come this way bring your buckets. I'll fill them with some really good compost.
Jun 15, 2009 at 8:46 p.m.
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I was finally able to use my compost that I started two years ago. Not because it took that long, but because I was lazy...lol. You should see how huge my tomato plants are! It's amazing, and I know it's because of the compost. I'm hooked and the whole family is constantly trekking though the yard to the compost bin.
Jun 15, 2009 at 6:23 p.m.
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I started composting this spring as well. Just drilled a bunch of holes in a garbage can with a lid. It will be awhile before I can use the compost, but it feels good to be sparing the landfill of my food scraps. And I'm sure my garden will thank me next Spring. Go composters!!
ps- our office has an automatic coffee machine, so no grounds or filters... :(
Jun 15, 2009 at 6:13 p.m.
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I almost threw my compost bin away this year until I accidentally bumped it, and out came some really cool dirt that I put around my flowers. For the last three years that I've had it I just kept putting stuff in, and it kept shrinking down.
Jun 15, 2009 at 4:45 p.m.
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Only you would think of that, and that's why you're so great.
Jun 15, 2009 at 1:55 p.m.
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D'ya know you don't need a gym membership with those full 5-gallon buckets?
Jun 15, 2009 at 1:54 p.m.
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I love the coffee grounds idea! I've tried to collect them at work, but nobody would help me out (of course, if they knew which way I can in, that'd be a HUGE help). After a couple days, someone took it upon themselves to throw away my coffee grounds, then, of all things with the mold still on the coffee canister, through the container in recycling.
THEN, I had taken in and planted four tulips and kept an eye on them, adding some coffee grounds, of course. What do you suppose happened to them? The same place those used coffee grounds went. The canisters? Probably went to the recycling world.
I love the idea of beautifying the earth, but it's hard when those around you do not support you at all. I'm glad to see that the newsroom has people that are mindful and willing to help!
Jun 12, 2009 at 2:18 p.m.
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For the record, I look at you with admiration when I see you walking around with the buckets at work. I am impressed.
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