About Dana

My photo
I'm a dichotomy of blue jeans, pretty jewelry, frugalista, and Southern girl living the simple rural life. I want to live my life holistically, thoughtfully, economically, and most of all gratefully, and encourage other women to do the same.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Winter is Ideal for Composting

Today was another fairly warm (for February) but windy day. I decided it was time to get outside and do a little more winter yard maintenance. I tend to do this in dribs and drabbles during the winter because I am a TRUE SOUTHERN GIRL and much prefer 100 degrees to 50 degrees.

I began to rake the dead leaves from my backyard shrub beds to add to my compost pile. Once full just two months ago, the compost pile has shrunk down to about 1/4 full. I think that's good news as far as the composting process is concerned. I did however notice the fruit and vegetable scraps I've been adding to the bin have been disappearing just as fast as I put them out there. Knowing that decomposition is impossible in one night, I suspect the pesky raccoon I caught one night pilfering the bird feeder is having a field day (or night) in my compost bin.

But I digress.

As I was raking the leaves, I decided to try a little trick with my mulch shovel. Instead of all the back breaking raking, I simply decided to shovel up the leaves into my wheelbarrow to transport to the compost bin. Wa-la! It worked beautifully and took me less than half the time it would take to rake it all. The mulch shovel skimmed right over the existing mulch in the shrub beds, leaving it intact while removing the leaves. I'm not lazy, but I sure like easy!

I took it all and dumped it into the compost bin.
Full again!

Then I decided to cut chicken wire to fit the top of the compost bin. I will win, raccoon!

Until the next sunny day,
TCB

No comments:

Post a Comment