Composting

I’m a hippie at heart.  Throughout my life I’ve been drawn towards practices that enrich my well-being, help others, and improve the environment.  My husband, God bless him, has humored me through all of my crunchy granola endeavors, whether it be Meatless Mondays or fully committing to recycling.

Composting has been something I’ve had an interest in for quite a while, but I was hesitant to take the leap, understanding that I would need to dedicate the space for essentially what would become a massive rotting pile of fruits and vegetables.  After some extensive research, and a few months coveting this incredibly chic bamboo compost bucket, I was able to convince my husband to embark on this journey with me.

A little backstory:  My best intentions are not always well thought out.  In the past I would dive head first into an overly ambitious undertaking with little more than faith that it would all work out.  I’m reminded of the time I tried to become vegetarian at the age of 13.  I threw myself into the plant-based lifestyle with reckless abandon.  “I’ll never eat meat again,” I proclaimed.  The lack of preparation and understanding of how to obtain a suitable amount of protein led to a lot of nose bleeds and a pathetic resignation a measly six months later when I could no longer withstand the burden of the soul-crushing exhaustion I was constantly plagued by.

Being older, slightly wiser, and having unlimited access to Youtube tutorials and “For Dummies” books from the library, I feel much more confident about this project.  I have no doubt at times this will be a learn-as-we-go experience, but I am very excited about what we’re doing. And in the long run, I think this is going to make a difference.

This is my compost bucket. It will serve as my indoor catchall for fruits and veggie scraps, my week’s worth of coffee grounds, and other miscellaneous small compostable paper products.  At the end of every week, the idea is that I will take the contents of this and dump it into the garbage can behind our shed which is serving as the vessel for the compost pile. I got this one from Goop, but the brand is Bamboozle and it also comes in the color graphite. I think it looks lovely. It is also dishwasher safe and is just the perfect size to sit on the counter next to my KitchenAid. https://www.bamboozlehome.com/bamboozlehome-products/composter?gclid=CjwKCAjw97P5BRBQEiwAGflV6QeBVOoYc4BwrTwtfDM7MlOKaZhdBbYVxN8a2p38c_r3VW6BPj_3sRoCtZ0QAvD_BwE

This was left over from our wedding back in September of last year. It is just a regular 32-gallon garbage can. We actually had a few of these in the garage, so if this one works out, we can start another compost bin!
You need to have drainage for your compost pile, so my husband went around and drilled a bunch of holes in the can to facilitate that.
He also drilled holes on the bottom. Once we get this guy outside, we will set him up on some pavers to provide for maximum drainage and stability.