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About the Header Image: Idlebrook Wendy Darling Evensen "Wendy" one of our four Labrador Retrievers.

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Saturday, March 20, 2010

Cardinals and Cantaloupe Seeds and Compost Bins

 Good morning,

A day or so ago, after emptying the container we keep in the kitchen to collect items to go to the compost bin, I looked out the back door and saw a beautiful cardinal helping himself to cantaloupe seeds.  I had my baby camera in my pocket and was so happy it captured that little guy even shooting through a window.  The images surely aren't perfect, but are nice to have.

The afternoon sun through the trees and the missing leaves on the bushes between the house and the compost bins allowed for these images to be taken from about 50 feet away. In a couple of weeks we won't be able to see the bins from the house because of all of the leaves on the bushes.

I put those three compost bins out there when we moved into this house in 1979.  It wasn't so much an environmental thing as it was a good-compost-for-the-flowers thing.

The rules for what go into the bins is "if it came from the earth, it goes back to the earth."   The kids helped so we all were involved in composting.

It's funny that when I put the bins out and started collecting yard clippings and kitchen vegetable waste, people thought I was nuts.  "Why are you doing that?"  "Won't it stink?"  "What will you do with that stuff?" 

The answers to the questions are:

1.  I'm doing it to recycle all the good nutrients that will make my flowers beautiful.


2.  No, it doesn't stink - there is only vegetable matter in there.

3.  These flowers are what I do with it.  :)

There are three bins, one each for rare, medium, and well done compost.  There's good drainage, plenty of rain to keep them wet, and we turn them as often as the mood strikes us.

The result is black gold for the garden and beautiful flowers.


Happy Spring!

Lois

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2 comments:

River Glorious said...

I like the "black gold" phrase. I would like to compost, but hubby seems to think everything should either be flowering or tossed away, no heaps anywhere. :)

The flower is beautiful, thanks for sharing.

Ambar

Lois Evensen said...

Thank you, Ambar, for your kind words. :) You can compost out of sight by using a barrel with holes in the bottom and sides. Perhaps that would meet with Hubby's approval? :) Lois