Just Takin' Out the Compost

Does your compost pile look like mine does after a long, snowy winter?

Next fall we're going to have to remember to empty the bin out prior to the winter, so this vegetable and fruit explosion doesn't happen again. Yuck... or yum.... depending on your perspective. There's a mama cardinal that likes to drop by for bits of fruit, a raccoon that has been known to haul off egg shells and coffee filters filled with grounds (WHY??) and our dog seems to enjoy sharing apple and pear cores with the dog next door.

I like to think about the rich, beautiful soil that we'll be able to harvest as soon as it thaws and the life that will come forth from the cast-off scraps.

When I'm cleaning the kitchen after the kids go to bed and take the compost bucket outside in the dark, I often think of a funny story about my friend/former roommate Stephanie. Just out of college we lived on Franklin Avenue in the Wedge area of Minneapolis... a safe-enough area, but also potentially not-so-safe. Late one evening she was walking out to the compost pile in a dark, shadowy area of the yard when an unsavory character stumbled by, obviously drunk or worse, mumbling. He noticed her, moved closer and tried to engage her in conversation. Instead of running for her life, she said, "I'm just takin' out the compost." He departed immediately.