HeapsForHope

Well, Well, Well,

Here we find ourselves! This will be my last and final blog! Sad yes I know but I think you will all get through! OK on a more serious note! I have loved reading all of your comments! Thank you to everyone who shown interest! I hope I have inspired some of you to make your own compost. It is super easy and is just really good all around. It cuts back on waste in general and then you can turn around and put it to good use for the earth. I will be using mine for a garden this summer, I have always wanted to plant some flowers here I miss it from back home as well as veggies and things to be more self sustainable!

This project has been a lot of fun and a learning experience! I have learned that some people are just thick headed and there is little we can do to change their minds about helping the earth. However I have also learned that no matter how much people tell you that you won’t make a difference you have to believe that you can! Can you imagine if everyone that is doing just a little let people get to them and gave up! That would end up being an enormous amount of back tracking for the earth and all their efforts!

So to everyone blogging now I am loving all your ides and remember you do make a difference.

During my project and class so far I have learned and relearned a lot about myself! Just yesterday I found myself at Target and there were the cutest little grow kits. They are little pots that have seeds in them already and you water them. You can grow lots of things tomatoes, oregano, chives, and some different kinds of flowers. So I bought the food ones. I am just more aware of things and I love to garden I just have lost sight of that since I have been living here! So thank you to all the other inspiring blogs!

I am more aware of products and processes and the earth in general. There is HOPE!!!
If it were not for this class I would never thought of our world in such a holistic way I have been living with my head in the sand and thinking there was nothing I can do but there is we just need to look more at the root of the problem. Start with yourself and work from there!!!

Signing off!
heapsforhope

HeapsForHope

Ello!! how have we all been??? Everyone survived spring break I hope! I know I did, I did a whole lot of nothing so I will live vi curiously through all of you!

Anyway I don’t feel there is a lot to report! Just plugging along making my compost all it can be! It’s getting to be a respectable little stink pile! It’s kinda creating a life of its own become part of the family. It sits right by the back door (which is the one I use all the time) so its gets a big hello and a check and shake when I get home! My neighbors probably think I have lost my mind completely, but what can you do. They always seem to be on the front porch when I go out and do my mixing or stirring if you will. I feel like a witch mixing my cauldron! It’s a little humorous!
I have however found myself expanding my collection base! Which is proactive and exciting. I have been collecting stuff from work as well and taking it home to add to the pile. I started noticing how much waste gets thrown away at work for instance when we make coffee and tea! Have you ever seen a restaurant size tea/coffee bag??? They are huge so I have been saving the grinds as well as the spoiled produce. We buy in bulk so there are always a huge amount of lemons and oranges that start to go bad and I have been collecting these as well!!
I finally saw the button to up load pictures so I will get a roommate to help me get one from my camera to the computer and I will hopefully get to show off my work soon.

Now all it needs to do is stay warm and I need to get a day off so I can start preparing for my garden soon. I don’t think the compost is done yet but I have a feeling it could be soon and I want to plants some flowers and a tomato plant or something productive in that manner! Let me know if you have any good ideas!

Till next time!!

Hope fully if my compost is good enough and I get somethings planted in enough time I canbe more sustainable this summer. With my own veggies hopefully and flowers for the house to briten things up so I don’t have to get them from wal mart. That is the goal really be more self sufficient and not have to got to wal mart. We talk alot about being sustainable is class and it got me thinking and expanding my project after the compost is all done! I am getting excited!!!

HeapsForHope

Hello Hello Hello!!!

Well, How have you all been!? I have been great just school work and compost you know…. the usual! Anyway the weather has been crazy as you all are brutally aware I am sure! I have been telling you all that I wasn’t having much luck with the weather and how it was sort of interfering with my pile but it was actually quite funny the other day when I went to tend the pile. I try and give it a good mixing and check on its moisture about every other day. Anyhow the other day when it was pretty cold and I went to go mix I went out and the pile had frozen!! I keep it close to my back door and when the rain had come off the house it was running straight into it. So that was interesting. About as interesting as a compost pile can get I suppose!
My roommates are good they still aren’t too helpful but at least they have stopped being counter productive. It was getting a little ridiculous for a while I was having to check the trash and what was getting thrown away to make sure nothing was compost material. Feeling like a dumpster diver in your own home is so not what I call fun, but it had to be done they were just being careless! Any hoo they have pretty much stopped throwing any left overs out they keep them in the fridge so I can go through and do it myself. How sweet huh? Well better than nothing at all.
So HOPEFULLY the weather will cooperate with me for a while and it will stay warm so I can get the yard clippings going and then!!!….. I can have a suitable home for some worms! Before now it probably would have been murder. There isn’t too much fun stuff for them just food scraps and paper but hey I’m working on it! slowly but surly!

till next time!

It just shows that if you set your mind to do something anything is possible. I sure didn’t think I would be dumpster diving in my own home when I started this semester but this pile measns something to me and it needs nurished just like the earth and I think if everyone took a class where the truth was so bluntly spelled out for them they would be more careful. I guess this brings up the holistic view once again. People are the problem! Not so far as deep ecology i don’t want to kill them off just want them to HELP!!!

HeapsForHope

Welcome back jack!

Well everyone as you know since I have talked to you all last I have been trying to create a flourishing compost!

Well since this is my first whack at it I think it possibly could be going better or I just had too high of expectations? I can’t say it is going bad I have been adding everything that I can from the dryer lint (p.s. dryer sheets are a no go, just a little tip from me to you, they are just floating around in there) to the molded bread we have. I just don’t feel like there is as much as I had hoped so far. I guess that could be good in a way maybe we don’t have as much waste as I thought?! Although I am still bummed that I still haven’t had a chance to rake my yard for leaves the weather just isn’t cooperating! In addition to the weather not allowing me to rake I mentioned before that it is just not letting my heap stifle! I NEED ROT! I hope though that in the weeks to come I will be able to successfully say I produced my very own compost.
I have been stirring it every other day and I decided about four days ago that it is possibly not getting wet enough (this could also be why it doesn’t smell very bad) I really haven’t gotten this whole thing down pat yet so I decided to give it a drink! Not just any drink we happened to have some old beer that had gone skunkie in our cooler so I decided it couldn’t hurt! Hey I could use all the yeast and moisture I can. I think it is helping! Much easier to mix and it’s all working itself together better. There is some definite brown action in the mix so I guess something is going right! Can’t wait to catch you all up next week in my composting drama! My fiance is supposed to be bringing me a paper shredder from work so I can tell you all about that then to. I wanted to get a pretty good pile going before I added the worms but hopefully I can get that going soon to.
This ties well to this class for me because it is something I have to nurture to get anything in return and that hits home with a lot of what we talk about in class.

So I am sure there is an actually way to do this but I’m a little computer retarded so here is the link where I got most of my ideas and guidelines from! enjoy!! Till next time!

http://www.compostguide.com/

HeapsForHope

Hey ladies and gents!

Well I’m here to catch you all up on my composting!!

Well lets first maybe address some of the concerns that were in your comments.
As far as the smell we haven’t had a problem it has been too cold thankfully and it has not been a problem. However i have a feeling it might be soon. But the websites I have been to have had lots of suggestions about how to reduce that so it isn’t such a problem. Also the critters have not posed a problem yet. So we are good there. I have a lid fro the trash can like you are supposed to so that will keep them at bay (I hope )
I have run into some issues already. They would be just remembering in general to do it. You wouldn’t believe how much of a habit or routine we get into almost like auto pilot when we are throwing things away. And trying to get the roommates to remember is a hassle. But they are excited to help and think it is a good cause so it will all work out in time. Another hang up was the SNOW you are supposed to add organic things like the yard clippings and stuff and layer with the other waste to make it all work together but they are hard to get to with the white stuff covering them up!!! But it is a learning experience and I am still pluggin away so I think it will all work out in the end! I haven’t added the worms yet I wanted to have a bit more of a pile going so they can have a cozy home!! I think once it warms up a bit it will work better also. It is supposed to get “hot” to get it going or the rot in other words so I am still positive and excited to see what I can accomplish!
Even though it is just the beginning I can already tell how much I have changed mentally! Every time (getting better at it) i go to throw something away i think about what else I could be doing with it! It is driving me crazy to see all of this waste that such a small house hold is accumulating and it has made me want to do more! Just think if I were to recycle and reuse more. How much waste I would be preventing.
Well I am just one person but I am doing all I can!!! Till next time when I hopefully will have something even more interesting to share. Keep smiling!

It is funny that in class we talk about how women are the more caring type and actually care about the environment but that is purely circumstancial because my roomates have no desire it seems to help me. I try and try but I feel like I am loosing this battle! Mother nature can not take care of herself so we need to stepm in and do what we can if women don’t care we are in more trouble then I though. I need to work harder to see it my way.

HeapsForHope

Hey guys and gals,

I chose what one person can do for my project! So for the next month you will be getting to hear all about my exciting experience with compost!!! I know you are excited you don’t have to tell me. jk
Anyway i had no idea about composting, what it entailed how to get started or anything. So i started looking into it and there is a lot more to it than one might think.
First of all there are tones of sights out there that have all kinds of recipes and tips. I will be posting more about that later so if anybody gets intrigued or curious and would like to do the same i will tell you the best spots and I’m sure some mishaps and tips of my own along the way.
The reason i was interested in starting a compost was i was disgusted with how much waste my three roommates acquire over the course of a week or even a day really and how much of it are things that are natural or easily degradable. I also thought it would be nice to do something that would give back to the earth that i could see first hand so i decided to turn my trash to a garden in a round about kind of way. When i have finished with my project i will (hopefully) have some awesome fertilizer and it will be just about perfect enough time to start a garden which is something i have always enjoyed but since i have been in college have really put it on the back burner.

• I hope to dramatically reduce the amount of waste from our house.
• Help educate and prove we can make a difference and easily.
• Give back to he earth in the end by planting an awesome garden.

So as i was researching i found so many different ways to compost. I decided to do the “hot” compost and very hands on composting. You don’t really have to do anything when you compost if you don’t want to its up to you but if you let it do its own thing it will take up to two years to be fully finished and that really wasn’t gonna fit in this schedule! So i ready that if you are active enough it can actually be ready as soon as 4 weeks so that is perfect. the great thing about compost is you c an practically put anything in there, even your dryer lint! You know those collegians we all read then leave all over the house? Just shred them up and they are perfect to! Something that really struck me as funny as i was researching was every other page was an advertisement for the “perfect composting containers” and i had to laugh because thats the whole point is trying to reduce reuse and they are trying to sell you glorified trash cans! Anyway I’m sure they work plenty good and maybe better but it steals your thunder of actually having to do it and reduces the amount of consumerism!! I just went in the basement and took the keg shell out of our old trash can and we are up and running!! Most everything is a go into the compost BUT on every single site I went to it said NO meat and NO dairy also NO pet poo!! Just a heads up! You can also add worms. They are perfect on helping break down the food scraps. There was a lot about the traditional compost with the layering and turning then there was a lot about the worm compost. I was wondering if you can combine the two concepts? I didn’t read anything about that yet. So I think I am gonna go for it. Hey they cant hurt I guess.

Well i plan on adding everything that applies and am excited to get back to you about my progress! I am going to have to have a house meeting tomorrow and let everyone in on what you can and can’t add so we can all start helping give back!! Till next time!

Like we always talk about in class if we get to the root of the problem and start being more proactive we will make a difference! All problems have a root source find it!!