Black Gold

So maybe not real gold but that is what my great grandmother used to call finished compost.  My goal to celebrate/honor Miss Earth on her day (this past Sunday) was to come up with a project that would interest my four lil' hellions darlings with tangible results.  So Sunday morning (and by morning I mean 3:30 am, I love having insomnia) I decided to google composting.  NO (sane or logical) idea why I thought composting would be a good idea to research at 3:30 in the morning, other than it's something that has appealed to me.  Practical and rational Shana would like to briefly point out that I've always been hesitant because seriously it seemed kind of dirty and gross not to mention I don't have a degree in chemistry and I have a brown thumb, but whatev. 

Any-who I did some research online (organicgardening.about.com, backyardgardener.com, eartheasy.com) got freaked out as some options were super intense and way too hardcore for me.  Suddenly the clouds parted as the sun rose and I found this easy peasy guide (the winning tutorial was found via treehugger.com). 

 
OMG ... it is SO easy.  Seriously .. every household should as least try their hand at composting. 


Step 1: You need a plastic bin with a lid that's at least 24" high.  I took the kiddos for a trip to Lowe's where we purchased a rubbermaid container with said lid, I want to say it was like $8. 


Step 2: I used a drill to make small holes (it's recommended to make 8-10 so I made 9) in the bottom so everything can aerate.  Extra smiles because I always feel a lil more tough when the power tools come out.

Step 3: I had the kids round up some dry leaves (I believe I have at least 4 seasons worth of leaves in my side yard) so we could fill the bottom almost 1/4 full. 

Step 4: Using dirt (there is PLENTY of that at my house too) I filled the container another 1/4 of the way.  Which as my 6 year old son (he's starting to work on fractions) pointed out our bin was now half full. 

Step 5: It's time to now add your food scraps or paper products.  Which means any and all organic waste in your house (no meat or dairy) can go in your compost bin.  AMAZE-BALLS .. seriously.  So we threw some banana peels, an orange peel, and lint from the dryer

Step 6: Mix everything around and spray (and really I mean mist) with warm water.  You do NOT want it soaking wet.  Wet compost is smelly compost and ewww that's gross.

Step 7: I put the lid back on our bin and broke out the drill for round two.  Again to help with aeration you want to drill between 8-10 holes in the top (again, I did 9, I like being in the middle)

Step 8: We moved our bin to a shady spot in the backyard off our deck.  I keep all our other recycling bins on the back deck so it seemed the most convenient and logical. 

Now hopefully (fingers crossed) sometime within the next 2-3 months I should have some fab potting soil/lawn conditioner. 

This could totes be me ... minus all the brown and flared pants

xo - Shana