Composting: Just Do It!

So I'm a bit of a perfectionist. We've lived in the same house for 5 1/2 years, and for the first four I kept walking around the yard thinking, "What is the best compost set up for me?" I kept walking around and thinking about it, mulling it over, and walking around some more. I mean really - I needed to compost - as it was becoming apparent that a good portion of my garbage was food. So I kept thinking about it.

Compost Caddy

Finally my girlfriend walked up with a compost bin one day and said "just do it already!" (She had already given me a Compost Caddy to put my scraps inside indoors before transferring them outdoors....she's a really good friend!).

Yeah. So I started putting all of my yard scraps in this compost bin outside. And being paranoid, living in Chicago and a half block from the river I thought if I put food scraps in there I'd get rats - even though my girlfriend (who works at Green Home Experts) assured me I wouldn't. Still, I couldn't believe it. So in went the yard waste, but what to do with all the food waste?

It would be simple to get a worm bin. So that's not what I did of course. I started putting my food into the Compost Caddy (last August) and guess what? It filled up. Now what to do? Of course I figured it out. Take the outdoor garbage can, poke holes in the bottom to drain the compost tea, and set it up by the flowers so they can benefit while I make soil in the can!

My 'real' compost bin

The first night the raccoons got in there so I put some bricks in. That solved that problem. Being the excellent researcher I am, I researched nothing. So it was getting a nice sloppy goo. The nearby chrysanthemums seemed to love it. Winter came and I still kept filling it up. Amazingly the goo also shrunk down, and continued to do so. I realized at one point I should be putting some "browns" in there to balance out the nitrogen/carbon levels.

Finally, I was at a green social event and met Amber, one of the original Urban Worm Girls - yes, I really met her in person and she's very nice, even with all her celebrity. She said I might want to cap that garbage can and get back to the real compost bin. Definitely put in more paper and see if you can get soil to develop...and by the way, get a worm bin. This I can quote, "that's the fastest way to make soil."

My 'garbage can' composter

So what did I do? I capped that garbage can (after putting in more paper-like material of course). Yes, I'm determined it will yield me some soil, hopefully by next spring. But my food scraps were piling up again, and my real compost bin was hiding in the midst of a perennial jungle and looking like the leaning tower and I just couldn't get near it without a machete and a guide...so I bought another 32 gallon garbage can and started my experiment all over again. Opposite corner of the garden by my prized purple cone flowers. This time I'll add paper-ish or browns from the beginning! Yes, I'm doing it right - for me at least.


I'll get a worm bin soon...maybe next year.

What's Around the Corner?

I usually don't like to think about the new school year until about 24 hours before it starts, as my children are usually the first to go back - well before Labor Day - in the sweltering, humid days of August in Chicago.

But I've been thinking about the next school year for weeks now, for a few reasons, but  mostly because I am determined this will be the greenest school year ever, not only for my family, but also for our school.

When my children started attending elementary school there was no Earth Day celebration and every once in a while someone would ask me, "what are you planning for Earth Day?" Of course, as a Green Business Owner that's usually my busiest time of year and I am no where near the school or available.

However, this past year we held our first Earth Day Celebration with the help of the 7th grade science class. It was a great event and I was really honored to work with and talk with all the students.

This year I am determined to have multiple events. And as these events take planning, I am thinking about them and about school.

I think the following events are great learning opportunities for children, and I thought I would share them with you as maybe you don't know about these special days and would at least want them on your calendar, so you can attend an event or plan one yourself!

Green Halloween (Sept/Oct)
Food Day (October 24)
America Recycles Day (November 15)
World Water Day (March 22)
Earth Day (April 22)

Beyond these events, I'm also interested in having a green school year. That inspired me to write a small article for the August issue of Mindful Metropolis on some simple ways to have a greener school year.

Do you know any other events everyone should know about? Please leave them in the comments.

Thanks for caring about the environment and each other!

The Lazy Summer

It's been a rather lazy summer for me. Instead of signing up for dozens of events and focusing on work, I took the family to the Grand Canyon and that started a downward spiral of doing as little as possible and enjoying myself, my family, and my house.

When we were at the Grand Canyon there was no wifi and my phone died so I was totally disconnected for a week. No Face, no updates, no twitter, no texting. Instead we had camping, cooking outdoors, hiking, birdwatching, amazing vistas, and serious road tripping. It brought me back to a time that seems like forever ago, before children, before the pressure to work, make deadlines, pay bills. A time when I lived off little and enjoyed life at my own pace.

But who am I kidding? It is all about perspective. At each stage of life you find pressure - things that seem so overwhelming and important at that time, that later look so insignificant. (Remember that pimple just before your High School year book picture? Thought you were going to die!).

BALANCE
A challenge many parents face is finding that elusive balance. Isn't working or pursuing your business goals - isn't that for the good of the family? Isn't it for you? So when people say you need to take time for yourself, isn't going off to events, networking, speaking, etc. for you?

I'm not going to pretend I have the answer. But I've decided this is the lazy summer. I've been playing with my kids, 'working' in my garden (one of my greatest joys), riding my bike to work and ditching my car, reading the 'Harry Potter' series with my kids, taking Zumba and getting back to running, visiting friends and going on dates with my husband.

My 3 kids aren't in camp. I like them to get bored because that's where imagination blossoms (as well as learning to get along, having time to do chores, and I really don't like the pressure of driving them around to meet camp schedules). Right now they are working on a Littlest Pet Shop video. I don't know if they'll pull it off, but they are having fun setting it up and they are happily working together.

Here's to having a wonderful, lazy summer - as lazy as you can be, anyway!

Wash Me Green: Where Green Washing is a Good Thing!

Have you ever thought about all the chemicals and water that go down the drain for a good car wash? Well Tanya Killian has. She didn't like how filthy the car washing process was and thought, "this could be better."

Four months after her inspired thought (in 2007) Killian launched "Wash Me Green," a top notch environmentally responsible cleaning service for cars and boats. Wash Me Green is the exclusive cleaning service for I-GO Cars, washing and detailing their entire fleet every two weeks. And fortunately for the rest of us, the service includes car washing and detailing for consumers.

WHAT IT IS

After Killian's initial thought she started researching and found no one else providing a green cleaning service in the industry. She found a chemist in Colorado who was making eco friendly automotive cleaning products for years in order to meet California Environmental Standards. What she ended up with was a quality car wash using less than a gallon of low pressure water per wash along with biodegradable and no foam detergents that results in no wastewater ever touching the Earth!

This is an amazing feat considering an at home car wash uses 10 gallons of water per minute, with all runoff going untreated into our water system. A typical commercial car wash uses over 11 gallons of water with a drainage system that typically treats the water before it enters our water stream.

SERVICES

Here is a few of the services provided by Wash Me Green:

• Whitewall Tire Shine
• Complete Detailing
• Exterior Only Wash and Wax
• Interior Detailing
• Washme-Envigreen Complete Wash and Wax
  

HOW IT WORKS

You can drop off your car or even have it picked up and returned! Wash Me Green uses several locations around the city and is continually expanding. You can find them in Streeterville, The Loop, New Eastside, Near North, and Rogers Park.

You schedule your appointment through the website and choose your service.

Wash Me Green has several incentives and discounts, including specials for Hybrids and Fuel Efficient cars.

No matter if you wash your car once a week or once every six months, the way your car gets washed can make a huge difference for your environment. Everyone can use some Green Washing.

For more information and to schedule your appointment today visit Wash Me Green at http://www.washmegreen.com/.

 

Alexandra Gnoske is an Environmental Expert. She is the Author/Illustrator of "Loui Saves the Earth" and Founder of RECYCLE ME.

 

FIRST PUBLISHED IN MINDFUL BUSINESS MATTERS AT WWW.MINDFULMETROPOLIS.COM