Composting

I have wanted to start composting for awhile now, but hadn't ever gotten around to it, so I finally made a composting box and got a pile going. I found these easy to follow directions on the net. It was fun using the screwdriver to drill the wholes in the box. I'm sure my neighbors were cracking up to see me in the backyard going to town on the box with the power tools.

I had been saving scraps for awhile, but since I didn't have any dry material it turned into a big moldy and slimy mess so I threw away my first attempt and started again. I followed the directions and here is my lovely pile of compost. We didn't have any dry material so I picked up grass clippings from my neighbors yard. Once again I am sure that the neighbors must think I am crazy. I know that Jai does. When he first found my stash of scraps to throw in there he said, and I quote, "What the hell is this?" When I explained to him what it was he just rolled his eyes and called me a tree hugger. I took it as a compliment!!! We recycle everything, but I still wanted to find a way to reduce the amount of trash we were throwing away. Problem solved!

I will keep you posted on how my compost pile is doing because I know it is a real burning desire that you all have!!!

Human Footprint

I watched an interesting program on the National Geographic channel called the Human Footprint. I just thought I would share some interesting information that I learned.
Since we use a lot of diapers around this house I found this scary. In an average child's life time they will go through 3,796 disposable diapers. In order to make these diapers here are just some of the ingredients it will take: 1,898 pints of crude oil, 715 lbs of plastic and 4.5 trees. After these diapers are used it is estimated that they will take over 500 years to biodegrade. The estimate is that there are 80 billion diapers used a year in the world. The funny think is that we use them because they are supposed to be so convenient, but they sure are not convenient to make and definitely not convenient to get rid of. I was feeling pretty good about myself for using cloth diapers until they said it takes 22,455 gallon of water to wash them, but I am sure that water is used in the manufacturing process of disposable diapers. I guess you are going to leave a human footprint whether you like it or not, but at least I feel like I am not going to leave thousands of diapers that will still be here 500 years from now. Boy is that leaving something for posterity. It is funny because when people find out that I use cloth diapers they look at me like I have two heads and then most people just admit that they are to lazy to us them. I don't know why they think it is so much work to use cloth diapers. All you do is throw them in the washing machine every 4 or 5 days and then hang them up do dry.
If all of this information has inspired you to try cloth diapers then here is the website where I ordered ours. www.motherease.com. I have to say that I love using these diapers. They are not the things our poor mothers had to use with pins and plastic pants. They are so easy to use and wash and we hardly ever have leaks. I use liners that just get flushed down the toilet, that way the poo doesn't end up in the land fills where the bacteria can cause problems ( I bet you never thought of that). Plus nothing feels better on a bare bottom than nice soft cotton.

If you are interested in more information on the Human Footprint, you can check out the site at http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/human-footprint/