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Composting
Families Won't Let Cold Weather Slow Them Down
By Darci
Clark – For the Sun
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Much
like our forest friends gathering their food cache for winter,
our Compost Quest families have found
October to be a time for yard cleanup and storage. The final
raking of leaves has produced a bounty of dry yard waste that
is literally too valuable to throw away. Similar to a hard-earned
stash of nuts and seeds, setting aside a few bags of this dry
carbon-rich ‘brown’ organic material now will sustain
the active composter over the winter and set up a more productive
spring.
Perhaps many of you are wondering what composting has to do
with snow and cold, as the idea of composting would seem to
more naturally follow our northern growing season. This might
be true if only our households also stopped producing waste
until things warmed up. Last month, I encouraged readers to
practice not only the 3R’s, but to add a fourth –
rethink. This willingness to rethink how we treat our kitchen
and yard waste has never been more valid than when we composters
find winter around the corner.
Before I move on to such seasonal issues in this seventh serial
installment, I will give a very quick recap for readers just
joining us. Compost Quest is a good-natured
local version of ‘Enviro-Survivor’ where we share
the monthly experiences of two average Westman families –
one urban and one rural – as they learn the environmental
and economic benefits of incorporating backyard composting into
already busy lives. The breakdown of organic waste unnecessarily
buried in our landfills produces so much methane gas that our
bad waste habits now contribute at least as much to the greenhouse
gas crisis as driving our cars. The management of landfills
and/or private trips to the dump will also become increasingly
‘taxing’. If we can compost and recycle most of
our household waste, we can save money now and hand a healthier
world to future generations.
On our backyard-composting front, we find both rural and urban
families to now be old hats at the process. Next month we will
take a look back at what was key to their successes, including
what proved unique to urban and rural environments, but, for
now, we will check out what has changed with the recent arrival
of cold weather.
Our farm family has had a productive month, although this also
means they must deal with yard waste in much larger quantities
than their city counterparts. Small scale backyard composting
has not proven to be the most efficient method out in the country,
but our rural folks have successfully combined this method with
other strategies like mulching, grass cycling and soil incorporation.
With much of their kitchen waste supplementing stock and pet
feed, the family will continue this practical approach over
the winter and let nature finish curing the current batch of
yard waste compost in their recycled pallet bin. Regardless
of method, the important factor is that they are not bagging
and carting organic waste to the landfill, instead choosing
to effectively recycle and reintroduce nutrient rich organic
material vital to the maintenance of healthy soil.
Our city household’s nine-year-old is still enthusiastic
about the idea of composting, but he and his sisters are becoming
less thrilled with making a daily trip to the back of the yard
in the cold and dark. Mom and Dad welcomed a few tips on how
to modify their routine to maintain this spirit and prevent
composting from becoming a chore.
 We first
suggested that they could move their composter beside their
back deck for the winter so that it would only be a step or
two away. Since they want to leave their composter where it
is, another way to accomplish the same feat would be to get
a big plastic garbage can with a tight fitting lid, drill a
few holes in it and use it as a simple holding unit until the
warmer weather makes going to the far fence area more appealing.
We also suggested keeping another couple of cans (or a few sealed
bags) of dry materials handy to a temporary composter to ensure
that fresh green kitchen waste was still regularly covered to
prevent odors from developing as the weather warms up.
Kitchen waste can also be gradually added to a covered ice cream
pail and stored in the freezer (clearly marked so it is not
recycled as soup!), then taken out to the composter when the
weather conditions make a trip to the back of the yard more
convenient. Whatever way they choose, this family is determined
that winter won’t slow them down.
Stay tuned next month as our families reflect back over their
time in the eco-spotlight and make plans to enjoy a well-earned
break at the Victoria Inn poolside. We will also reveal their
semi-secret identities and learn of their composting plans for
the future.
Please call us at 727-5675 if you are interested in composting
information or for copies of previous columns. Composting
101 provides presentations, demonstration workshops
and educational material to help make backyard composting second
nature.
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