Green Living

I know it's just a buzzword but really, who among us hasn't felt the need to "go green." We all do what we can I suppose, but many of us are somewhat limited as to what is feasible for us. I'm not going to be living in a yurt off the grid anytime soon, and I don't have the money to convert my car over to biodeisel, but I do what I can. We live in a small house, drive somewhat fuel efficient cars, buy locally grown/made products and garden organically. But the one thing I really love is our compost pile. Yes, I love compost. There is nothing better than knowing that all of our garbage is not going to a landfill, it is going back to the earth.

In fact, G. often uses it as an excuse not to finish his peanut butter sandwich. He throws it in the compost bucket saying, "It's okay, Mom, I'm helping the earth." Now, that's not quite what I had in mind, but still...


Here is a not so good picture of our compost pile(s). We use a two pile method - we throw our greens and browns onto one pile while the other one sits and decomposes. I turn them every few weeks, and when the pile that is not active looks fairly ready, I sift it and take out the big things (like corn cobs) and throw them onto the active pile.


Pretty soon I have a lovely pile of compost to add to the garden. I don't pay too much attention to the amount of greens vs. browns, but if it seems a bit smelly I add more browns or some dirt to help it along.




Knowing that our garbage adds to the beauty of our garden is very satisfying.


This website seems to have some good information about how to start and maintain a compost pile.

There are many more things I am also trying to change. Juice boxes and individually packaged snacks are big no-no's for me now. I try to make as many snacks for the kids as I can because even if I buy the "organic" snacks, the trash still ends up in a landfill. And I am one of the freaks who brings their cloth bags to the grocery store - I even bring them to Target and Ocean State Job Lot.

So if you haven't tried composting, give it a try - it's a lot easier than you think!