Much like the name of an unborn child, I've nursed a dream for "someday when we own a house" for a few years now. I did my research. I discussed it with my husband. Otherwise though, I kept it pretty quiet for fear that I would get talked out of it. A few months after moving in though, I was ready to finally move forward. So, you're probably wondering what crazy thing I've gotten myself into now.
Composting.
Yes, that's right, the brilliant science of attempting to turn our trash back into dirt. For me, it's really just the next logical step for someone who wants to reduce their environmental impact. Growing up, my house was a waste-not-want-not kind of place. Our town had more categories of recycling than anyplace I have ever lived. Suffice to say, I have a deep appreciation for my current access to single stream recycling that gets picked up at my curb. (I have some concerns about the efficacy of single stream but there's not a lot I can do about that at the moment.) If your trash was found to have any of the items included in over 20 different recycling categories in it, you received a fine and then the town stopped picking up your trash. So, out of very ingrained, very compulsory, habit, recycling is something I take pretty seriously. Nothing else in our house went to waste either though. If clothes, sheets, and towels were too ratty to be donated, then they became rags and painting drop-clothes that we proceeded to use for another 10 to 20 years to come. (Really, really not kidding. If I enlist my Mom's help, I'm sure she can find rags that out-date me.)
So, after lots of research, I finally settled on a tumble style composter. We don't have the room on our property for a compost pile. They're great if they can be kept far from the house and less great if the only place you have available to put it is right behind your garage. Lots of compost bins are essentially a trash can with one end open to the dirt below and the other end latched so that material can be added but critters are kept out. I thought about this one long and hard because the previous owners left behind a lot of ratty trash cans and I would have been happy to re-purpose one of them. (There are also inexpensive, but slightly fancier mesh versions.) The lack of backyard space still posed a big problem though and my husband looked distinctly unhappy about the prospect. So, a tumbler won out. It's fairly compact, closed to critters, and much more movable than the other types of composters. Also, I don't have to get a shovel and turn the pile over by hand (instead you roll the bin) and I don't have to worry about "layering" different material types to make sure everything is well distributed.
A few weekends ago found us standing in Home Depot trying to find composters. I knew they had them in stock because I had checked in advance. One person told us that they were with ladders. I didn't even bother checking up on that lead because I was sure that not only were they not with the ladders but that the person I asked probably didn't know what a compost bin was to begin with. We headed to garden instead. After some fruitless searching, I finally asked another employee. Who had to ask yet another employee. Eventually we were directed down an aisle that had previously been closed off for re-stocking. No wonder we couldn't find it. The guy pointed me to the composters and then asked if I had done this before. I told him I hadn't and he snorted and walked away. Okay, fair enough. I might be crazy but that's okay.
I picked out the least dirty of the clearly rarely touched boxes and we headed home. Way too many screws and a few hours of trading on and off with my husband later and we had produced a composter. I started nervously making contributions the next day. I won't have a solid answer on how well this experience has gone for at least a few months but so far it's going pretty well. I've been surprised that friends visiting the house very quickly started asking what should be set aside for compost and what should go into the trash. I don't think my husband is anywhere near as enthusiastic as I am about our backyard project (that's okay, he has his own pool chemistry project to contend with) but he's glad that I'm excited, which is really all I can ask for.
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