Kitchen scraps and garbage

16 years ago

With just my wife and I, we have very little waste- something we did not eat one meal would be part of the next. Or I would cook enough at one time deliberately make a second meal. Most of our kitchen scraps were the very small amounts that might be stuck to the plate that I would wipe off with a paper towel or napkin.

I have always had an adequate amount of junk mail and cardboard for bedding. But I always wondered where some of you folks had so much actual food items to feed your worms.

Then my daughter and her two toddlers came to spend the week. Suddenly, I have more food scraps than my worms could possibly handle. I am dumping that and paper products into my compost by the bucket load. (I'll let that process down some and then feed it to my worms later.)

My brother, sister, and their families are in town for little family reunion. They are not staying with me, but because I have a pool, my house has been Party Central. Pizza boxes and fast food bags and wrappers are going into the compost whole. Beer consumption has been high and my large recycle bin is full of bottles. I have several empty boxes stacked that I will have to cut up to save for later.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (9)

smalltowngal
16 years ago
I have a 2 and 4 year old so I don't have a shortage of food scraps. I also try to eat 9 servings of fruits/vegetables a day so I end up with a lot of apple cores, banana peals, rinds, celery and squash ends, tomato tops, etc. Our first chicken just started laying eggs so soon we'll have 4+ eggs shells a day we can add to the mix.
alabamanicole
16 years ago
A lot depends on whether you cook from scratch or not. If you buy canned or frozen veggies, all the ends and bits and piece you don't normally eat are gone.

Right now I am just tossing garden produce that's too damaged or got picked at the wrong time back in the garden instead in the worm bucket, and I still have too much for the worms to handle.
Related Professionals
Forrest City Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Poughkeepsie Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Kenosha Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Tuscaloosa Landscape Contractors · Alexandria Landscape Contractors · Starkville Landscape Contractors · Texarkana Landscape Contractors · Coldwater Landscape Contractors · San Jose Landscape Contractors · Billings Landscape Contractors · Columbia Stone, Pavers & Concrete · Ithaca Stone, Pavers & Concrete · Boise Stone, Pavers & Concrete · Ontario Stone, Pavers & Concrete · Evanston Stone, Pavers & Concrete
antoniab
16 years ago
During the winter, I have very few scraps, because I buy mostly canned or frozen veg. I have lots in the house, including a granddaughter toddler living with us, but not a lot of food waste. But in the summer, with fruit and veggie peels and canning and freezing the extras, I have huge amounts for the worms, and the compost pile. This fall will be crazy too, with apples and pumpkins coming out our ears.
Oddly enough, I was just looking at the worms and noticing that a lot of the little buggers looked odd. Smaller, bluer, faster.
I think I am in the middle of a PE run, so they should be able to handle some of the bounty, but will die off this fall. That is OK with me. I don't like how they always are trying to get out of the bin, even with the light on, and how they compete with my sweet, fat ENC.
jim08204
16 years ago
I don't know if I'll ever kick my bachelor diet. If worms lived on beer and pizza, I'd be set. I planted tomatoes and cucumbers to feed the worms, but my wife eats them as soon as I pick them. I never really mentioned they were for the worms. I learned a lot in 15 months of matrimony! As I hope to be be able to have enough space for 100 pounds of worms, I need a source of food as well. Yesterday, I spoke to the owner of a new produce store opening around the corner. I will soon have everything they intended to throw away. Just ask around Pjames. - Jim
fam62cc
16 years ago
I have asked at the Piggley Wiggley where we have traded for years but no luck. They don't want to be bothered and I can't dumpster dive because it is closed and locked. There are pumpkin and cabbage fields not to far away and they are always covered with unharvested leavings. I don't think I would get into any trouble lifting some of those.

Dave Nelson
smalltowngal
16 years ago
Dave: Look on craiglist for someone willing to let you harvest their trees or fields. A lot of people will advertise that they have extra, you just need to go pick it. You could also put up an add that you're wanting to glean.
randomz
16 years ago
Look for any horse stables close by, they are usually happy to give away horse manure, and worm food doesn't get much better than that!
fam62cc
16 years ago
Smalltowngal&Randomz;

Thanks, good advice from both. I really don't have much of a problem. Unless I expand my operation our own scraps suffice. I;m just speculating on the future.

I will, in fact, soon be looking for someone who would like to get started and I would give them a good start. I just don't want to get involved in shipping and mailing.

Dave
Jasdip
16 years ago
I love this time of year!
With Hallowe'en coming up, I posted on our FreeCycle site (you can do the same with Craigslist, I would think, if you don't have FreeCycle); that I wanted people's pumpkins.

I got lots of offers from people that said I was welcome to theirs. I drove around town and picked up about 24 pumpkins last year!

Had a blast and people got a kick giving them to me for the worms. Now I have had people email me, wanting to know if they should save their pumpkins for me!

I chopped them all up, (kept some uncut ones for pumpkin soup for us) and kept them in the freezer. Wonderful food source for the lads.