Composting

Recognizing that Canadians have done a crap job of looking after our share of the planet I've become greener as the years have passed.  I'm now a reasonably dark shade of green and one of my ecologically minded skills is composting.  My version of composting involves storing fruit and vegetable scraps and other "allowed" biodegradables in a sealed container under the sink.  After a few days, if you've not moved the putrid contents of this vessel to the outdoor composter, things start to gain a life of their own.  Not a pleasant life.

Before the contents become too ripe, they are transferred to the outdoor Earth Machine composter.  This can be very entertaining in December when the patio door is frozen shut.  After prying the door open, out I venture into a minus 30 degree yard, through a snow drift where I manhandle the frozen plastic lid of the composter open.  In order to make this adventure just a bit more extreme, I've put on a pair of shiny soled slippers.  This adds just the right edge to negotiating the icy slope of the back yard with a bucket of rotting slop.  Nothing is composting at minus 30 but I'm green so in goes a new addition to the frozen sludge inside the Earth  Machine.   I scurry back indoors, dig the ice out of the patio door track and force the door shut.  After rinsing out the rotting residue (nice name for an indy band) of the transport vessel I take a deep breath of righteousness and retire to the sofa.

Composting is somewhat different here in the Costa Rican countryside.  I do have a transport vessel for leftover cooking bits and plate scrapings.  What goes in the vessel though is open to whatever will be eaten by the denizens of the jungle located 1 meter from the side of the house.  Land crabs, insects, racoons, monkeys and countless unseen jungle inhabitants are keen to look after our excess.  No lid is required for the transport vessel.  Walk 10 meters into the trees and chuck the contents.  A tip for the novice jungle composter.  Add a bit of water to the transport vessel.  This gives a bit of heft to the contents making it easier to chuck that extra meter or two.  Next morning, its all gone.

I wanted to do a video of the composting technique I'm employing here but Tazy went and discarded this mornings scraps already.  Now that, is something that would never happen back home.