Compost – What Am I Waiting For?

I have been wanting an outdoor compost bin for years. Recently, I had decided that I would buy one for either my birthday or with the earnings from my new book. However, Sunday morning I asked myself, “What am I waiting for?” I was feeling like today was just as good a day as any to buy a composter. So we made a family trip to the hardware store and a family purchase of a very simple compost unit. Funny enough my 5 year old son was super excited about the purchase. At his school they compost snack and lunch scraps so he is very familiar with composting. He soon decided that his new job at home would be being in charge of taking out the compost. He even sat with our compost collecting bucket at the table Monday morning and peeled his clementine over it with great enthusiasm. It was cute and made me smile. You know how it is for a kid, getting something new and wanting to use it right away.

I can remember my grandmother having a compost pile at her house and hauling the stinky bucket she kept under her sink down to dump it. At our house we would occasionally collect kitchen scraps, mostly fruits and vegetables, and chuck them out into the weeds. That could be kind of fun, to see how far I could pitch the watermelon rinds. These impressions that were made on me as a child I’m sure have been an influence for the kindly almost nostalgic feeling of now having our own family compost bin. It will be fun to see how long it takes to start filling it up and to watch over time as it turns to that beautiful black dirt.

Silly as it sounds I do have to say looking out from my dinning room window and seeing that brand new compost bin does kind of give me that warm fuzzy feeling. Like I know I am doing something right. Good for the planet and good for my family. And teaching my kids to participate will make a memory for them that might also carry capacity to be an influence later on in their life.