Tomato sadness and growing basil

Our basil did fairly well in our Earthbox this summer, though we had some yellowing and something is eating some of it. I've gotten quite a big of pesto, dried some basil in our dehydrator, used some in tomato basil soup, and put some on our pizza, so I'm pretty happy that I've gotten my money's worth. I'm feeling pretty good about how much I've used considering this is the summer of neglect when it comes to gardening (due to being pregnant). You don't even want to see my regular garden, but Nate took a picture of it the other day, so here it is:



Pretty sad, I know. No edible plants left in there, just crab grass and vines and such. It will be quite a job to unearth it and next summer I'll definitely be mulching with something. Not sure what the best thing to mulch with is.

The tomatoes are not doing so well this year. I'm not sure if it is blossom end rot or blight, but we are not getting much. It's sad. I'm going to give it a try again next year and see if we can do better. I need someone to tell me whether it's blight or not, though, so I know if I should start over with new dirt next year. I hate to do that, since I already haven't gotten anywhere near my money's worth for what I paid for the box. Oh, and many of our tomatoes have been splitting too. Sigh.

Earthbox

Below is a picture of my Earthbox. We have one tomato plant (Brandywine) and a couple of basil plants (all clustered together) in it. So far I really like it. My favorite part is how to water it. I just fill up the reservoir at the bottom through that tube in the corner every other day. Watering is the trickiest part of gardening for me. I never know when to do it, but the Earthbox makes it easy for me. I'll have to check back at the end of the summer after going through one growing season, but so far, so good.

The only thing I wish I would have bought is the casters so I could roll it around and get it off the ground. I'll see how much I like it and maybe order them for next year.

Random update

We planted our garden, or part of it. Two squares of spinach with 9 plants per square. Two squares with radishes (for pest control) and two kinds of lettuce: two black seeded simpson and four romaine. As unexcited as I was to garden this year, I did feel a bit thrilled seeing that just about everything is coming up. I just have to make sure to water it.

We'll also be planting basil, provider bush beans (green beans), and carrots. I'm going to let the girls take care of the carrots. And we can't forget the tomatoes. We'll do a Brandywine plant again this year.

I've recently finished two books: In Absence of Sun by Helie Lee and Real Food for Mother and Baby by Nina Planck. In Absence of Sun was interesting, but I didn't like it nearly as much as Still Life With Rice. It was about the process Helie's family went through to get her family out of North Korea. Half the book was about Helie's emotional struggles through it all. I think I liked Still Life with Rice better because of all the history included in Helie's grandmother's life story. I was just learning so much about the struggles the Korean people have gone through, being oppressed by so many people, but being amazingly strong through it all.

Real Food for Mother and Baby was an interesting read. I happen to love books about food and eating good food and making good choices about where our food comes from, so this was right up my alley. I had actually heard of her other book, which I am now reading, called Real Food, first, but this one came available at the library first, so I read it first. The only weird part was how she threw in information on pregnancy and birth and breastfeeding and attachment parenting, that seemed a little beyond the scope of the book. I didn't have a problem with anything she said, and actually have a lot in common with the author on her thoughts in those areas, but some of the sections just felt a little out of place. Where the author and I do diverge is where I have a Biblical worldview and she doesn't. Primate cousins, attributing how our bodies work to nature instead of God's design, and such. I would still recommend the book anyway. Or I'm sure I'll recommend Real Food once I'm done with that one, if you are not in the position of needing wanting to get pregnant, being pregnant or having a young child.

My pregnancy is going well. I'm almost 15 weeks along and feeling so much better. God has given me such a caring, supportive husband who has really worked so hard over the last 9 weeks or so to care for our family and house. I mostly write about my pregnancy over on my pregnancy journal. If you know me well and would like to read it, email me or contact me and I'll send you an invite.

Lacking posts

It's officially been a month since I posted on here. How did that happen?

I guess we've been busy. July was nice weather, so we were out a lot. I went to visit my parents with the girls last week. We had a nice time visiting with our friends visiting from Portugal, my parents, my brothers, sister-in-law, nephew, other family, and friends. I got my Morning Star, Snug Harbor, and Butch's Beach Burrito fixes while I was there. Oh, and ice cream a couple of times too. :)

We've been eating lots of tomatoes, or I should say that I have been eating them because I'm the only one who does. Our friends' garden has given us small, sweet cherry tomatoes that I've been enjoying with pasta with pesto made from their basil. I just ate one and a half Brandywine tomatoes today...our first ones we've harvested. So amazingly delicious. I love them sliced on toast with some mayo and cheese slices. I found the first teeny, tiny green bean on our bush beans. I'm hoping to plant some spinach in the next few weeks for a fall crop. Not sure when to plant them.

Nate's parents are here for a couple of days. We are going to look at minivans tomorrow. No buying yet, just looking. We might try and take the girls to the children's museum one of the days too.

Let's see, what else. I tried freezer paper stenciling for the first time yesterday. I did a stencil of a VW Beetle on a onesie. I still have to heat set it, but it turned out cute.

Oh, and I broke our digital camera while at my folks'. It was inside the pocket on the Ergo when I tossed the Ergo over about 8 feet to the cement. I might try and get it fixed. But I also really want a digital SLR. Nate wants a small digital camera.

I think that's all for now. I did update the girls' blog with a post about Ally. It is lacking in pictures since I couldn't get them to load up on the website, but I'll add those later.

Garden-middle of July and teepee building

A view of our garden the first week of July. It looks pretty much the same now, except the two tall black seeded simpson lettuce (frilly light green stuff) are pulled out and the tomato plants are taking over even more.


A glimpse of one of the many tomatoes on our two plants. This is a Brandywine...yum.


And now onto teepee building. Not sure how to actually spell it, so I'm spelling it teepee.

I referenced two sites to build it. This Lowe's page and the pictures of this blog to help me figure out the instructions, since she used the same instructions.

First we set up the poles after tying them together on the ground.



Then the girls helped me fill in the holes with good dirt: a mixture of peat moss and various composts (I think mushroom, shrimp, and our home compost from our bin).



Nate put up the clothesline and I tied on the twine. Then we planted the beans. Two beans in each of two holes around each pole and three beans in three separate holes in between the poles. I soaked the beans in a wet paper towel while we were setting everything up.





Tada!



Right after we finished packing up it started to rain a nice soaking rain, so they got a good watering. Pretty much all the beans sprouted within a week. I've lost about five or six to the resident rabbit. Some of them were chewed, but new leaves were still growing, so I'm hopeful. I put some plastic fencing in cylinders around each of the groups of seedlings. Once they get tall enough, we'll start them vining up the side.

Still here

Life has kept us busy lately, so the blog suffers. I have a list of things to write about on all three blogs and pictures to post. Not sure when I'll get to them, but I hope to soon.

A few small updates, though:

Garden: We have at least ten tomatoes on both the Roma and the Brandywine! Yay! Lettuce plants are almost done. I planted some later lettuce, but I'm not sure how long we'll be eating it for. I've been disappointed with the swiss chard. I thought it would produce more, but it's been a slow one. The basil is growing well. I'm going to harvest a bit later this week for tomato basil soup. The bush beans are up and the pole beans are too. I can't wait for them to get high enough to start climbing the tepee. I folded down the chicken wire fence a bit so I can harvest without opening it up and so the tomatoes have some more space. Pictures to come.

Tree planted: We buried Little Bun and planted Little Bun's tree this past Wednesday. Both of the girls refer to it as Little Bun's tree and I like that. It's a single trunk Serviceberry. We're watering it like crazy and hoping it does well. I'll write more about that on my pregnancy blog and hopefully have pics too.

New laptop: We used some of our refund money to purchase a refurbished Macbook for me, who from now on will be referred to as Jubilee. Nate likes to name our computers and so far they have all been X-men (we've had Storm, Bishop, Nightcrawler, Gambit--on whom I'm typing this blog post). It makes it much easier to tell which computer you are talking about when it has a name. So anyway, I'm excited about having Jubilee because it allows me to be more mobile when I'm on the computer. Once we get everything switched over to Jubilee, we'll either be giving away or selling Gambit (our 3 year old iMac). Becca's really enjoyed having Jubilee because see can show her grandparents her tricks with the hula hoop on Skype since we can bring it down to the living room for the calls.

That's all for now. Hope to have more soon.

First day back

We got back from my parents' yesterday late afternoon. Today I didn't have anything planned and the house was fairly clean already, so I thought I'd try some art projects. We did three art projects today! We also got some bush green beans planted (thanks, Serina) and I got to use my own compost that I made in my trash can composter (it's mostly composted except for some of the egg shells and a little of the newspaper).

Anyway, I was out in the garden at 7 this morning by myself. It was nice to be out there that early. It's so cool and only a few mosquitos. No slugs about at the moment. The grass and weeds around the garden are dead, so there is no place to hide. I waited until the girls were out with me later to plant the beans and pick lettuce and chard. I was out early to pick a few weeds (there are hardly ever any to pick) and cut off any yellowed leaves on the tomato plant (my Brandywine has three little tomatoes!) and to water the plants. One of my basil plants is going to town and the other one is not growing quite as fast. No idea why.

After breakfast with Nate and gardening and swinging, we started our first art project: making marker holders with plaster of paris. I followed the instructions in First Art and used $1 pails from Target for each of the girls.

We mixed the PoP in a recycled container with paint sticks. I tried to let the girls mix, but it sloshed out too much, so I mixed it. Then I poured about two inches in each of their pails and let them push their marker caps halfway into the PoP. Becca did great with this, Ally did pretty well. After pushing one in, she got a bit on her finger and where did that go? In her mouth, of course. PoP contains ingredients that are known to the state of California for causing cancer. Great. I tried to wipe it out and give her water and then firmly told her never to do that again. She did well after that.

We set them aside to dry very carefully. When you move the buckets, the PoP moves and so do the marker caps, so you have to move VERY slowly. Becca put the markers back in each of the caps (7 in each pail) after lunch.

Then we tried putting PoP and water in freezer bags to make sculptures. I wouldn't do it again. If I did, though, I'd put it in two bags, because Becca squeezed too hard and had some squirt out on her sandals and leg. When I tried to take them out later to let the girls paint the sculptures, they fell apart. Oh well.

Sculpting with PoP led to taking out play dough in the kitchen (I did the other two out on the front porch). They had fun with that for a while.

After nap I thought we would paint the PoP sculptures, but as I already mentioned, those crumbled, so we threw them away. Instead we made some play clay that is supposed to dry in a couple days. This is also from the First Art book, the Big Beads part. The girls helped me mix and then each used some to make beads and other shapes and used a straw to poke holes in their creations. I wanted to press some into a disc shape and then press shells or something in them, but I didn't have any shells. They are drying on plates and the girls will paint them on Sunday or Monday.

So after a major lack in art around here, we've had quite an art-filled day. Becca has been painting with her Prang water colors too and I love the vibrant colors they produce.

Garden clean-up and harvest

I realized this morning as I was looking out at the garden, that getting rid of the weeds and grass right around the edge not only removes the hiding place for the slugs, but it also exposes any who dare to venture up the side to the birds, one of their predators. Yay for birds! I know they sometimes can be a pain when growing things, but right now they are my friends.

I harvested all the rest of the spinach today. Most of it had bolted, many of the leaves were kind of thin and wilty, but I got a handful out of the rest. I had gotten quite a bit from that square and can't wait to plant it again for a fall crop.

I also took out one of the Winter Density lettuces. They are so nice looking. I need lots of lettuce for a meal with friends coming up, so I thought I'd just take it all. I also cut off some Simpson lettuce and red lettuce.

I took pictures of the garden, but they are still on the camera, so that will wait.

Garden clean-up step one

I let the girls play with playdough on a kid's table in the shade while I worked on my tiny garden this morning. It was so hot and sunny already, but I was determined to get it done.

Using wire cutters I cut off the extra chicken wire that had been a collecting place for weeds. Then I went around the base folding up about three inches of the wire and using a bush and hedge shears to cut down the grass and weeds that were hiding the slugs. That alone looks so much better, even if there hadn't been any slugs to hid. It looks nice and neat.

Then I worked on killing the slugs I could see. I used salt. Probably not so nice for the slugs. I shook lots of salt around the base, hoping to deter other slugs. When I get more time later, I'll probably work on an actual garden pathway around the garden, but for now I can at least easily keep the weeds and grass cleared.

I'll take a picture once it's not so sunny. Maybe this evening.

Slugs and snails and garden tales

Edited to add last paragraph.

I'm just on a posting frenzy tonight.

I've been finding what I think are baby slugs or snails on my lettuce in my garden. From what I've found online, I think they are coming from the tall grasses and weeds surrounding the wood edge on the raised bed garden. Plus, it's been so rainy here and they like the wetness. Pests are my least favorite part of gardening. I can handle ants, but slugs/snails...ewww. I'm a wuss.

I have a few possible solutions. One is that some people say they are attracted to stale beer (how do you make beer stale?) and that they will drown in it if you place a cup or dish in the garden. I could also try an ammonia/water solution (1:3 or 4) and spray it right on the slugs to kill them. The last solution is to get rid of their hiding place: the tall grasses and weeds.

I'm definitely doing the last one even if I don't do the other two. I've been combing the internet for ideas on garden pathways around raised beds. I'm either putting the wrong words in the search engine or there is not much out there. I know I'll be cutting the grasses and weeds down right next to the garden, but then I'm trying to figure out if I should dig up the grass about for a two or three foot path around the perimeter of the garden (I would like to have more raised beds, so these would end up being aisles, that's why they are so wide) and then put down something. Most people I've read say to put down woodchips, but maybe something else would look better. I also wonder if I could just put down many (10 at least) layers of newspaper or some corrugated cardboard and then put some woodchips on top of that. Any ideas? Links? Garden forums where people are talking about these kinds of things?

In other fun news, I found an inch long green roma tomato on my plant today! Yay! Very exciting. :) I'll be ripping out most of the older lettuce and spinach later this week because a lot of it is going to seed. The basil is starting to grow and I'm trying to pinch the tops to make it bushier, but I don't know if I'm doing it right. After I rip the lettuces out, I don't know if I'm going to do anything in those squares. I'll have two empty squares. I don't know if there is anything I can plant right now.

Wish I had pictures to post, but they're on the camera and I'm too beat to get up and go downstairs to get that. :)

Okay, I found something on the iVillage Garden Web Forum. But I'm still open to suggestions. I'm thinking of cutting down weeds and grass right next to the bed and then laying down corrugated cardboard and then a few inches of wood chips. Should I wet the cardboard?

Garden photos

This is what our garden looked like when we got back from Texas at the beginning of May. There are no plants in the two squares on each side. The top left has 16 radish plants. Below them are 9 spinach plants. Top right is two black seeded simpson lettuce (the green) and two red salad bowl lettuce (one actually never made it and I replanted it). Below that are two winter density/bibb lettuce plants and one swiss chard (the other died and I recently replanted):


Before we left for NC I planted two tomato plants: an heirloom Brandywine and a Roma. I also planted two squares of basil (one in each square) and those are finally up, but haven't gotten past their seedling leaves.

We harvested our first radishes and lettuce on 5/20. I left them out in the sun while I let the girls play (and because Nate accidentally locked us out while he was showering after mowing the lawn) and the lettuce got a little wilted, but we ate it with tacos anyway. Becca even ate a leaf of lettuce with her tortilla and cheese. I have since harvested all the radishes and am planting that square with more lettuce (two simpson and two bibb) since we get our money's worth that way and I'm more likely to eat it.


I finally got a real fence up. I hammered in four metal posts and we used plastic ties to hold the chicken wire to them. I then attached the chicken wire to the wood with nails (no staple gun or would have used that) and keep it tied shut with some rope. We have yet to cut off the excess chicken wire. I wish the ends weren't so sharp. Anyway, the rabbit can't get my lettuce and I'm happy.

Random update

I've been MIA, I know. While in Texas I didn't have much computer access, so I didn't post, plus I didn't want to tell we were away from home.

We had a nice trip to Texas. We survived the drive, though we wish Nate's parents lived closer. I got a migraine on the way down and Nate watched the girls when we go to the hotel...good husband that he is. :) Our second day was a little rough since Ally didn't sleep as much and wasn't happy.

We spent our time there going to the park, playing on the front porch, and getting out shopping a little bit. Nate and I had a date one of the last days there. We went to Half Price Books and got lots of good books (Peter Pan, Just So Stories, Boxcar Children #1-3, 5, Jungle Books, Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, A Pocketful of Crickets, etc). Then we went to a yummy local restaurant for lunch and sat under their outdoor leaf-covered trellis. We topped that off with Ben and Jerry's. It was a nice time. Our last day there we went to our old church in Houston and had a delicious, homemade lunch with some dear, kind friends.

Our trip back was pretty good. We arrived home around 7-8pm, unpacked, and got to bed late.

Our garden is doing well. A rabbit or something got to the spinach, some of the radishes, and some of the lettuce when I left our cage off. I hope the spinach survives. Otherwise I might try to plant it again. One of my chard and one of my red lettuce died. I bought a roma seedling and a brandywine tomato seedling and those are in. I can't wait for the tomatoes! I'll plant basil seeds in a day or two.

Does anyone want a cat? We're looking for a home for Cassie. Praying for a loving, attentive (she needs lots of attention) home for her. Not really doing much looking, but hoping to find someone. It's sad, I know, but we think it would be best for all involved. We just don't give her enough attention since I rarely sit down, even in the evenings (though I do rest during the girls' rest time), to pet or play with her. I think she'd be responsive to clicker training, but I don't have the time or consistency to teach her. If we can't find anyone, we'll keep her and give her what we can.

Seedlings up

I forgot to mention that seedlings have been up for nearly a week. Becca's have been up for longer.

9/9 spinach seedlings up
6/6 lettuce seedlings up
1/2 bright lights chard up (these are red, so pretty)
0/16 radish seedlings up (I planted these only four days ago)

Yesterday it sleeted or hailed a little on our garden before I could run out there and cover it with the kiddie pool. I dragged Becca's pot inside. Only one spinach seedling seems to be damaged, but I have hopes it will survive.

First planting

Our first garden seeds are in the ground. Becca and I put them in this afternoon.

Square foot: 2 Black seeded simpson lettuce and 2 red salad bowl lettuce
Square foot: 2 Bright lights chard and 2 winter density bibb/romaine lettuce
Square foot: 9 tyee spinach

Becca also has a pot of her own. She chose to plant the simpson lettuce in hers. Becca helped me pinch a few seeds into each hole and cover them up.

New compost idea

So my friend Kate got me thinking from her comment on my last post and I went searching on how to compost in the city and found this idea that we are going to try instead of buying the Rolypig. We might even get two of them and still be saving a ton of money. :)

Also, here is a list of things you can compost.

Composter decision

I think I've decided on a composter: the Rolypig. It's a continuous composter, meaning that I can continuously add waste to it and don't have to wait for a batch to finish. And I just think it's cute. I smile every time I watch the video. I can't decide whether to get green or pink. Green in my favorite color and wouldn't stand out so much on our lawns, but pigs are pink.

I have other reasons for liking it too, that I would be willing to share if anyone really wanted to know, but I'm tired and wanting to get to bed.

Our day

It's way late, and even later with Daylight Savings time kicking in, but with Nate out with the guys tonight and no one for me to talk to, y'all get to hear me process through my day on here. :)

After getting up relatively on time, baking for the toddler shower, and saying goodbye to Nate, the girls and I left for errands at around 11 this morning. Becca packed snacks for herself and Ally--crackers and raisins and water and I made sure we had everything else.

Nate had packed the car with stuff to donate to Goodwill, so that was our first stop. I realized on the way there that it was Cartalk time on NPR, so I quickly switched on the radio. It always makes me smile to listen to them. Becca wanted to listen to a music station, but after hearing that this show made mommy happy, she agreed to be okay with NPR.

After Goodwill we headed to our main stop: Lowes. I had three separate groups of things I wanted to get there: supplies to make our square foot garden, supplies for making hula hoops, and paint.

We headed to the lumber area first, cause I figured that might be the hardest. We found some pine and got it cut to the appropriate sizes. Then we headed to the plumbing area.

After searching a few aisles, I happened upon the last package of 100 feet of poly tubing in the size I needed (3/4 inch diameter, 100 psi). While picking out the insert connectors, Becca informed me that she needed to use the restroom, so we trekked to the back of the store.

I was hoping that would be our only trip to the rest room, but once we got back up to the electric area, I realized that Ally had pooped. I should have checked her at the back. I quickly picked out a set of 7 colorful rolls of electrical tape (for hula hoops) and some plastic ties (for the garden), checked with a worker to see if I had the right couplings for the tubing and to find a tubing cutter, and then we headed all the way back to the bathroom.

Becca sweetly held the new diaper and wipe for me while I changed Ally since changing stations are rarely equipped with any sort of appropriate sized shelving (I think the people who design changing areas have never had to change a child's diaper in a restroom). All clean and fresh we headed back up to the front with both girls now riding in the are of the cart meant for one child (the other part was full).

We headed up to the paint section. I knew I had very little time to look, since both girls were getting antsy. I grabbed a few paint color samples (the paper kind) and then we headed out to find chicken wire.

While looking at chicken wire, Becca informed me that she had to go to the bathroom again. *sigh* I think I spend more time in the bathrooms of stores than actually shopping. I kindly informed her that she could wait this time. We went to pay for our items and headed to the car.

I drove through at Panera (I love our Panera---only a parent with young children who can't buckle themselves in can fully appreciate a drive-thru at Panera) and got a sandwich for me and a bagel, kid yogurts, and apple for the girls, with a lemonade for us all to share. We headed over to the park.

I parked near the playground and then we had to trek it over to the building that has the bathroom. Poor Becca really had to go by now and I tried to carry her a bit. When we got over there, though, it was closed. Argh. We headed back to the car.

At this point I had to make a decision. Go home or stay and work something out. Becca was almost crying she had to go so bad when we got to the car. I knew how much she had wanted to come to the park, so I decided to stay. I had one cloth diaper left, so I changed her into it and stuck a cover on her and told her to go. Unfortunately, what is an absorbent enough diaper for Ally is not for an almost 4-year-old and it pooled in the cover and started going down her leg. Ahhhh!

I grabbed some pants from the diaper bag and soaked up the pee, wiped her up and changed her back into her underwear and clothes. Then we finally got to eat.

The girls enjoyed playing at the park. Ally loved walking up the slide and sliding down with my help. Lots of giggles. Both girls enjoyed swinging. We took a brief walk over to the river and then Becca had to go again. Seriously!

We walked back and I tried another bathroom near the playground that I thought was closed...and it was. There weren't any port-a-potties in sight either. What do they expect kids to do? If she was a boy I would have taken her to the woods, but that's harder with a girl. So we headed home.

At home we had nap time and I finished a few things. After nap it was snack time, which was pretty much dinner time. Becca wanted a reading lesson, so we did the letter L. She's doing so well with the reading lessons. We do way less repetition and review than they have written (Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading) because she catches on so quickly.

After reading lesson we played outside a bit more. Becca dragged all the wood for our garden outside to build with it. First she built a garden and then a house. Who needs regular toys?! I called my mom and apologized for forgetting to do a Skype call with them in the afternoon. Then it was time to pack up and have baths.

We did end up doing a Skype call with Nana and Papa after getting ready for bed. Just a short one. Then books, Bible story, singing, prayer and to sleep. I still had tons to do after the girls fell asleep. I set up for the shower and now I realize that I totally forgot to put a load of laundry in the dryer. I'm sure that will smell great in the morning.

I treated myself to an episode of Numb3rs and a homemade bagel with cream cheese when I got it all done. I also worked on a baby hat that I'm knitting.

So that's our day. I'm sure I missed a few things. Especially those fun, cute things that make me smile. Like when Ally lays her head on my shoulder, wraps her arms around my shoulders and pats my back. Or when Becca asks Ally if Ally wants Becca to read to her. Or when Becca draws butts and breasts on people she is drawing. She's thorough. Too funny.

Anyway, goodnight. :) Thanks for listening.

Instruction Manuals

I've decided that one of the best ways to help me make my decision about what type of _______________ (insert whatever you are looking to buy--in my case, compost tumbler) to buy is to read the instruction manual. I have found a couple of the manuals online to download and they have helped me see how the composter really works in day to day uase, not just how it is advertised.

Reviews and such are also helpful, of course, but the instruction manuals have given me a few extra things to think about and have revealed information that was not available in the advertisements for the composters.

Compost Tumblers

These are ones I'm considering:

1. Urban Compost Tumbler

2. Sun-Mar 200

3. Rolypig

4. Envirocycle Composter


I would list the pros and cons, but I'm still trying to feel better from being sick for the last 24 hours, so it seems like too much effort to think it through right now.

Edited to Add:

Another composter...an indoor electric one that friend pointed out to me.

NatureMill Indoor Composter

It only uses about $0.50 of electricity a month and you can put dairy, meat, and fish products in it along with the usual veggie and fruit scraps. It takes about 2 weeks to produce compost and I can use it throughout the winter and put it right in my kitchen so it would be easy to dump scraps in there. Hmmm...

It's alive!

Proof that I can keep a plant alive for more than a month. I've had this Pothos since August and I barely pay attention to it.