Eco Mania
A Pallet-able Compost Post
Ever since we started composting back in 2008 at our old house, we’ve enjoyed doing it (snaps for free fertilizer, reusing “trash,” and getting some subtle encouragement to eat more compost-able foods). But our composting adventures have been somewhat limited by the size of the DIY compost container that we made 3 years ago (we did eventually make a second bin, but it’s nothing like those bigger composting systems that we’ve seen at stores or in DIY magazines).
Even back in 2008 when we created our little bin, I initially wanted to make a more “legit” system out of shipping pallets (like I read about here and here) but hunting down and transporting a bunch of bulky pallets was a bit more than I was ready to sign up for. So I figured starting off with a bin and later graduating to something more built-in might be the way to go. And now just three short (ok, loong) years later, thanks to our patio supplies having arrived on pallets, I finally had my excuse to upgrade our compost system. It just took us a few months to decide where we wanted our new bin to sit. We finally agreed on this corner:
In case you need a clearer reference point, here’s that little not-at-all-to-scale map of our yard (the house is way too big and the almost-an-acre yard is much too small) that Sherry whipped up (marked with an arrow where we added our little “compost station”):
We picked that spot because:
- it was fairly hidden from view
- it didn’t disrupt the landscape very much (i.e. it wasn’t in the middle of the grass or anything)
- it was convenient enough to get to without being right against the house (we know compost isn’t supposed to smell – and our old bin never did – but we didn’t want to risk getting whiffs of nature’s miracle at work if this system was any different).
- the only “landscaping” that we’d be sacrificing was some ivy and a few weeds (how will we ever live with ourselves?)
One perk to losing some of the ivy is that I uncovered some unexpected treasures in the process, like this ancient Hooters frisbee and a random plastic tire. Looks like this upgraded composting system is already paying off in major free-stuff dividends.
After a bit more work with my shovel and rake, I was eventually left with this clearing. Some of the online instructions that I googled around for suggested putting an extra pallet down for your base, while I read others who complained that a pallet on the ground made turning the compost a big ol’ pain (picture pitchfork tongs or shovels getting stuck between the slats). Some others even suggested a slanted base to help collect the tea (the nutrient-rich “run off” from your compost pile), but I just opted to keep things simple and make my life easy – at least for now. So this flat square of dirt did the trick:
With my area cleared, I gathered my supplies:
- Three shipping pallets (which I was thrilled to finally move out of our basement)
- A few 2″ wood screws
- Electric screwdriver
- Work gloves
- Shovel
Fortunately these were all things we already owned, so our project cost rang in at a big fat goose egg. Even better than a free project? The whole thing only took me about 20 minutes (not counting photo-snapping time). Which was a nice unexpected surprise. Remember, I go into all small projects expecting them to take forever and throw me ten curve balls so I don’t get my quick-project hopes dashed by an obstacle or two (which I’ve learned are par for the DIY course). So yeah, it was awesome that this quick and easy project really was quick and easy.
First I dug a small trench (about 4″ deep) at the back of the compost area so that my pallet had a little groove to stand in while I secured the other sides:
Then I put the second pallet next to it to create one side:
Notice how the side with the more closely-spaced slats faces in (otherwise we’d get lots of compost spilling through). But that doesn’t mean you should use a completely solid piece of wood (the slatted pallets help air circulate, which helps the decomposing process while also keeping odor down).
To secure the pallets together, I just drilled three screws (one in the top, middle, and bottom) to connect the two pallets. Some tutorials that I read called for zip ties instead, which I’m not surprised to hear (they, like duct tape, can accomplish almost anything). I just had screws on hand, and since that was another recommended method I went for it. I also enjoy projects a little more when I get to break out my power tools (I can almost feel Sherry rolling her eyes at this sentence). The funny thing is that the pallets were practically sturdy enough to stay together on their own so the screws kinda felt like a formality, but they were nice “insurance” so I’m glad I took a moment to add them (and say hi to my drill).
Then I rinsed and repeated the whole joining shebang with the third pallet on the other side.
Then, um… ta-dah? That was pretty much it. Some of the instructions that I read included using a fourth pallet to create a hinged door in the front (I guess a fifth if you added an extra pallet on the bottom). I wasn’t inclined to do this because (1) that seemed more complicated than I wanted to get into – at least off the bat, and (2) I didn’t have any hinges on hand. Initially I was just going to leave my bin open-sided and not stress if my pile started to migrate a bit beyond its three borders…
… but I realized it probably wasn’t the best idea in practice, especially since it was on a slight slope and one big rain could wash our pile-o-decomposition into the yard. Gross. So I improvised a bit and found a nearly-perfectly-sized piece of scrap wood that could act as a fourth wall (with the help of two leftover wood stakes). It stays in place just fine and can easily be picked up when it’s time to turn our pile (or grab a big heaping batch of nurtrient-rich soil when it’s ready).
As the pile grows, I’m thinking I could easily upgrade my system with a few more boards stacked up or a taller piece of wood with taller stakes or poles to hold them flush against the pallets. But this’ll do for now:
And to kick off the competition composition, I threw in a layer of nice brown leaves from the backyard. Ooooh. Ahhh.
Now we’re the first to admit that we’re still kind of novices at this whole composting thing. Even after three years of doing it. I’ve thrown out references like “turn the pile” as if I know what we’re supposed to do (and how often and why) but I’m really just going off of tidbits that we’ve picked up online. When it came to our old system we just stirred things when we tossed in a pile o’ stuff (we had a lidded plastic container that we kept under the sink for compost scraps and emptied that into the bin twice a week or so). And we printed out a list of compostable stuff and taped that to the inside of our under-the-sink door near the compost container so we could consult that if we didn’t know if something could be added. So admittedly I’m not quite Captain Compost yet (so if anyone has any pointers or resources for us, we’re all ears). The good news about compost is that it seems to just do its own thing for the most part (you can read about a few of our experiences with it over the years here, here, here, and here). We’ve never had any issues with smell or anything, so it’s a pretty painless auto-pilot process.
Oh, and I should mention that if anyone is hesitant about using wood that might be chemically-treated (like pallets) for their bin, you can limit your use of the resulting compost to non-edible plants (i.e. use it in your flowerbeds, not in an herb or veggie garden). That’s definitely what we’ll be doing just in case. We’re a bit late in the season to have much usable compost this year anyway (darn, no accidental pumpkin growing for me this Halloween) but hopefully next year we’ll have more free fertilizer than we’ll know what to do with. And maybe some of that ivy will have grown around the pallets to help it “blend” in a bit more. You know, so we end up with a charming secret garden compost situation. Of course we could also stain or paint the palettes to help them blend in (dark green, brown, gray, etc). We’ll keep you posted.
Do any of you have a pallet compost bin (or other composting system) going on at your place? How has it been working out? Anything you think we should know as we start this new chapter in our composting lives? Has anyone else accidentally grown a pumpkin? That’s my crowning composting achievement thus far.
Gone To Pot
Our (continued) indecision about where our vegetable and herb garden should permanently go at our new place means we missed the boat on planting anything this spring (check out our edible gardens of years past here and here). But in an attempt to grow something this year, we’ve come up with a temporary solution. And it involves this galvanized tub:
We figured we’d just do a potted herb garden this year, with only a few “edible essentials” for our kitchen. Which is why we picked up a foursome of local and organically grown herbs (parsley, oregano, basil, and mint) at the farmer’s market this weekend for $12. Speaking of which, you can read more about our trip to the market on BabyCenter today as part of their “Big Day Out” this Saturday.
But back to the tub. It was about $8 at Lowe’s (way cheaper than any planter of that size) and to turn it into our herb pot, we figured it could use some holes for drainage in the bottom. They were a cinch to make with my little cordless drill.
To make them a bit bigger, I also wiggled a big nail around in them too. Oh yeah, and I made the holes in a heart shape. Maybe I was feeling romantic? Maybe I was subliminally professing my love for galvanized tubs? Or it was an ode to the L in YHL? Either way, this photo is about the most any of us will ever see of it.
Update: A few savvy commenters recommended that we test for lead just to be sure it wouldn’t leech into our food if it was randomly present in the metal. We just used one of those $4 Lead Test Sticks from Home Depoton to test the seams, the inside, the outside, the bottom, and even the holes that we drill and it was negative. Whew. So that’s definitely something to test for if you’re not sure how pure your galvanized tin is (and you’re using it for edible herbs)!
Also for drainage, we put a layer of gravel on the bottom (they were leftovers from the patio project). Hopefully they’ll keep the majority of the soil from dripping out of my hidden hole-y heart.
Before adding any dirt, we did a quick “dry run” of the herb placement. The taller guys (basil and parsley) went in the back, and oregano got some special space on the side – since my oregano tends to get bushy. Yeah… not so sure I like the sound of that last sentence.
Of course, if things do well (i.e. grow big and strong) this tin could soon get a bit cramped. But hopefully we’ll achieve “full” and not go as far as “so full it’s bad.” But if so, we can always transplant things into their own larger dedicated pots. You know if anything gets all diva on us. And we’re keeping the mint from spreading like crazy by separating it in a buried pot (a tip we learned a while back at the farmer’s market from a friendly local gardener).
You can see dirt in the bottom of the pic above. That’s some organic potting mix that we snagged at Lowe’s. It was about twice as much as the regular stuff ($10 vs $6, I think) but we figured since we’ll be consuming these plants it was worth going the slightly more natural route (since they were organically grown up to this point).
We usually would use our nutrient rich compost pile, but since moving our DIY compost bins got a little jumbled while we got settled so we don’t appear to have enough “ready” soil to use just yet (aka: things are still breaking down).
Here are the plants all in and soil-ed up:
Since the patio (which also got a bit soil-ed, as you can see) isn’t very sunny, we decided to put the pot on our balcony-to-nowhere (right off of our living room and kitchen). Despite being between two sections of house, it gets a remarkable amount of light – almost the closest thing to full sun that we have on our mostly shaded property. Plus it’s pretty darn convenient to the kitchen.
The beauty of having our herb “garden” potted this year is that we can move it around to test other sun spots if we find that this one isn’t doing the trick (since we’re still trying to wrap our heads around sun patterns here). Heck, it might even help us decide where to put a more permanent garden next year (gotta find that sweet spot). And if we decide to keep this potted version around, it’ll still look good on the larger deck that we plan to build out here eventually. Maybe even as an oversized centerpiece on an outdoor table?
And since no herb garden story is complete with an artsy close-up of your plant labels – here we go!
If you’re wondering, Colonel Oregano is not some weird variety of oregano. It’s just me being weird. I decided it’d be funny to take our simple popsicle stick labels and give them the Clue-character treatment. You know like Miss Scarlet and Colonel Mustard? Here’s my whole cast of made up herbs / suspect names. Yes, I’m what Sherry’s dad likes to call “a strange bird” (he’s also the man trying to single-handedly bring back the term “sick puppy”).
Next year if we decide to grow peppers it will be tough deciding whether to give it the “Sergeant” or “Doctor” title. Though the idea of a Dr. Pepper plant sounds pretty awesome, so maybe I’ve already made my decision.
What are you guys growing this year? Anything sprouting up particularly well or deliciously? Anything not showing as much promise as you’d like? Anything murdering someone in the conservatory with the lead pipe?
Psst- Don’t forget to check out the rest of our Farmer’s Market adventures here on BabyCenter.
A Barrel Of Earth Day Fun
Happy Earth Day everyone! (And Happy Birthday to Sherry’s little brother, who’s also known as Almost-Doctor-Dan <– warning, very cute baby Clara pics here). In honor of this eco-tastic holiday, we thought we’d share a story about driving down the street and noticing this sign:
We’d been meaning to get a new rain barrel since we left the old one that we made at our first house when we sold it. Of course we would have been happy to make another one, but we had yet to get to that part of our to-do list (and sign up for a local course to get our mitts on a large food safe barrel). So we took that sign as, well, a sign and pulled over to window shop. Not that the place had windows…
We learned that we had happened upon Carolina Mike’s Produce Stand, but he’s still a week or so away from having produce. And although it looks very out-in-the-boonies, it’s actually on a busy suburban street across from a Target (Richmonders, it’s on the corner of Forest Hill Avenue and Cherokee Road in the Stratford Hills area).
Mike was super friendly and told us the tall black barrels (formerly used to transport jalapenos) were $60 and the shorter blue ones (which used to contain soy sauce) were $40 – even though both were 55 gallons. Coincidentally, $40 was exactly what we spent to make our last rain barrel (through a local class) so we took the easy route and tossed one of the $40 ready-made barrels into the backseat. That is, after I took a trip home to drop off Clara and Sherry to make room for my new blue best friend.
The barrel actually sat unused in our carport for a week-ish while we debated where to put it. But we finally decided that he’d be most helpful near the small fenced garden area behind our carport / next to our sunroom. And yes, I realize this would make more sense had I already written an outdoor tour post for you guys (I promise that’s around the corner – the pics are taken and uploaded, just not yet edited).
This area currently acts primarily as Burger’s restroom, but we’re soon hoping to de-liriope most of it (aka: dig up that floppy grass) and trade that thin brick pathway for a nice big stone patio on this side of the house (since it’s accessible from a sliding door in the living room). But we still plan to leave plenty of plant beds that will need watering around the perimeter of our DIY patio, so that downspout next to the brick half-wall (which is actually the back of the carport) was calling our rain barrel’s name.
First I made sure we could fit a watering can under the faucet (aka “hose bib”) which meant I wouldn’t need to raise the barrel on blocks or anything. Though if I had made the barrel from scratch, I probably would’ve put the hose bib in a bit lower so I could use all of the water in the barrel – not just what collects above faucet level. The good news is that our last barrel has a spigot in around the same spot and we didn’t have any issues with smell or algae from the water that collected below the spigot after years of use (we can always tip the barrel forward to fully drain it).
Anyway, once I leveled the ground where the barrel would sit and figured out where my downspout would need to end, I got out a small hacksaw and began cutting away.
You can see a more thorough breakdown of this process on our original “How To Build A Rain Barrel” post. But basically I squeezed the curved spout back in place after putting down the hacksaw, slid the barrel underneath it, and called it a day. Voila! Infinite rain collecting potential:
We’re still waiting for an actual rainstorm to put Ol’ Blue to good use, but it does feel good to be back in the rain barrel club again. Even if our new barrel is so bright that it doesn’t exactly blend quietly into the landscape.
Once we begin to more formally tackle this area we might take a paintbrush to it (brick red perhaps?) to help camouflage it a bit better (like we did to our utility boxes and propane tank here). Heck, maybe we’ll even plant a few things around it to further obscure it. ‘Til then, we’ll just consider it our not-so-subtle way of celebrating Earth Day.
Is anyone else in the rain barrel club after a lapse in membership like us? Or do you have big patio plans on the agenda? Every day Sherry taps me on the shoulder and says “Wanna go dig up some liriope? Come on you know you want to.” Sheesh. It’s like the adult version of “are we there yet?” Can’t a husband bask in the I-built-you-a-12-foot-console-table-glory for a little longer? No? Ok, I guess I have some shoveling to do…
Tanks For The Memories
Surprise! This was the scene at our house yesterday:
Allow me to explain. We decided to test the soil around our home’s underground oil tank (we have oil heat) a few weeks back to assure any interested buyer that it’s in tip top shape. Much to our horror, it wasn’t. Soil tests came back indicating that we had a small leak. We felt like somebody punched us in the face. Here we are with our rain barrel and our compost bin along with all of our energy star appliances and our cloth diapers in an effort to be green while our oil tank has been oozing nastiness underground without our knowledge. Shudder.
Luckily we learned that it’s something that the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality feels so strongly about fixing that they actually offer a credit to homeowners in our situation, so we only had to pay a $500 deductible for the removal of the old leaky underground tank (and the gross oil-riddled soil around it – hence the excavator pictured above) while the government covers the rest of the usually-around-$2,000 project. Nice right? But we did have to kick in about $1300 to install a new above ground tank (which will never secretly leak since it’ll be visible instead of buried). The good news is that it’s kind of like we’re paying it forward since we’re leaving a new tank for our home’s next owners and our new house actually also just got a new above ground tank (so we’ll inherit one that’s just as new and shiny). Ain’t she pretty all tucked quietly behind our azalea bushes?
Especially when you compare her to ol’ Rusty. They estimated that our tank was about 30 years old after unearthing it. Here’s hoping 30 is kinder to me when I hit it next year.
The funny thing is that as gross as that sucker looks, they could only find this dime-sized hole at the bottom (though they said others might be too dirt-clogged to see).
The good news of the whole oil-leakage incident is that since oil doesn’t move very much through compacted dirt like ours, it’s not believed to have traveled very far underground. So the Virginia DEQ just requires the removal of the tank and a bit of surrounding soil to rectify the situation. Okay, maybe a “bit of soil” is an understatement. This was the hole they dug:
They had to dig up two azalea bushes to make that hole but luckily the process didn’t disturb the driveway or any large trees. And they replanted the pristinely removed azaleas after filling the gorge with gravel and topsoil (though they were the first to say that they make no guarantees about their future survival). Cross your fingers, I guess?
Even though it’s bittersweet to have sunk money into unsinking this leaky tank for our buyers (yay environment, boo spending) we’re definitely comforted by the fact that we’re getting a new shiny tank at our new house (how funny is it that the current owners ran into a similar situation with their underground tank and just upgraded to an above ground version too?). So I guess we could call it good house karma paying off. If you can count following government orders as karma.
Have you guys had oil issues? Or other appallingly ungreen discoveries in general? Nothing like a little unplanned spending around the holidays to get your blood pumping.
Psst- Holy amazingness. Check out this sweet DIY play kitchen that was made from an old TV unit over on BabyCenter.
On The Road Again: A Gorges Wedding Weekend
Occasionally we do get out of the house. And occasionally it’s to more exotic places than Home Depot or Target. So just like our past adventures to Savannah, Florida and our road trip to Dallas we wanted to take you along for our Labor Day weekend trip to Ithaca, NY. The reason for the trip? Sherry’s brother Dan was gettin’ hitched!
Yep, that’s Almost-Doctor-Dan (as many of you know him) marrying his bride Ali during their beautiful lakeside wedding in wine country just outside of Ithaca. The ceremony was touching and fun-filled at the same time (the officiant was their friend and Wedding Bee blogger Mrs. Hermit Crab, fyi). I even got to watch my two girls walk down the aisle together (Sherry actually wore Clara in her carrier, which seemed to be a hit with other wedding-goers). Not too shabby for Clara’s first wedding.
The wedding took place at a picturesque spot called The Fontainebleu Inn, a historic estate that we got to explore a lot of as we hunted for private spots for diaper changes and nursing.
While the weekend was certainly filled with family and wedding-related adventures, we carved out some time of our own to explore the area. And thanks to some tips from readers Amanda, Kirsten, Ashley, Julie, Nicole, and Josh (via Twitter/Facebook) we were able to live like true Ithacans for a couple of days – which we’re pretty sure requires inserting a “gorges” pun periodically into conversation.
Wordplay aside, Ithaca was a scenic spot with lots of opportunities for sightseeing and photo taking (too bad we managed to forget the good camera at home). For example, here’s Ithaca Falls – which actually cascades right through the center of town:
We also checked out Cornell Plantations (both Dan & Ali met at Cornell where he was getting his undergrad, and he’s now getting his PHD at Columbia and they’re living it up in NYC like Sherry and I once did). The plantations were a HUGE area filled with gardens, lakes, walking paths, and an arboretum. Sherry’s biggest takeaway from that trip was actually these chunky stone steps that were spotted frequently (and sat upon occasionally). Makes us want to do some landscaping!
But beyond beautiful greenery, one of the things that impressed us most about Ithaca was its green-ness. Perhaps its because its residents are blessed with such a stunning natural setting that they seemed to work extra hard at being eco. We lost count of the number of places we spotted with compost receptacles right alongside the standard trash and recycling bins – like this one at Collegetown Bagels. And nearly every cup and plastic utensil that we used was recycled and even compostable.
And their Farmer’s Market kind puts Richmond’s to shame. Once we managed to find a parking spot, we loved how there was not only fresh local food to buy (or eat on the spot) but tons of housewares, clothing, and art too.
We particularly loved the style of these graphic clothes and handmade pillows. We left empty handed though because we arrived devoid of any cash (which was probably a good thing since our car was packed with baby stuff anyway).
And thanks to the tips sent by our readers, we also were able to check out a lot of stores with waste-not mentality, like Home Green Home – which even carried those beer and soda bottle tumblers I tried to make (for $8 a pop, by the way). Sigh.
There was also an architectural salvage spot called Significant Elements that carried your usual collection of old windows, doors, and plumbing fixtures along with some more interesting finds that we loved:
We also ventured into a thrift store called Mimi’s Attic that focused on just household items, including some upcycled furniture like these brightly colored pieces that would provide a fun Domino-ish pop of color.
Right next to Mimi’s Attic was a second-hand baby store called Mama Goose. It was filled with gently used clothing, books, games, and any other kind of baby gear you could think of. We even walked out with some of the Charlie’s Soap that many of our varsity cloth diapering readers had recommended for washing Clara’s dipes. So far we’re loving it by the way.
Ithaca actually had a lot of great places for kid-related shopping. At the Ithaca Commons walking mall (where we found Home Green Home) there was also a place called Jillian’s Drawers. They introduced us to the novel concept of buying gently used cloth diapers (they looked like new) and renting baby carriers so you can figure out which is best for you before buying one (which definitely can save money and storage space since you’re guaranteed to end up with something you and your wee one like). Genius.
There was also an awesome toy store called Alphabet Soup that we thoroughly enjoyed (even though Clara slept through it- figures). I couldn’t decide which I liked most: the bright recycled-wood dinosaur toy or the chunky modern alphabet blocks.
But then I spotted the Plan Toys Green Dollhouse and suddenly had a clear winner in my mind. We already own a few Plan Toys because they’re green and fun, so we were totally entertained by the thought of someday getting this dollhouse for Clara. Yes, it actually has a recycling station and solar panels.
So that wraps up our little trip to Ithaca. Thanks again to the folks who offered up suggestions for what to see and do (we also loved our dinner at the Moosewood Restaurant and the Hot Truck subs that we snagged before the wedding). We’d love to go back to Ithaca someday when Clara’s a bit older and we can take her on some of those “gorges” waterfall hikes. Ok, I think I’m done with the gorgeous/gorges puns for now.
Have any of you guys traveled to (or lived in) Ithaca and have other must-see, must-do, or must-eat items to add to the mix for a future trip by us or someone reading? Or do you have other Ithaca-like cities that you’d suggest we check out?
