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My friend Joey came over today and we shot a quick little overview to vermicomposting or worm composting. Sorry it took so long, but here it is in all it's rushed glory. I figured this was a better way to communicate right now than typing as the ear thing makes it hard to concentrate for too long. I'm no expert but glad to share what i've learned so I hope this helps a bit.
Dave
Friday, February 8, 2008
Worm Composting - The Video
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Day 37 - Wednesday 2/6/08
Today's Haul:
- 1 plastic pasta bag - recycle
- 3 pieces of chewed gum in wrappers - garbage
- 4 packets sugar - worms
- 2 used q-tips - worms
- 3 paper towels - worms
- 1 plastic cover from doctors thermometer - garbage
Day 36 - Tuesday 2/5/04
Today's Haul:
- 1 cardboard blintz box - recycle
- 1 foam fish tray PS 6 - recycle
- 1 plasticy "I Voted" sticker - saved on the wall like always
- 1 tin wrapper from gum stick - garbage
- 2 lollipop wrappers - grabage
- 2 lollipop sticks - worms
- 2 paper towels - worms
- 1 receipt - worms
- 1 egg carton - repurposed for more eggs
- 1 plastic ring from glass milk bottle - recycle
- 3 pieces chewed gum in wrappers - garbage
- 1 saran wrap from fish - discarded due to health reasons
Day 35 - Monday 2/4/08
Todays Haul:
- 1 cardboard box of fish sticks (what can i say, I eat with/like the kids) - recycling
- 1 plastic bag from fish sticks - recycling
- 1 can from concentated apple juice w/ends - recycling
- 2 paper towels - worms
- 1 m&ms package - garbage
- 1 outer tinfoil package from wrigleys gum pack - garbage
- 1 inner sleeve from gum package - worms
- 1 piece of scrap paper - worms
- 1 piece used dental floss - garbage
- 1 piece chewed gum in wrapper - garbage
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
One Month Down, 11 To Go
I had hoped to do this last week but just didn't have the mental or physical energy to deal with it. I figure that each month I'll try and do a wrap up of things that I've come across, what I've noticed, etc. So here goes.
This being the first month I really didn't know what to expect as I kind of jumped feet first into the whole thing and didn't completely think everything through. I'm assuming part of that is self preservation as I may have come to my senses and not gone through with it had I considered things a bit more. Having said that, I'm extremely happy with how things are going at this point (except of course for illnesses, but they too shall pass).
For starters, the general response from all of you has been overwhelming and it really feels great to know that so many folks out there have similar concerns. I have learned from many of you, and from the sounds of it, some of you have picked up a thing or two here as well. Totally rocks!
I've mentioned this before but overall I am fairly shocked by how little waste I have generated, but at the same time, amazed that I generate as much recycling as I do. I think a lot of this has to do with making larger meals which can be eaten over several days/meals, and generally not being too picky about what I eat. Maybe that's a good thing and maybe that's a bad thing, but for purposes of this little experiment it seems to be working well.
I've been very psyched to tackle a few problems so far, mainly bread, fish, juice, and coffee. While things may pop up occasionally that don't fit the mold I set, this has more to do with the fact that I don't always do the shopping and sometimes for convenience, other choices will be made. I realize that these four problems are relatively small, but I am reminded of a great book on writing called "Bird By Bird" that my friend Rocky loaned to me a while back. It's about a kid who is overwhelmed by a report he has to do on birds because there are so many, so his mom tells him to just take them bird by bird, start with one, move to the next, and so on. I think that applies here.
I originally took on this project to save everything to see how much I generate in a year. However, now that I am one month into it, I think the plan is to see how little I can generate in a year. Not by denying myself mind you, but by taking things "bird by bird" and striking one problem off at a time until (hopefully) there's nothing left. Probably not going to get there, but you never know until you try right? At any rate, if I can keep my "garbage" to that one box for a few more months, I'll be really psyched.
Dave
Week 5 Pictures
I defininitely need to do a little organization but things seem to be holding fine. At the absolute lower left corner you may be able to see a little silver box. I bought a used paper shredder on craigslist for $10 so the worm shredding will be much easier as I was doing it by hand (not sure why that didn't occur to me sooner). Everything is still smelling fine, basement musty but nothing bad. I tend to sniff down there a bit cuz i figure that'll be the first heads up I have a problem (well other than saving my garbage anyway).
A few more bottles added but nothing serious. The main additions I noticed I was making were the kids juice bottles, which I tend to drink from as well when they are out of the fridge. I realized that when we were kids we made juice from frozen concentrate so from now on, that's the way we'll be going which should cut down on the bulk considerably.
The bags (bag, cardboard and paper) don't seem to be growing tremendously. That said, I have a backlog of paper (mostly mail stuff) up in my office which should head down there soon. This darn ear thing has just pushed everything back as I can't work for long periods of time.
Not too much new in the recycle box. I think I added a few things. But then again, with being sick and all this was a slow week.
The garbage is still pretty low which I'm happy about. Other than the dog food bag, this was probably a bigger week than most due to the medical waste. It's amazing how much packaging goes with most of these drugs. I guess health aspects can't be argued much but it does make you wonder.Day 34 - 2/3/08
Today's Haul:
- 1 plasticoated cardboard drug box - garbage
- 1 bundle of gauze from medicine bottle - repurpose
- 2 pieces of used gum in wrapper - garbage
- 1 paper gum wrapper - worms
- 1 tea bag w/paper wrapper - worms
- 1 cardboard drug "card" with embedded tinfoil - garbage
- 1 plastic drug bottle - repurpose
- 3 paper drug info sheets - worms
- 1 plastic lemonade bottle - recycle
- 1 cardboard pasta box - recycle
- 1 small plastic medicine vial - garbage
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