My dad bought me a full-sized ComposTumbler that was delivered while he was visiting, so he helped me by assembling it yesterday. I have three composts going already (one open-ish pile in chicken wire and 2×4’s and two black plastic cube ones) which are producing fairly well, although the open-ish one is hard to manage. I’m thinking about transferring a lot of the material from the open-ish pile to the new tumbler. It has a whole manual about how to get 14 day compost but I do not have the correct ratios right now nor the interest to temp it, use activator, etc. so I’ll have slower compost but that’s not a big deal to me. It’s a batch composter, which means you have to stop adding material and let it “cook” to get the finished product, but that’s ok b/c I’ll still have the other composts to put my kitchen scraps in, etc.

Hoping to gather some of my thoughts and dreams regarding a future all-white flower garden: White Desert Dreams

Yesterday my husband and I were walking through Fred Meyer looking for a composter that was on sale. We have one we’re borrowing, and a couple more open mesh ones, but this one was a good price and we had the need for it…our current ones are overflowing. Our local store didn’t carry it but we were in a different city for a BBQ and stopped in to see if they had one in stock. They did…we got their last one.

As we were walking out we saw an Earthwise lawnmower that someone had apparently returned, as there were the remains of grass in the catcher. We had just been talking on our way down that we’d really like to get a mulching mower (we’re borrowing a lawnmower from our landlord and even with composting the clippings and using them for mulch we can’t keep up with what is produced from out large lawn), so we stopped and took a look. It was on a deep discount, and while we wondered why the person had returned it, we figured we always could, too!

It folded right up and fit in our car’s trunk. When we got home I tried it out by mowing a bunch of our backyard. It starts up instantaneously, is fairly quiet, and with the mulching plug you couldn’t even see the clippings. Yay! I was amazed…the gas mower I couldn’t even start or push, and our reel mower that we use for the lower lawn I’m barely able to push on the upper lawns, so this is a big change. I also like how if I do need clippings for some reason we’re able to put the bagging attachment on for collection.

Interestingly, the magazine that inspired our discussion about mulching mowers on the way down, ShopSmart, also gave it good reviews, under the brand name Homelite (which I didn’t realize was the same thing until after we’d bought it and were doing some research). So anyway, we haven’t tried the whole yard with it, but so far are very pleased.

But maybe we didn’t need that new composter after all, since part of what we were going to put in it was grass clippings! Ha!

Picked up National Geographic’s new Green Guide magazine today at the bookstore. I learned quite a few things from it and have already subscribed. In an article on CFL’s they suggested some found at eartheasy.com…poking around I found this interesting low-flow showerhead that also features a “trickle/savings mode” when the water reaches 95 degrees. I’m thinking this would be a great option for my husband since being the first shower-taker of the day means it takes awhile for his shower to be warm enough. I also really like their low-flow handheld showerhead (we use a handheld when bathing the girls), their indoor composter, and this barrel composter.