I'm debating the purchase of an Urban Compost Tumbler. Here at home in Forest Hills I can position the composter in a corner on the front porch. It may even take me step closer to my other project. I've always wanted to put in a small garden out in the backyard. It's a small green space and some of the neighbors have planted tomatoes and such in their yards. Unfortunately I've never had much of a green thumb. Growing up here in the city I developed a rather large aversion for dirt and worms. Lying on the grass in the front yard looking at the clouds was very different from digging in the dirt with the worms and the spiders. Several years in Colorado have cured me of my irrational fear of dirt (my fear of spiders is greatly diminished but still remains). That leaves only my fear of commitment, a garden seems like a rather large responsibility, especially since I don't know how long I'll be here. It could be weeks or years. Who will take care of my garden when I'm gone? Will it be worth the efforts to put it in if I won't be there to enjoy the results?
When we worked in Maine we had the luxury of a gardener. She tended to the grounds at the hotel and one of her responsibilities was a garden for the kitchen. There were also a couple of cherry trees but the birds beat us to the fruit, leaving just a few sickly looking cherries for human consumption. The garden was an asset and in return for her efforts, we composted all of the kitchen waste. In fact we generated so much kitchen waste that her husband was forced to build a three bin composting system in order to handle the excess. It was great lesson for us to actually see the vast quantities of recyclable waste products that emerged from our kitchen.
In Colorado, composting and recycling were out of the question. At various times members of our staff made the effort to try and recycle the huge amounts of waste on their own, but the lack of support quickly stifled these efforts. The recycling center was at the far end of town town and anyone wishing to recycle was to use their own time and their own vehicles to do so. Even the most ardent environmentalists quickly became bitter and disillusioned by the amount of work involved and the lack of interest at the top level. Frankly any efforts were viewed as a waste of time. The feeling was that there was a perfectly acceptable dump on the property and no need to transport large quantities of garbage to town. It was strange to be in such a beautiful wilderness where people cared so little about protecting and preserving the environment.
Now that we're back in the kitchen I am once again confronted by the waste that comes from coffee grinds and vegetable peelings. So I'm researching composters. I know myself well enough to realize that I won't be donning boots and taking a shovel to a compost pile in the backyard. Instead any such endeavor would probably attract the prolific population of squirrels that reside in the neighborhood, in turn bringing the wrath of our neighbors down on my head. Alternatively Alex would end up having to take care of it and I'd have to deal with his long-suffering huffing every time he had to go deal with my project. It's better to just get something that I can handle myself.
The Urban Compost Tumbler seems like a good solution. Keeping it on the porch will be relatively convenient. Since it will right by the front door, filling it and giving it a spin should not be a hardship for anyone walking through the door. I'll be able to utilize the compost in the front and backyards and I'm sue I can find someone to give it to if we generate too much. Best of all, it's supposed to work relatively quickly so we may have a fighting chance of keeping up with the green waste that emerges from our kitchen. My question is will it actually work? If anyone out there has had any experience with this model or can recommend any other composters I'd appreciate the input. I'd like to get our composting program up and running, but if I'm going to invest in a composter, they're not inexpensive, I'd like to make sure that it actually works. Green is good but green and functional is better.
