Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, these are the basics of turning your home into a green home. So I've talked about recycling in my previous post, but I think that I'm still talking about it for today as well. I want to discuss Compost.

Composting can be gross, depending on how it is done, and what you place into the compost. Most composting does not include meat being added (either cooked or raw), as that make it smell bad, takes ages to compost, and add a whole new element of different kinds of bugs and health safety for everyone.

I'm not the best at composting, and I live in a townhouse where there are only two little gardens available to me. Not enough room for a true compost heap that my family might create, so I totally cheat. I have a bucket that I keep under my kitchen sink for raw veggie scraps, when it gets filled, I take it to "The Potato House Project"(http://www.facebook.com/potatohouseproject ) and put it in their compost pile.

I have the option of taking it to the dump's bin that takes plant materials, which anyone can do, but I love "The Potato House Project" for the education about the environment and growing. I also like the fact that it is on my way to work as well, *smile*.  Mary Forbes and her husband told me that I could take my scraps there, and gave me a list of rules to go with it.

So here are the rules that I was given: No banana peels, coconut shells, avacodo skins, pineapple skins, or anything with tough skins of the same, as they take longer than a year to break down, and their goal is to be getting newly composted soil out to the garden beds every year. Absolutely NO meat whether cooked or raw, as it has the potential to cause sickness and contaminate the plants that they grow. They prefer no pitts from fruits be tossed in, again the reason being that they take longer than a year to compost. And the final rule I was given: NO cooked foods. I am not sure why this is, but I know there must be a good reason for it. Possibly a rodent attractant (no one wants those in the house!), along with other bugs that might destroy the benificial bugs for composting. As I said, I do not know for certain, so this is speculation, but I guess I will have to read up on this to further my knowledge on the subject.

I also believe that composting is a great way to recycle AND reuse!  ;)

So that you can further YOUR knowledge about "The Potato House Project:, I have included a few interesting links, hope you enjoy!  :)

http://www.michaelkluckner.com/bciw11williamslake.html

http://www.holisticharmony.ca/Pdfs/Potato%20Hs%20Brochure%20Apr2012.pdf

http://www.welcometowilliamslake.ca/index.php/human-interest/76-human-interest/5073-the-potato-house.html

http://welcometowilliamslake.ca/index.php/human-interest/76-human-interest/2773-the-potato-house-of-manuel-and-alcina-quintela.html

http://welcometowilliamslake.ca/index.php/human-interest/76-human-interest/2913-the-potato-house--a-conversation-with-mary-forbes.html