How to keep animals out of your compost

EarthTalk is a Q&A column from E/The Environmental Magazine

Dear EarthTalk: My husband and I want to start a garden this year. I really want to make compost from leftover food scraps and yard materials. He says it will attract unwanted animals, and refuses to agree to it. Is he right? If so, how do we deal with that issue in a green-friendly, non-lethal way? -- Carmen Veurink, Grand Rapids, MI

It's true that outdoor compost piles and bins can be a draw for wildlife — be it bears, rats, raccoons, skunks, opossums or some other creatures of the night — but there are ways to minimize the attraction. For one, make sure everyone in your household knows to keep meat, bones, fish, fat and dairy out of the compost. Not only will these items "overheat" the compost pile, they'll also stink it up and attract animals.

Otherwise, home composters should keep in mind that critters aren't actually eating the compost but are sifting through it to find fresh edible kitchen or garden scraps. To discourage animals, the website OrganicGardening.com recommends mixing kitchen garbage with soil or wood ashes before burying it in the hot center of your compost pile. Washington State's Department of Fish and Wildlife recommends not putting any food scraps in open compost piles, but says that if you must, bury them under at least eight inches of soil and then place a wire mesh barrier over the top held in place with a heavy object or two.

Putting your compost pile in a pest-proof container is another way to prevent tampering with your precious organic soil-to-be. Compost tumblers are popular because they mix and aerate by just being turned occasionally, and they keep raccoons, rats, dogs and other interlopers at bay. Otherwise, compost bins with wire tops or sealed lids work well too, but require a little more manual labor in terms of stirring.

Of course, another option would be to make the compost indoors using a worm bin. You can still put kitchen scraps in just like in a bigger outdoor compost pile, but without the worry of attracting wildlife. The website Instructables.com offers instructions for how to create your own worm composting bin. Another good source is the blog One-Change.com, which offers a step-by-step guide to the process.

The long and short of it is that if you know what you're doing, composting can be a rewarding, environmentally friendly and pest-free experience. For some great tips on how to get started, visit the website Composting101.com, a comprehensive and free guide for the home gardener on what to do and how to do it. Also, some forward-thinking cities such as Seattle are picking up food scraps with yard waste at the curbside along with garbage collection, and making huge amounts of commercially viable compost out of it. If your city or town offers a similar program you might want to consider saving yourself the trouble of doing it at home for the common good.

One more thing to keep in mind is that the garden itself may attract as much if not more wildlife than some food scraps in a compost pile. Strategically placed fencing and wire mesh can frustrate some critters enough to keep them moving along, but you can be sure some of your neighborhood wildlife will reap the harvest that you've sown. And as long as they leave enough for you, who can't live with that?

More from The Daily Green

• The Urban Compost Conundrum
• Falling in Love Over Compost
• Learn These 7 Habits of Great Gardeners BEFORE Spring!
• Ya Gonna Eat That? Worms Will
• Leaf It for Compost

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‘Grow Your Own Drugs’: A perfect guide for the recreational user

My enthusiasm for gardening normally peaks right about now for the year. It's triggered by the first prematurely warm days of spring and the stack of colorful seed and garden catalogs stockpiled on the nightstand for my bedtime reading. I fall asleep dreaming of my perfect garden: one filled with eggplants bigger than my head and bordered by neatly spaced rows of zinnias in every color of the Crayola 64 pack.

But it's always all downhill from here. When I actually stick the spade in the ground for the first time every year, I'm reminded that my clay soil isn't nearly as easily tilled as the pillow-soft-loamy-stuff they always picture in the catalogs. Then, when things finally start to sprout, The Great Rabbit Wars begin. I start dreaming less about my forthcoming meals of braised carrots, and more about braised rabbit, served with carrot stubs.

By the 100-degree days of July -- when the weeds have officially overpowered everything I so carefully planted in neat little string-lined rows with the seed packets stuck on sticks to mark them -- I've pretty much had my fill of gardening for the year. Yep, I'm at best a recreational user when it comes to gardening.

But this year my gardening enthusiasm is really revved-up by a terrific new book I just read called Grow Your Own Drugs, by James Wong. Wong was trained at the Royal Botanical Gardens (Kew, England) in "Ethnobotany" -- that's the study of "plant lore and customs."

Wong writes in the introduction to his book:

"... this perception of plants as purely ornamental objects is a strange cultural anomaly that has existed in only one civilization in history -- our own (i.e. modern day western culture). In every other culture, the plants that surround us are a living supermarket, pharmacy, a home improvement center, and even a liquor store -- all rolled into one."

That was enough to hook me. Wong gives practical advice and all-natural recipes for tapping the health benefit of plants -- many of which you can easily grow yourself -- for everything from curing athlete's foot and cold sores to preventing bad breath and flatulence (how's that for beginning to end?) I particularly appreciate the final chapter, an authoritative (and colorful) guide to the "Top 100 Medicinal Plants" you should consider growing to make herbal remedies from your own garden.

Even though affordable healthcare is apparently (finally!) on its way here in the U.S., I'm going to hedge my bets this summer and plant a few containers filled with Wong's "Top 10 Medicinal Herbs": chamomille (indigestion), echinacea (colds/flu), johnny-jump-up (anti-inflammatory), lavender (pain), lemon balm (anxiety), marigold (sunburn), peppermint (headaches), rosemary (memory), sage (coughs/congestion), St. John's wort (antidepressant).

With the help of Grow Your Own Drugs, I'm hoping that my gardening high will survive even the Cutworm Invasion this year and make it all the way to the first frost of fall.

 

More from The Daily Green

• 12 Natural Remedies for Common Ailments
• How to Start a Garden in 9 Easy Steps
• 10 Surprising Uses for Vodka
• 10 Easy Recipes for DIY Natural Beauty Products
• Real People Making a Difference

Jeff Yeager is the author of the book The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches. His Website is www.UltimateCheapskate.com.

Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc

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Five tips to green your next party

Last year, I  threw a birthday party for my father, and while the event made him all smiles, I could see how a traditional party can put a big sad face on the planet with all the gift wrapping, decorations, and food ordering,. I got to thinking about how many birthday parties must be thrown for kids and adults every year and how much waste we create celebrating the people we love. So I created this list of easy tips for a more eco-friendly event.

 

Invitations

Paying for paper invites and postage is so 2001! Online and email is the way to go these days. Evite is a great way to invite people to an event -- it's free and easy to set up. Facebook also has an event invite feature.

If you use Outlook, Microsoft Office Online offers lots of free email party invite templates, and Yahoo! Mail has a nifty Pingg invitation app to design professional-looking invitations right in your mail program. Yahoo! Mail also has a variety of fun backgrounds and font choices to spice up a regular email.

 

Gift wrap

Challenge yourself not to buy any new gift wrap paper and rethink ways to wrap. Look around your house and see what can be repurposed -- those stacks of newspapers and magazines can make excellent, creative wrap. Save the fronts of birthday and holiday cards and make a collage. A lone pillowcase that no longer matches your sheets can be repurposed into a gift bag with the help of a ribbon. A paper grocery bag can be cut to fit and decorated on the blank side with glitter pens.

If you feel your creative skills really don't cut it, look for gift wrap made from recycled paper that is also recyclable when you're done. Be sure to save the ribbon, bows, and paper that doesn't get too torn or crumpled for reuse. Gift bags are also great reusable options.

Search for gift wrap made from recycled paper.

 

Gifts

Choose something the recipient can use, instead of giving useless clutter. How many cutesy trinkets or silly gag gifts does a person need? Most of those end up sitting on someone's shelf collecting dust until they are tossed in a landfill.

For adults, try giving gadgets that do something useful or save them money, or give gift cards/certificates that can used on practical items or a wonderful experience such as movies, gas, maid service, a massage, a class, or a dinner at a favorite restaurant. You could also consider a donation in a person's name to a charity you know the recipient is passionate about.

For kids, party stores would love you to fill up your goodie bags with plastic do-dads and noise makers. Instead, opt for something the little ones can use to get their minds and bodies working such as art supplies, educational games, or sports gear.

Look for gift ideas on the Yahoo! Green Gift Guide.

 

Food

While the party may be focused on fun and socializing, everyone will appreciate a little something to nosh on, so plan to serve a few light and healthy snacks. Fruit, nuts, and appetizers should suffice.

Shop local by purchasing ingredients from your nearby farmer's market. If the neighborhood natural food market is more convenient, check out the books filled with recipes using the unique foods found in both Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.

If you don't have time to pull this off, consider catering because organic options are now widely available. Or try the organic pizza menu from the Z Pizza chain. And don't forget the cake!

Search for healthy party appetizer recipes.

Search for organic cake recipes.

Search for organic catering.

 

Set up and decor

Use real plates and utensils instead of paper and plastic disposables. If you have kids and know you'll be having birthday parties every year until they hit their teens, invest in a stack of colorful plates that you'll be able to reuse for every party. They'll know that special set is just for them on their special day.

The same goes for decorations. It may be worth making one trip to the party store for some streamers and cardboard cutouts if you plan to keep them and reuse them (go for generic themes such as stars or color schemes). But skip the balloons -- the material is treated with toxins, and once deflated, they are dangerous if ingested by wildlife.

So party on, with an event that leaves everyone happy, especially the planet.

Check out Yahoo! Green on Twitter and Facebook.

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