Food waste

Though San José is known globally as part of Silicon Valley, we have greener reasons to be proud. According to Bright Green San Jose, our city recycles 71 percent of the waste we generate. Wow! Further:

San Jose’s collective recycling helped the Recycle Plus program win the 2012 Green City Award from the national magazine Waste and Recycling News. The award honored San José for having the most effective residential program for a large city in the United States.

One of the programs San José offers is composting workshops and bin sales. I just started composting yard waste and kitchen scraps this year. Our yard is small, and packed with plants and flowers with limited space for growing veggies. I assumed composting required a lot of space and full sun. I purchased a Tumbling Composter earlier this year, which allowed me to compost kitchen scraps in a small space, diverting them from our landfill.

Tumbling Composter

The tumbler filled quickly, so I started a second bin using an old Rubbermaid storage box. Now that’s full, too. You can’t rush compost, so while I wait for nature to rot its course, I’m pondering my next move.

You know what’s funny? I used to toss kitchen scraps or put them down the garbage disposal. Now that I’m composting, throwing out the food waste feels wrong.

I’ve decided to attend one of San José’s free Backyard Composting Workshops to pick up some additional tips. The first workshop is March 27th, 2013. They also sell Wriggly Ranch worm bins and Soil Saver compost bins at a steep discount.

In the meantime, any tips on composting in small spaces are welcome. My counter top bin is filling rapidly, and those coffee grounds and pepper cores need a place to call home.

My friend Liz has been back in the States for several months, but it took her imminent departure for us to finally get together. Our friendship is such that we can simply pick up where we left off, regardless of time passed. Liz is also a gardener I admire and look up to.

Liz has the unique distinction of gardening through one spring and two summers. She spends part of her year in California, the rest in beautiful New Zealand. She taught me and some friends how to felt on one of her trips home. I hope to learn how to eco-dye from her one day, too.

On her visit today, she came bearing gifts…and lunch! So much for my hosting skills. We enjoyed delicious, home-made, vegetarian burritos while sitting on the patio talking shop.

You probably need to be a gardener to fully appreciate the first gift: a bag of worms and worm castings. I feel like a real gardener. I have a worm bin, a kitchen scrap container, and soon my tumbling composter will arrive at my door. I’ll be brewing garden goodness all winter long.

Worm Bin

In addition to worms, I am also the lucky recipient of several eco-dyed pieces, one-of-a kind art made with natural dyes, leaves and flowers. The small pouch is made from reclaimed materials, printed with leaves, dyed, then hand-stitched.

Eco-dyed Pouch

The three pieces pictured below use a similar technique, but with paper. I love the artistry.

Eco-dyed Art Print

Eco-dyed Paper

My dear friend is not a fan of pictures, but she did let me take a closeup of her t-shirt. She bought the shirt at a thrift store, wrapped it around rose leaves, and dipped it in a natural dye. It’s exquisite.