Hello worms, goodbye kitchen scraps

I’m neck deep in compost research and am yet to actually compost a darn thing. I know that I should be doing it for a variety of reasons. The two main reasons are keeping food scraps out of landfills and putting a hault on the purchase of commercial fertilizers.

One bit of information came as a surprise to me (maybe everyone else already knew this but just humor me), when you through your biodegradable or compostable food waste into your regular garbage, chances are it will never break down in the manner that one assumes. Landfills create an oxygen-deprived and chemical-laden environment, one that is not conducive to composting.

The basic idea of composting, to someone like me who doesn’t know any better, may seem simple. Save your kitchen scraps that are plant based, put them in a pile or a bin, turn the pile on occasion and voila…you have compost!

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. The average household doesn’t generate the right mix of materials to successfully create compost. The mix should be 25% green (kitchen scraps, cut grass, etc) and 75% brown (dead leaves, straw, etc). The pile should be kept damp, by watering it about once a week. Damp, but not soaked. The pile should also be turned or fluffed once a week. This mixture and process create the environment needed to break down the items. Sounds like a lot of work, especially when it’s raining. Oh…and the compost pile goes dormant during the cold months. And, if you live in the city, where do you put the darn thing?

So, what’s a well intentioned, composting newby to do? Well, this sounds really gross to me, but all well seasoned, city composters are pointing to worms. That’s right, slimy, yucky worms.

I consulted my two male roommates, who are usually very supportive of my dirt inspired adventures, on the idea of bringing a worm compost system into our house and they looked at me like I’d just said I was going to let a bag of cobras loose in the living room. Apparently they’ll take some convincing.

Worm composting is said to be clean and odor free. There are a variety of pre-made worm composting bins that make it easy to separate the worms from the compost they’ve created and keep them contained in the bin. Worms can compost all the same material that you would put in a regular compost pile. It takes about 1/3 of the time and you don’t have to worry about keeping the correct mix of materials in the bin.

But, do the worms escape? I DON’T KNOW!!! But I haven’t read or heard of any horror stories yet.

So, I’ve ordered a worm bin. Sorry roommates. But, I promise it’s going to be the coolest experience you’ve ever had with worms. Just wait until I get a 10 pound bag of worms delivered via USPS….woohoo!

Happy Hour

Our household chickens were raised in the living room, which was also accessible by the dogs. When someone was home, the cage was kept open and the chicks would perch on the edge, usually huddled together, lightly clucking. I like to think of this scene as Happy Hour. During Happy Hour, the dogs would put their noses right up to the line of fluffy chicks or sit silently watching them from a safe distance. Perhaps they weren’t sure if they should cuddle them or eat them. But either way, there weren’t any issues. The chicks were never made to be afraid of the dogs, so now that they’re grown and sharing the yard, they never run when the dogs come around. The dogs acted instinctively around them as chicks, handling their presence as they would a human baby. It’s hard to say why it’s worked so far or if they will continue living in harmony. But for now, we have dogs and chickens sharing a yard. In my mind, it’s due largely to introducing them to one another right away, so that the chickens would grow up unafraid of the dogs and the dogs would realize that the chickens were a part of our family and not just a a chew toy.

Fall Vegetables Oct. 30, 2009

The fall vegetables are making good progress. This bed is new and a bit of an experiment. With a late start on getting the fall crops in, I used larger starts which were on sale at Garden Fever. The bed and plants went in around the second week of September. With a mild fall, they could hold up through November here in Portland (we are climate zone 6). But, if we get an early frost, chances are I could lose some crops before we can harvest. Good news is, we have been eating the kale for a couple weeks now. It really thrived in this partly sunny spot, who knew?  The bed contains broccoli, cabbage, kale, leeks and onions.

I am in the process of researching a cover for this particular bed. Something to protect it and hopefully trap in some warmth.  I’ve noted that this particular spot gets hit pretty hard when the wind is blowing.

If anything, my first fall garden has been fun and beautiful to look at. The purple cabbage and kale mixed in with the various shades of green from the onions and the variegated kale leaves, it better than any landscape in my opinion. Plus, it gives me a reason to get out there and play around.

 

San Francisco Composting Law

In San Francisco it is now illegal to throw your food waste in the garbage. The ordinance that went into effect on October 21, 2009, requires that all residential and commercial building owners separate food waste from their landfill bound waste bins. Those who don’t will face up to a $500 fine.

 

What will San Francisco be doing with all that food waste? It will be transported to Organix Annex and turned into compost. The compost will then be sold to area farms and vineyards.

 

I was recently in San Francisco and one thing that stuck with me was the lack of green space available to residents. There were very few opportunities for urban gardening within the city. At least in comparison to Portland, where I live.

 

This ordinance, I imagine, is bringing composting to people who would normally not have the space, the means or the purpose for compost. Composting in the city can attract unwanted wildlife and the average kitchen doesn’t usually generate the correct balance of ingredients needed to create good compost.

 

San Francisco isn’t the first city to put a composting ordinance into place. But, it is the first to require both residential and commercial building owners to comply and the first to be enforcing it with fines.

An Edible Yard

When I finally bought a house of my own, in an urban neighborhood in Portland, Oregon, I couldn’t wait to get my hands in the dirt. I pictured tomato plants, salad greens, maybe some beans. A garden I could actually harvest something from, but still presentable and easy to maintain.  While walking my dog in my new neighborhood, I came across a series of three houses that shocked and confused me. These three homes were grand in stature, well taken care of and completely lawn free. In the place where a lawn would normally be, there were carrots, kale, spinach, artichokes, zucchini, green beans, peas, sunflowers and more. Upon closer investigation, I realized that there were no clear definitions between these neighbors’ yards. Rows of vegetables crisscrossed all three properties, gutters from each house lead to joint rain catching barrels and rows of berries were lined up where a fence might normally go. I walked home equally inspired and defeated.

As a child, my playground was the garden. Experiments and adventures, of the fresh food variety, filled my life like a never ending fruit bowl. I would lay beneath the rows of marionberries for hours, my fingers and lips dyed purple from taste testing. Or spend entire afternoons attempting to eat an ear of corn kernel by kernel. I both initiated and accepted any edible challenge that was presented to me.

Growing up in the country, having a garden made sense. We had space to put in large beds and were part of a culture that nurtured farming. But, I eventually settled in the city, moving between apartments where the outdoor space included concrete balconies and well manicured common lawns. Gardening remained just a memory. Sure, I had a couple house plants that I kept in a constant state of near death but the thought of actually growing so

mething edible hadn’t yet occurred to me. Until one day, while perusing the grocery store, I bought three small plant starts and put a tiny herb garden in my kitchen window. My intentions in buying them were purely aesthetic, “How cute will these guys look in my window?” I thought, grinning at my new found domestic side.

To my surprise, pasta with fresh basil and rosemary red potatoes had never tasted so good. Potted tomato plants on my balcony soon followed. I’m not a gardener. The skills I gained as a child centered mostly around eating. Learning to grow vegetable has been a series of trials and mostly errors. Balcony farming had it’s limitations, but it brought me a lot of joy and a little bit of actual food. I never dreamed, living in the city, gardening would ever provide more than that.

After seeing the lawn-free houses in my neighborhood, I knew I could do more, but how would I find the time or the skill to create something of this magnitude? And after I created it, how would I maintain it?  Oh, and what about the part where I would actually have to talk to and get to know my new neighbors? Talk about overwhelming. Would the woman next door with the shiny blue tensil and abnormally large starfish hanging in her window really embrace me growing raspberries in her front yard? And could my gentle sloping, grassy front lawn actually be transformed into an edible oasis? My mind was racing.

I’ve come to find out that I am not alone in my concerns or desires. With the downturn in the economy and a nutrition crisis staring us in the face, urban farming is becoming an increasingly popular solution. With the limitations of time and space, people are using creativity and resourcefulness to bring fresh food to the city.

In North Portland, Alice Lasher’s front yard spills over with edible items. At her day job, she works at the fire department and is often found teaching and discussing topics related to food security.  At home, she answers her concern for these issues with a local approach.

Her yard speaks directly to my stomach: Asian pears, tomatoes, broccoli, kale, strawberries and so on. Every inch of earth is growing something. She started her personal “Food Not Lawns” endeavor at this house just over two years ago and since has expanded her efforts to include two other garden spaces in her neighbor’s yard.

**continued