Someone else is thinking about all those lost traps

Finally, someone is thinking about all the derelict traps left on the sea floor. (NYTimes Nov 27) I wrote about these for Beach: a Book of Treasure in relation to all the buoys found on the beach: they all were attached to something that is now lost, left on the ocean bottom to corrode. Thinking of all these lost traps reminds me of how I feel when I see a map of all the space-junk out in orbit around our earth. "It would be interesting to drain the ocean and see what's down there," said Holly Bamford, head of the Marine Debris Program at NOAA.

Which way do you coil?

Great Science Times this am. There is a nice description of sinistral and dextral coiling of shells and how they need a similar symmetry to mate. Sean Carroll is a great writer. I guess he is now going to write a column. Good for us all. Happy Birthday to "On the Origin of Species"

Compost on the scanner.

Finally I have scanned some compost. I hope to do a series of these. Can squeamishness be unlearned just by looking closely at something, getting fascinated by the details. The worms move while the scan is being made generating a rainbow effect, which I usually take out but might use to some effect someday.

Everyday there are articles in the paper about fresh produce. Saturday it was a lengthy op-ed piece by the Nieman Ranch lady. Ending her treatise on grass-fed beef was the forever familiar eat local, eat fresh, shop at your farmers market. I want to add a footnote to every instance this is mentioned (or add the tiny figure at the bottom of the cartoon with cynical commentary): please compost what you have to chop off and throw away. Compost the leftovers that are not cooked or go bad in your fridge...it is a complete cycle. There was also an article about neighborhood grocery stores selling more fresh fruits and vegetables instead of cookies and chips: YES this is terrific, but when will the same grocery store have compost pails for sale next to the produce with a tiny explanation of what to do??

Someday I hope.

Don't we all wish we had this much space for our compost bin. I have this exact same bin in a slightly different context: an urban back yard.

How to keep critters out: NO cooked food, no eggs, no bread, no meat, no rice...only the choppings from your vegies and fruit and again...all those coffee grinds mixed with leaves from the yard, a few newspapers, corn husks, vegies left in the fridge too long.

Bins: Amazon has a good selection. I will post some favorites. I will also address the east coaster dilemma of what to do when everything freezes....keep listening.

Compost Heaven

I found these lemon leaves in my compost bin quite a few years back, but they still resonate with the integrity of decay. The October 5 issue of The New Yorker (with the cat walking "on the Edge," by Gurbuz) has a letter to the editor by me. The gist of the letter is compost compost compost (in response to a piece by Elizabeth Kolbert). If there is something I feel as strongly about as the beach and the fate of our oceans, well, its composting. Somehow the frenzy of media attention on eating fresh fruits and vegetables and buying locally, hitting farmers markets or ordering a "box" is not accompanied by the requisite flip side: how to dispose of the tremendous amounts of resulting organic waste. Bulky carrot tops, chard stems, melon seeds, orange rinds, banana peels, coffee grinds and filters (I throw these in because we drink a lot of coffee and nothing helps the compost more), grape stems, less-than-perfect lettuce leaves...should not go in the regular garbage.

Unless you have a bunny (yes, we have one of these too) composting is the obvious answer and I am always surprised at meeting folks who can easily walk out their back door to their yard, and do not have a compost bin back there. This blog will address issues like keeping pests out and I can list favorite items that help, like my stainless countertop compost bucket (best gift ever!), where to find bins and findings from my favorite newsletters that come from the SF PUC (sfwater.org) and Sunset Scavenger (sfrecycling.com). Please add resources you like and comments and stories of your own.

Our first big storm yesterday has left everything wonderfully wet and the warm still air today smells of earth. With damp dead leaves from the plum tree added to the mix, the compost, being both moist and warm, is in heaven i.e. being super productive. Should go fishing with some of the worms.