Green with Children

I know for an fact at least two people are reading this blog!  I'm so excited!  One church member I talked to shared he had cleaned up his composting bin after seeing our earlier post.  Then I got a message from a young mother who said she had an extra composting bin she would be willing to give away.  I'm going to become the king of compost if I'm not careful.

Jen N. is doing some really cool things in her yard.  She has two large dogs and two young children, so getting rid of all of her lawn is not a possibility.   Having a lawn to mow means that she has to have curb side yard waste recycling.  There's just no way to get around that.  Even a small lawn creates so many clippings that it is difficult for a home recycling bin to keep up.  Jen has a small plot off the back of the house for tomatoes and herbs, and also has two good sized planters that she is having her two children plant with herbs.  What a fun idea.  I'm sure the kids will love planting, and then take great pride in any dish that has been prepared using their special spices.

Jen also has a portable clipping bin.  She loves it.  She's owned several of them over the years and this one has a hole in the bottom and is about ready to be replaced as well.  She is getting rid of her old bin because she found a used rotating one to put in her backyard.  It will be interesting to see if the material in the rotating bin composts more quickly than a regular static one.  I'll try to go back in a few months and see how it is doing.  

In the front of the house Jen is planting a vegetable garden.  She has a good supply of mushroom compost which seems to be favored by gardeners in this place.  I think the smallest order delivered to your home is seven yards.  That's a lot of compost.  Jen is recycling some flagstones that they removed from their backyard project to this garden.  They will form the terraces that will hold all of that compost.  They will be able to step out of their car door and eat a carrot!  I think I'm going to use the extra bin at my house.  However, if you are really desperate for a bin, I could be convinced to deliver it to your house.  Of course you have to read our blog to know that.

Room for Jell-O

By Joanne Walker
I’m sure many of  you remember the old television commercial advertising Jell-O—there were large gatherings of people around a dining room table or picnic table having just partaken of a huge meal, and everyone is complaining that they don’t have room for dessert.  But then Susie Homemaker cheerfully assures them that they needn't worry—she has made a Jello mold, and she parades a sparkling, jiggling tower of Jello gelatin and sets it in the middle of the table.  To be honest, I was always pleased when my mother  fixed cherry Jello with bananas for dessert when I was growing up. The point of this writing, however,  is not my room for Jello, but the room that the manufacturers of Jello consume for their product.

Strawberry season has arrived in the Yamhill Valley, and I have taken to making fresh strawberry pie.  The recipe calls for a package of Jell-O Cook & Serve, Sugar Free, Fat Free vanilla pudding mix and a small package of Sugar Free Strawberry Jello.

The local stores have discontinued carrying the Cook & Serve variety of the fat free, sugar-free pudding mix, so I contacted the Jell-O company and was told I could get it  through Amazon.com.  I thought Amazon sold books, but, sure enough, they also sell pudding mix by the 24-package case. I ordered the case shortly before the end of strawberry season last year, so I am pleased to have enough left for the 2012 season.

I had finished slicing the berries into the pie plate, and was preparing to cook the pudding, substituting water for milk, when I was struck by the tiny quantity of pudding mix  that was contained in the large (2 ¾ by 3 ¼ by 1 ¼ inch) cardboard box.  It was like one person was soaking in a 6-person hot tub all by himself. I weighed the envelope containing the mix on my food scale. Envelope and mix weighed .9 oz.  The box itself weighed .4 oz.   The package of sugar free gelatin was even worse.  The envelope plus its contents weighed .4 oz.  So did the cardboard package.  What a waste.  What to do?

Together with Pastor Mark we did something.  We called Judy at Kraft Foods. Judy suggested we write a letter to Kraft Foods.

We’re working on the letter.

The Overgrown Compost Bin

I went over to Joanne's house today to take a look at her compost bin.  She had shared at our small group that she could no longer get anything into it, and that nothing seemed to be breaking down.  The bin was one that the local garbage company was giving away a number of years ago.  It is located about as far from the house as possible, which to me is a problem.  If it's hard to get to the bin I probably won't use it.  

And this one was full!  You can tell by looking at the photo above.  I brought along a screen, so we started to shovel out the bin.

Because she has a lawn, Joanne also has a yard debris cart as well. She had it stored right next to her recycling bin and garbage can in a very convenient location.  We decided to move the yard debris cart a bit further away and relocate the compost bin right next to the garbage can.  That's where I want it to be, so that when I take out the garbage I can bring out my table scraps as well.  

It took us a long time to dig out the compost bin!  It was completely full.  Not only that the local shrubs had sent their roots into that beautiful compost, locking it into the ground.  We finally managed to get it emptied, and what a treasure it contained.  The earth is so beautiful!  I was expecting a bunch of half decayed, wet, stinking garbage, but it was full of wonderful composted dirt.  I even took some home to use as potting soil.  

Joanne's problem is a common one.  It is hard to harvest the compost in one of these bins when you are still adding scraps onto the top.  There are doors at the bottom, but they were not accessible previously.  I think this set up will work a lot better for Joanne.  I suggested that she get one of those compost pails for her kitchen that have filters in them.  They work amazingly well with almost no aromas getting into the kitchen air.  It will be fun to see how this new system works out for Joanne.