I never thought I'd be so thrilled to see my kitchen waste transform into gardener's gold...i.e. compost.
I started a compost pile in my backyard some months ago and nothing happened. Nada.
I was doing it wrong, not moisturizing it (yes they need moisturizing too), turning the pile, all that sort of thing. And so all I had was a growing pile of garbage in a big black plastic (its recycled, thank you very much) box in our backyard. Visions of raccoons and badgers raiding the garage and wreaking havoc on our convertible began to make all efforts to go green seem like a bad idea.
Then wisdom struck. I thought of the Internet, the solution for all acts of idiocy. And I found a video-- composting 101. I turned the pile, added water, compost accelerator (it contains bone meal and smells a bit like the back of a butcher shop but its all good) and suddenly in the middle of all the veggie waste there it was, brown dirt like compost is supposed to look!
I have never been more thrilled. You see, I can recycle all I want but creating greenery just isn't my thing. I cannot grow a plant to save my life. If a plant (like my herbs do) survives my care, it's purely because of its own will power and ability to make it against all odds.
And now having (semi) created this wonderful gardener's gold, I feel like a demi-god of all things green. Of course that high lasted not too long since whenever it rains and the pile gets soggy, it looks and smells like garbage all over again. My brother says it is a hazardous thing I have growing in my backyard. I am going to have to consult someone who knows. Time to go back to that all encompassing ocean of knowledge: Wikipedia. (just kidding)
Now if only I could figure out how to stop buying cereal in boxes and milk in cartons so I can reduce that (albeit recyclable) waste, I'd rule.
Speaking of my drop in the ocean, the other day, I met the dynamic owner of a Chicago boutique, Pivot. Jessa Brinkmeyer. This is Chicago's first eco boutique and is trendy, fashionable and (kinda) affordable depending on what you pick. But what struck me was the owner. All of 24, the young woman is so admirable. At 24, I was a complete idiot, as blind and unaware as can possibly be. And worse, I thought I knew all the answers. And here I saw this person who also recently conducted an exhibition for sustainable goods for the home and more and made it look like such a big event. She isn't my friend or anything but given that my other goal besides being published by the year 2300, is to do my bit to make the world more earth friendly by influencing people to use less plastic and paper and so on, I was glad to find a hero even though she is young enough to be my offspring (almost). Get off the soap box, you say? In a minute.
So here's my list of easy things to do (besides, the stuff everyone knows like compact florescent bulbs) to be earth friendly even if one can't be on a higher plane and compost ;-)
1. No styrofoam please! I beg you.
2. Cloth napkins, cleaning cloths etc or barring that recycled bounty type paper.
3. Less dryer time. Only people in the US use the dryer so much, I was surprised to learn. Londoners don't even own them.
4. If you must use these, use biodegradable utensils
5. Turn off water more often. Don't keep the water running while brushing. Duh.
Ok, ok, I'll save power now by stopping this lame (but useful :-) list here and switch off my machine.
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