A Blustery Day

After a dark and stormy night, our power is out at home. Which means I'm stealing a brief moment of someone else's power to write a blog post to say there will be no blog post today. See you on Windsday, as the silly old bear would say!

Grab Bag Friday: Cold Is Relative

Okay, we can all admit to succumbing to the charms of the occasional forwarded message. My dad (in Wisconsin) just sent me this one, and maybe it's because the weather has been dipping below zero around here and freezing my brain cells, but it struck me as hilarious.

A lot of it, by the way, is not *that* much of an exaggeration--my sisters have totally sunbathed at 60, and my husband has used the outdoor grill in temperatures lower than 35!

(The picture is a van outside my mom's bedroom window in Idaho.)

COLD IS A RELATIVE THING. . . . . .
65 above zero:
Floridians turn on the heat.
People in Wisconsin plant gardens.
60 above zero:
Californians shiver uncontrollably.
People in Wisconsin sunbathe.
50 above zero:
Italian & English cars won't start.
People in Wisconsin drive with the windows down.
40 above zero:
Georgians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves, wool hats.
People in Wisconsin throw on a flannel shirt.
35 above zero:
New York landlords finally turn up the heat.
People in Wisconsin have the last cookout before it gets cold.
20 above Zero:
People in Miami all die.
Wisconsinites close the windows.

Zero:
Californians fly away to Mexico .
People in Wisconsin get out their winter coats.
10 below zero:
Hollywood disintegrates.
The Girl Scouts in Wisconsin are selling cookies door to door.
20 below zero:
Washington DC runs out of hot air.
People in Wisconsin let the dogs sleep indoors.
30 below zero:
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Wisconsinites get upset because they can't start the Snow-mobile.
40 below zero:
ALL atomic motion stops.
People in Wisconsin start saying...'Cold enough fer ya?'
50 below zero:
Hell freezes over.
Wisconsin public schools will open 2 hours late.

How to Compost #4: Mix the Materials

First off, a thoughtful, interesting article was posted at the San Francisco Chronicle yesterday. It's called You Cannot Save the Earth by columnist Mark Morford. Check out the article and if you have any thoughts/opinions (I do, of course), please post a comment & let me know what you think. Thanks to Tom's Music Film Ohio Politics n Stuff for the link!

So, turning the compost. I am already weeks behind the idyllic composting schedule I had set up in my mind when I started this thing. I figured, begin in March, have compost in May, just in time for Spring planting! Except I didn't factor in one important element: Maine weather.

The reason you turn a compost pile is to make it decompose faster. When you turn the pile (either in a tumbler or with a pitchfork if you have a basic pile) oxygen goes in, carbon dioxide waste is able to be released, and your garbage decomposes faster. Also, if your compost begins to smell like rotten eggs, turning it (giving it more oxygen) will make the smell go away (at least, this is what I am told). Want a more scientific explanation? Visit the Cornell University site.

You can never turn your compost and it will still decompose. But it may take a year or more. The more you turn it, the quicker you'll see results. My plan was to turn our composter every couple of days, aiming for finished compost in 6-12 weeks.

Of course that was my plan. Until I could no longer access my backyard because of the giant snow mountain created by our (much-appreciated, don't get me wrong!) neighborhood snow plow. And then during the torrential rains that followed (knocking out lots of electricity and our roof shingles, not to mention flooding our basement), I somehow didn't feel like heading out to check on the compost.

But today! Honestly. Truly. Beautiful sunshine! Wispy, white clouds! Our composter has been turned. Based on the fully intact and healthy-looking carrots we deposited a couple weeks ago, no progress has been made in the compost bin since March. I blame cold temperatures and lack of turning. Kevin blames the State of Maine for their inaction against the unacceptable weather conditions (can't somebody do something about all this snow?)

Soon, though. I think the worst is over. My new goal: compost in June. That's still plenty of summer to use compost in my garden, right?

Here's the link to the Time Magazine article "51 Things We Can Do to Save the Environment" that Mark Morford mentioned in his SFC article.

On a smaller, less global scale, here's a link to a simple, short, and handy list of What to do in the Garden in April.

Missed anything in this series? It's easy to catch up:

Step 1: Make it a Priority
Step 2: Choose a System
Interlude: Nature Tried to Kill My Composter
Step 3: Collect Organic Material
Step 4: Mix the Materials
Step 5: Moisten the Mixture
Step 6: Wait
Interlude: The Lightbulb Change
Interlude: The Yogurt Change
Interlude: The Sponge Change
Interlude: The Leftover Change
Interlude: The Napkin Change
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part One
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part Two
Sun-Mar 200 Compost Update
Sun-Mar 200: Starting All Over Again
Step 7: Use Your Compost
Step 8: Sun Mar 200 Garden Composter Review