Years ago, I was reading an article in a gardening magazine. This is funny.

I was flipping through the pages, and there was a full page ad for some plastic garbage bag company, I don’t know, GLAD or something like that. Now the kicker is this.

The garbage bag was stretched out ready to be filled with the trash. And that is fine, no quarrel there. But here is what the “trash” consisted of: (stay with me here…..organic gardening magazine, they would be PROMOTING compost right? Ya’d think?)

Here is what I saw sprawled across the page that was supposed to be the “trash:” egg shells, coffee grounds, lettuce, outer cabbage leaves, bread, potato peelings, rotten fruit, banana peels, celery ends, crackers, watermelon rinds, cantaloupe husks, bell pepper ends, pasta, vegetable peelings. THAT’S NOT TRASH! DON’T THROW THAT OUT!

RD, meditate girl, meditate. Breathe into that paper bag (NOT the plastic GLAD bag use the PAPER one!). Allright, whew, I’m okay now.

It is comical that the ad ran. Not THAT it ran. But THAT it RAN in an Organic Gardening Magazine that promotes the Compost Concept. Compost is homemade GOLD. It might be hard to get used to at first, but you’ll get “in the habit” and so will those around you, if you preach it like I do. Don’t throw away anything that can be composted.

My family is trained. They come and ask me if they don’t know; RD is this compost or not? That is cause they would rather ask me than face the wrath of me finding the apple core in the trash. I will find it, I don’t DIG for it, but I will find it.

In the magazine’s defense, they printed a follow up comment in the next issue, APOLOGIZING to all of those readers who wrote in raising “heck” about “WHAT were you THINKING?” I’m sure somebody paid for that on the magazine staff. It was NOT me.

If I look in my trash can, the one I haul to the dump, and see an apple core? Or a banana peel? I will find the owner. It is a sin. You will be punished.

NO MEAT and NO FISH in the compost bin, most everything else is game. My dad used to plant fish under his grape vines and that is different. Meat and Fish in the compost pile attract rats and other undesirables. So it is best to keep those items off the list.

Into the composting bin go things like: egg shells, lettuce pieces, cabbage leaves and core, pepper stems, tomato cores, squash ends, old bread, banana peelings, rotten fruit, old potatoes (unless you are planting them), watermelon rinds, cantaloupe rinds, apple cores, pear cores, avocado peelings, cucumber peelings, coffee grounds, used tea bags, cabbage leaves, beans, pea hulls, potato peelings, leftover pasta noodles, onion skins, garlic skins. I kind of ride in the middle about cheese. I might put it in there if it is very finely grated. But you get the idea. Don’t forget leftovers, again no meat or fish. I had some leftover pinto beans the other night, we had eaten on those beans for 3 different meals and there were just a few left, so rather than toss them they can be composted.

I use the same type of 50 gallon barrel to compost that I use for growing potatoes. Not the same one of course.

The Compost Barrel with Shovel

The Compost Barrel with Shovel

Remember, in the potato barrel article I said be nice and don’t judge its appearance, it is a compost bin, not a contestant in a beauty pageant.

I start with a little dirt in the bottom.

A small bowl or container sits on my kitchen counter all the time. As I cook, or as my family eats, the bowl is always there ready to receive compost materials. Break an egg? Put the shell in the bowl. Eat an apple? Put the core in the bowl. Cut up a cantaloupe? Put the husk in the bowl. Slice up a watermelon? Put the rind in the bowl.

If you cook, keep it close by. I make salads for two meals a day. So I have a lot of lettuce “croppings.” I slice tomatoes all the time, so I got stems and cores. I cook three meals a day using lots of fruit and vegetables, so I usually fill my bowl once or twice a day.

It is hard at first if you are not used to it. Just get in the habit. Keep the bowl in sight so you are reminded, after a while it won’t be a problem at all, you’ll get accustomed to it. Be sure to inform your family. They can be a part of the recycling compost project, too. They eat there too right?

I do not let the bowl sit there for days at a time. I take it to the compost bin at least once daily, and more often if it needs it. I rinse it out, or wash it and use a new bowl.

Drop the contents into the compost bin, cover with a little dirt. You’ll see in the barrel picture there is a shovel close by. I use it to shovel in dirt, then I “turn” the compost every so often, sort of digging in the new stuff. I find that if I put dirt over the newly added materials, it keeps the flies and gnats down.

This is a great job for a child in the family to learn to do. Magpie and LB both help out taking the compost ingredients to the compost bin. LB is not a child, but he helps anyway. He is good that way.

Do not put the bin right outside your back door. Use your head. This is compost. It is rotting food, sort of like fermenting leftovers covered with dirt. It is not so bad if you keep the food covered with a layer of dirt, and “push” the new stuff down into the barrel. We keep our bin away from the house, not in the garden, but down in the back of LB’s shop a little ways.

The compost will basically “heat up.” Turn with the shovel every so often.

The completed compost is a wonderful addition to your garden. Mulch around plants, mix with your planting soil, mulch your potatoes, put it around your tomato plants.

Next time you are about to throw away an apple core or a banana peel, think about it. You could be turning that into Black Gold.

Happy Composting! (did I say that?)

the Rancher’s Daughter