Guerrilla composting

Anne Miller wrote:You could put those diced straps in water then let them sit for a week and water those pretty plants.

Anne Miller wrote:Do you have pretty plants at your condo that could use fertilizer?

Most folks I know that have condos usually have pretty plants near their front door.

You could put those diced straps in water then let them sit for a week and water those pretty plants.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:

Regarding harm to animals, I have no real concerns. Wild animals are pretty smart about what they can and cannot eat.

Mike Haasl wrote:I suspect that if any of that was bad for one of those critters, they wouldn't over indulge in it.  Meat/fat might be a different issue but I wouldn't be worried about fruit/veggies at all...  Especially if you're spreading it around and not making one big pile.  Congratulations on returning that material to nature instead of the landfill!

Jean Soarin wrote:The carcasses were filled with mostly plastic & other manufactured trash the birds had eaten.  How do you explain that?

Anne said, "    You could put those diced straps in water then let them sit for a week and water those pretty plants.

Jean said, "I must admit that I'd never heard of doing this.  I have houseplants which could benefit.  Is a week the longest they should soak

Jean Soarin wrote: A few of you have said something about animals only eating what’s good for them.  I wanted to believe that, but then I remembered the images I’d seen of dead bird carcasses on an island thousands of miles from anywhere.  The carcasses were filled with mostly plastic & other manufactured trash the birds had eaten.  How do you explain that?

Anne said, "    You could put those diced straps in water then let them sit for a week and water those pretty plants.

If your residence has large mulched beds of decorative plants, you could skip the water-soaking and just bury your scraps in the mulch by raking them aside, dumping your stuff and raking the mulch back over it. If you can make it look neat and critters don't dig it up, all is well. (That's probably not possible for half the year while the mulch is frozen.)[/quote wrote:

I would do this if I had my own yard, but in this condo building, I'd be inviting trouble. Thanks anyways.

Tereza Okava wrote:I think your friend may be partially right-- avocado is supposed to be toxic to rabbits - my bokashi is probably about half avocado pits and skins because they eat almost everything else of my kitchen waste (not their choice, just to be clear: i don't give it to them, I don't believe rabbits or even anything else will avoid something that will make them sick, especially if this plant isn't part of the local ecosystem).

Steve Boyd wrote:We put everything (including avocado peels & nuts (crushed up), citrus peels, onion skins) through our Bokashi system and then into the worm farms - works a treat.  Make sure you regularly empty off the Bokashi liquid to avoid the strong odor that sometimes develops in the bottom bucket.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:I agree that keeping it out of the landfill is preferable. Unfortunately Winnipeg does not seem to have a composting program for kitchen scraps, only for yard waste.

Respectfully, I suggest that there is a fine line between "guerilla composting" and "littering." Peels from fruits and nut shells can take many years to break down in our climate.

You mention you are chopping them up -- good! Mince them up super fine and they will have better soil contact. Even better, after mincing, would be to use some anaerobic digesting or fermentation process so the breakdown has already begun before you dispose of them.

Unfortunately Winnipeg does not seem to have a composting program for kitchen scraps, only for yard waste.  

Ellen Lewis wrote:

Unfortunately Winnipeg does not seem to have a composting program for kitchen scraps, only for yard waste.  

Well, I suspect the process is the same, and the materials are not significantly different. Whenever I live where there is a composting program for yard waste I put food scraps in it.
If I don't want it to be obvious I put them in a brown bag first.
I can't imagine a process that can compost tree branches that cannot deal with orange peels and avocado pits.

Jean Soarin wrote:Actually, Winnipeg is finally starting offering a user-funder composting service.  I've pitched this to our condo board as a solution to the odour problem in our garbage room.  I'm hoping they'll be willing to try it out.

Gary Numan wrote:Back on topic:
>> one of my environment-friendly neighbours who said that this is bad for certain animals.
I cannot think of any kitchenscraps that are *harmful* to wildlife.
I've always heard, 'Don't feed citrus to your chickens!'  Turns out you can, not harmful, chickens just don't like the stuff.

Anne Miller wrote:Most vegetable peeling can be saved in the freezer and then made into nutritious vegetable broth.
Carrots, onions, and potatoes are the ones I use the most. Just about any scrap vegetable parts work too.