Reckless recycling, revenge of the compost

 

You know when we bought this house I had such a great vision of everything being put away in it’s place, the freezer fully stocked, closets organized to the hilt, numbered cans of food, all that fantasy stuff.  If someone came over unexpectedly I could whip out a perfect desert, and have coffee to go at a minutes notice. Oh, and home grown compost, that I made myself would be used to mulch all the garden beds [in the middle of winter, to boot]. The perfect hostess…..right!  [shamed grimace].  Oh, and I thought I would accomplish this in no more then, lets say three weeks top.  Ahhhh ha, hmmmm right.

Now we have come to a screeching halt as reality rears it’s head.  I’m wiped, there are piles of “stuff” downstairs that I just don’t want to deal with [ever!], and as far as the compost goes…

It’s recycling 1, Jen a big fat ZERO!

Well actually it’s Jen, [and husband] one for recycling, and a half a zero for the composting.  You see it all started off innocently.  We only had recycling at the condo, no composting.  And it literally drove me nuts to have to throw out all those veggie scraps, especially after they started a household composting for homes, but not for condos.

So I was determined to compost, and recycle, in fact we started during our very first meal here.  Oh there were some slip ups, like the time I carefully saved all the veggie scraps in a bowl on the counter, salad ends, veggies, all carefully put into that bowl.  And then I walked over to the garbage bin, and not thinking dumped them in while I was distracted.

We did manage to recycle all of our moving boxes, and packing materials, and any other recyclable garbage has all gone to the recycle station. In fact after a month, we are just now getting curb side garbage pickup.  But we have not had a chance to either build, or buy a garden composter yet.

So determined was I that I refused to throw out the veggie composting, and instead had it “stored” in the garage until we could get that composter.  That worked great while the temperature were below zero. Everything was almost frozen and there was absolutely no odour.  Then it warmed up slightly, and the smell of rotting orange peels, and decomposing veggies started to waft into the adjoining kitchen. 

After a few days of that I had to give in and throw it out, even though it was in the garage.  Seems that the biodegradable composting bags you can buy for your countertop composter start to decompose almost as soon as you put veggie scraps in them.  And then they start to smell, very very strong.

So for now we have the composter on our list of must haves, and we are recycling as much of everything else that we can.  And for the nasty smell in the garage, some fresh coffee grounds in a small dish are taking care of any lingering odours.

Now if only that could work on organizing my closets….

 

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams