How To Turn Food Scraps into Gold Yes I said Gold.
If you're an avid gardener like me you're most likely searching for the perfect food to feed your precious little plants.
Most products on the market contain chemicals.
Chemicals can be life threatening to humans.
Chemicals may seem to improve your plant for a short time but in the end, the chemical will actually do more harm than good.
Harm to you, your children and their children generation after generation.
Chemicals are not good for planet earth.
For all the must have it now benefits of chemicals there will surely be a price to pay in the not too distant future.
What then can you do to improve the health and well being of your plants, the givers of your families food? Herein lies the answer to that most important question.
But first I hope to persuade you to start a brand new habit today.
Do not let another meal pass without having a compost container ready to start the gold producing process.
Anything with a lid is perfect.
Plastic is nice.
It's durable and can be set outside when it's full without fear of breaking.
My favorite containers are discarded coffee containers, ice cream containers and kitty litter containers.
Anything with a lid that will stay sealed will work.
Next find a spot in your kitchen or pantry, out of the way but within easy access to store your mini compost bucket.
Now we're ready to start churning out that gold I mentioned earlier.
Oh, you're dining out.
Well in that case you may have a paper sack, sandwich wrappers, pizza cardboard, leftover French fries, paper napkins or what ever else you brought home that Is biodegradable.
No plastic cups, straws, lids or utensils.
If you think insects would be interested then that's what you put in your mini compost container.
Next, Starting in the morning you may have coffee grounds, tea bags, sugar wrappers, leftover cereal, fruit, fruit peels, egg shells, disposable napkins, paper plates, left over coffee, left over yogurt, doughnuts,toast and the list goes on.
Lunch and dinner may find left over vegetable parts, peels and seeds.
You may have leftover bread products, pasta, spaghetti, macaroni and cheese.
There may be popcorn kernels left over from family movie time.
There might even be that chocolate cake left over from grandmas birthday party that you got stuck bringing home.
Because, you know, you didn't eat enough to keep a bird alive.
Maybe junior left some of that yummy home made the old fashioned way Pizza with the special name and all on his plate so he could finish building his Lego avatar.
And it will go to waste if someone doesn't eat it.
It's going to go to your waist if you eat it.
Or the kids Halloween candy keeps calling your name while their away at school.
Or maybe Aunt Louise labored lovingly to send you her best batch of melt in your mouth best ever childhood memories attached and all, still warm to the touch filled with all the goodness in her heart double dutch chocolate Labor of Love Fudge.
It may seem traumatizing but I promise you will feel so much better about yourself in the morning if you just feed it to that old faithful, not once complaining compost bucket.
You certainly don't want to spoil your healthy eating habits.
You do not want to waste good food.
And your waist will thank you, trust me.
The waist not attribute of the compost bucket is what first caught my attention.
It was not long after this wonderful discovery that I had to find a resting place for the contents as my bucket was about to over flow.
I knew older gardeners who buried their kitchen scraps so that's what I did.
Now I have undoubtedly the most fertile soil in my neighborhood.
Thank you compost angels.
Now back to our list of what we can compost.
You may have pet or even human hair.
That goes in the bucket.
You may have melted popsicles, sticks and all.
There might be brown paper sacks, a faded bunch of flowers or a plant ready to discard.
You could have sawdust, fabric scraps, paper towels.
Think of things that melt when they get wet.
When you clean the cupboards and refrigerator you may find many stale entries there.
I assure you the compost bucket will find them most delectable.
I will mention meat can get a little stinky.
Along with this you have the consideration as to where you'll be putting the compost containing the meat.
In this line of thought you will want to consider the little varmints that might be attracted to the meat in it's final destination.
Animals can and do choke on certain bones.
Well you are now on you way to helping out in several ways at once.
You'll be recycling, composting, properly feeding the earth and your plants and all the while making a huge dent in the now popular obesity factor.
Who could ask for more than that?