Open Thread
By John Cole May 30th, 2010
I swear it has to be 90 degrees here, with nasty humidity. I am completely soaked after mowing the grass and weed-eating. Also, earlier, I said “It’s too hot,” and of course this has been going through my head for three hours:
BTW- my pansies crack me up. I went out this morning and they were all bent over hanging over the side of the pot, looking like they were dead. I dumped some water in them, came back out twenty minutes later, and they were all standing at attention, looking beautiful.
Also- does anyone have any experience with this indoor compost keeper?
Posted in Black Thumb, Open Thread
I love it that your pansies can crack you up.
Before I clicked on that video, I was thinking it would be:
Hot town, summer in the city
back o’ my neck getting dirty and gritty
bend down, isn’t it a pity
doesn’t seem to be a shadow in the city
all ‘round people lookin’ half dead
walkin’ on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head
...but yeah, the humidity in your part of the world is a killer. I hate humidity.
May 30th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
I’ve been tempted to get one of those-we generate a lot of kitchen scraps.
Watching the start of the Indianapolis 500. Brent Musberger is such a f**king tool.
May 30th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
Atlanta has 150% humidity today but not that hot. Heat doesn’t matter as much as humidity.
I’m interested in the indoor compost pail too. Mr Screaming has an organic veggie garden again this year and I’m trying to save as much as I can but it gets odorous very quickly inside.
May 30th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
and weed-eating.
Was there a Thursday night recipe for this?
May 30th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
I use an ice bucket like this. I like it because the plastic lid lets me see that it needs to be take out to the compost bin. I fill it up fast enough that odors, etc haven’t been a problem. Also, the handle is nice for carrying it out there.
May 30th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
Speaking for Lily: Yes, please buy an indoor compost keeper that looks exactly like a fire hydrant.
May 30th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
It’s cute and will look nice on your counter, but you could really use anything with a cover. There is really no such thing as an “indoor compost keeper” since it’s gonna get pretty funky, pretty fast. Just empty whatever container you use ever day and it won’t smell. I think you said you bought an outdoor composter, which is a great idea. Composting is just the best.
May 30th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
Is it possible that the Star Wars movies are actually getting worse as they age in the vault? Spike is running them all today, and Attack of the Clones is killing me. Watching Natalie Portman and the truly awful Hayden Christensen discuss political theory is almost making me wish for Jar Jar Binks to show up.
May 30th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
@licensed to kill time:
Here you go, from the days when lip-synching was a legitimate option.
May 30th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Indoor compost keeper? Hmm, only if there’s worms in there. Keep it outside, Cole. It’s the only kind I have experience with.
May 30th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
My parents have discovered that blue jays like dry cat food. They’ll even fight over it.
May 30th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
I use this one which is basically the same thing only in stainless steel. IME, it works pretty well, no smells or anything. I have found the biodegradable bags that are often sold with it to be useless though. Perhaps if I took the bag out immediately after putting something in it it might do ok, but I prefer to have a few items in the bucket before emptying it (ie, I’m lazy). The moisture is enough to seep through the bag making it too fragile to use to carry stuff just in the bag, and I still feel the need to rinse the compost bucket anyway.
May 30th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
Looking it over, I’d pass. too many accessories that need replacing: filters, bags. Composting is a simple pile, clean yard waste and nearly minimal efforts.
May 30th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
@ruemara: These are basically nice looking slop buckets, not actual composters. The goal is just to hold stuff for a few days before taking it outside.
May 30th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Yes.
May 30th, 2010 at 1:35 pm
@PeakVT: Weed Soup. No need to wait. The basic technique works with all sorts of leafy greens.
May 30th, 2010 at 1:36 pm
Too hot? I would have gone with this. (Complete with Japanese subtitles!)
Bonus track: and here’s the original!
May 30th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
@Steeplejack:
Thanks, that put a smile on my face! John Sebastian’s muttonchops were threatening to take over his chin, and they all were having fun laughing at the absurdity of the lipsynch.
This reminds me of a weird late night commercial I have seen that has Peter Fonda (looking Larry King-sepulchral) touting a set of 60’s compilation cd’s for some insane amount of money. It has the Easy Rider motorcycle as a prop, an improbably painted VW bus, a lava lamp, and a bunch of middle-aged pasty white people milling around looking nostalgic. Peter Fonda looks completely embarrassed at shilling the cd’s and is accompanied by a much younger female co-host who pretends to have actually heard the songs. The snippets of song+video are priceless…I had forgotten some of the truly goofy outfits that were worn onstage, not to mention the facial hair.
edit: it also has as a prop one of those white egg shaped chairs that had speakers inside…I listened to The White Album about 5 times in a row wedged into one of those chairs with my best friend. Great sound.
May 30th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
@Steeplejack:
The entire story arc always ate ass. It never did make any sense. The only redeeming quality of the thing was Leia’s slave girl outfit in “Return of the Jedi”.
May 30th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
Dude, you’ve got a compost heap outside… save your kitchen scraps in an old plastic tupperware container, or coffee can with lid and take it out and dump it in the compost heap every other day… my mom did that for years… no smell in the house as the container was covered and was taken out when it got full… about every other day.
May 30th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
I puttered about in the garden this morning, too.
May 30th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
@sukabi: I don’t want to look at a pile of refuse in a tupperware container every time I walk into the kitchen.
May 30th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
@John Cole: put it under your sink cabinet with your trash bags, cleaners and other crap.
May 30th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Watched “An Education” on the flight home yesterday. That is a really really good film.
May 30th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
It is not only too hot, there’s way too much light in this bar.
May 30th, 2010 at 1:57 pm
We use this to hold a few day’s worth of compost. Basically a stainless steel bucket with lid, which is plenty good enough.
@jeffreyw:
Nice shots as usual, J. Seeing that bumblebee reminds me that I haven’t seen a honeybee all year, and I’ve got a lawn full of clover. It used to be humming on days like this, but now it’s silent. So sad.
Well, lunch is over. Time to go find something to do in the shade. It’s almost 90 here in the exurbs of DC, where the humility factor is always near zero.
May 30th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
i’ll trade you. it’s fifty and overcast here, and i’m supposed to go to a pig roast.
also, re: compost and kitchen scraps, i have a three-tiered system. i keep a small container in the freezer door for incidentals, a 2-gallon bucket with a sealing top next to the trash, and, since i live in lovely, enlightened seattle, we have a compost bin by the dumpster that the city comes and empties every week.
you could also just get an iguana. or a pot-bellied pig.
May 30th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
I think you’ll find that that compost keeper is too small for your needs when you’re cooking a big ol’ pot of something. And you’re enough of a neat freak (your denials are frankly hilarious), that you’re not likely to leave it sitting on your counter for long even when there’s just a little bit in it. So I think that for you it would be a gimmicky thing that would work even less well than just a big open bowl.
If you want something dedicated to scraps and a big bowl doesn’t appeal, I recommend keeping an eye out for an old aluminum or enamel soup pot with a lid and bucket-style handle, like would’ve been used for camping before everything got compact.
May 30th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
Slinking out of the shadows as this is sort of my jam. I found that one too small, but I cook a lot. It also breaks should you slip in the yard while dumping it. Which I did. The stainless steel with the charcoal filter in the lid is what I’ve got now.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ.....ss_product
Two actually. One for the pit and one for the worms (no onions or garlic for the worms). It’s just right.
May 30th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
@sukabi: Any sort of plastic container is a recipe for nasty. Plastic binds stink molecules, so the whole thing will smell horrid every time its opened. A sealed container will also hold in moisture and accelerate the stinkifying inside. That means that its unpleasant to just have the vessel open while doing food prep, which is of course when its best to have it open and available.
May 30th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
I have a stainless steel compost pail w/cover (no holes) on our countertop. Looks decent & easy to clean.
I wanted to speed up the decomposition process in our outdoor compost piles so I have been putting veggie & fruit waste in the food processor & reducing them to small chunks. I know it sounds anal but it really has made a difference in getting lovely dirt much faster.
Our son living in a small apt in NY City has a plastic bin w/cover that he composts in. He gardens in pots in the small patio. He puts his produce waste in a bowl, freezes in the freezer to break it down. Then he adds it to shredded newspaper, egg shells, coffee grounds & mixes it up every day. There is no odor.
May 30th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
@John Cole: or if you don’t want to bend and put it under the cabinet, you could peel your veggies into a bowl or pot and take them out to the compost heap after you’re done preparing your meal… no need for any extra crap to clutter up your counter.
May 30th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
@malraux: my mom did this for years… took it out every other day to dump it and rinsed it out after dumping… she used old giant margarine containers and when they got too old / started to crack she’d recycle that one and start on another… they never did have a problem with it smelling.
May 30th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
@malraux:
then, meh. ikea plastic bucket for me.
May 30th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
The Wall St. Journal reviwed indoor compost keepers a few years ago. This one was mentioned.
May 30th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
Those were invented by Roger Dean, famous for his Yes album covers, but who should be famous for many other things, too.
May 30th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
@sukabi: Or he could get a compost pail. If one has the space for them and uses it, its not like they are over the top wastes of resources or counter space. For my house, the compost piles are along an unlit portion of the house, so it’s a pain to take stuff out when it’s dark. If its raining, I’d rather not stand there and get wet while I cover the newest additions, etc. I’ve got a huge length of counter space, so its not like the pail interferes with the ability to use the kitchen.
May 30th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
If it’s 90 degrees there, the pansies may have perked up today but they won’t be looking so good inside a week. Hot weather is not their friend.
RE: the indoor compost keeper: if you want to get one to keep on the countertop, just…don’t. Unless you plan on emptying it every day, you will eventually end up with fruit flies or some other pest multiplying in it, unless you get the type with no air holes, which also eliminates the need for filters. Clearly the idea behind the filters is that you won’t be emptying the thing every day; otherwise there would be no odor problem, so they design the things with air holes in the top and a filter, and the air holes are really handy for letting insects in and out. I haven’t seen any recently without the air holes. Anyway, if you can find one without airholes and with a tight-fitting gasket, countertop is fine. But an empty plastic pet food container with a screw-on lid kept under the sink works just as well.
May 30th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
A bed of pansies, just a face in the crowd.
May 30th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
@licensed to kill time:
I think I saw a few minutes of that infomercial. Really bad.
I had an epiphanal moment a year or so ago when I realized that YouTube has tons of old vidoes, not just new ones. Duh. Some of the jazz stuff I found was really amazing, e.g., Miles Davis (with John Coltrane) doing “So What” in 1959.
It had never occurred to me how much of this stuff was still in existence, much less posted on YouTube.
Here’s something closer to the Lovin’ Spoonful: the (very young) Rolling Stones doing “The Last Time.”
May 30th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Haven’t had much of a music post in a while and this seemed appropriate considering current events.
Big H/T Power Pop
May 30th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
@Poopyman: I’ve seen a few, but it’s something to remark upon these days. Hoping to find some at the bee balm this morning.
May 30th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
90 here w humidity to match. Yuck.
May 30th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
Best blog line EVER!
May 30th, 2010 at 2:34 pm
@WereBear:
Speaking of album covers, that’s another thing that has disappeared from the music listening experience. As delivery systems shrunk from albums to tapes to cd’s to invisible digital files, lying around gazing at album covers and reading all the liner notes while listening to the music is a thing of the past. Looking at postage stamp sized cover art on your iPod just ain’t the same.
This is not an original observation, I know. But it was a big part of music at one time, and practically the only way for artists to speak directly to their listeners. We studied those liner notes.
May 30th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Since he’s been almost lost in the recent news, a historical Onion mention of Gary Coleman.
http://www.theonion.com/articl.....983,10600/
Also, too, cellist Maya Beiser was interviewed on NPR this morning. She plays wonderfully and does a Zeppelin song to boot. What one cannot know from the radio is that she’s astonishingly hawt, a point on which teh googles have gotten me up to date.
http://mayabeiser.com/
May 30th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
Mphff diver
May 30th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Or, if you’re a simple bourgeois coffee drinker, save the next big ole plastic coffee tub (or just compromise your taste for a week or two), punch a crossed hole in the lid and go crazy. Short of a really large meal, chopping the discards into small pieces (which also accelerates decomp) should allow you to hold quite a bit before dumping.
May 30th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
@Steeplejack:
When people ask why anybody ever thought Mick Jagger was hot, they should look at this baby-face faun with the sultry eyes and Those Lips! Good Gawd.
May 30th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
@John Cole:
Oh fine, make fun of my cooking.
May 30th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
Phoebe nestling
May 30th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
@jeffreyw: “Mphff diver” made me laugh. Great photo, too.
May 30th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
@Beckylooo: Well now that you’re out, hope you’ll post more often. New voices are always fun.
May 30th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
@Bill E Pilgrim:
Lulz. Was thinking the same thing. I’ve got a really old Tupperware container that I use for compost. You can barely make out what’s inside it. It sits in the shadows at the back of the counter under the cabinets and isn’t very noticeable.
I tried one of those fancy pants indoor compost keepers that I received as a gift. Didn’t work at all for me. I went right back to the ancient Tupperware container. Tight fitting lid means no smells. Works just fine.
May 30th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
@SiubhanDuinne: I giggled when I captioned it. Hee hee.
May 30th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Compost keepers is like some sort of organic evangelical male supremacy organization, right?
May 30th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
@licensed to kill time:
My vote for improbably hot goes to Joni Anderson.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2NgDnX-Uwo
May 30th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
@trollhattan:
Yea, Joni was dentally challenged and a bit horse-faced, but her voice more than made up for it. I find real talent to be a major hot factor all by itself. Singer/songwriters are right at the top of the heap.
@Bill E. Pilgrim “Compost keepers” FTW. You consistently crack me up.
May 30th, 2010 at 3:11 pm
I like the look to the Lee Valley compost bucket – and it will be lighter to handle and easier to clean than the ceramic one. Also indestructible.
May 30th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
We bought the smallest Simply Human trashcan
http://www.simplehuman.com/pro.....round.html
They have a plastic liner, and we put in a grocery vegtable bag liner too to lessen the cleaning needed. No smell when the lid is closed. None.
J R
May 30th, 2010 at 3:20 pm
Yes, and there were some lovely, elaborate, ahead of their time multimedia things going on with it. I once had the Gentle Giant album with the “Giant for a Day” mask that came with it.
May 30th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
We have that exact countertop compost holder in stainless steel. It works well as long as you empty it every couple days into your outdoor composter. It has a removable filter in the lid that eliminates odors pretty well (until the lid is removed of course). If you leave it too long, fruit flies will breed in there, which isn’t like an epic disaster.
May 30th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
@licensed to kill time:
So I buy vinyl. Almost every new release now comes out in vinyl, and as a bonus, you get a coupon for an MP3 download. It’s the best of both worlds.
Just got the new Avett Brothers on vinyl. The Avetts are a recent discovery for me, thanks to our son (who has stellar taste in music). “I Would Be Sad” and “The Weight Of Lies”, from the previous album “Emotionalism”, are incredible examples of songwriting.
May 30th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
@trollhattan:
Nobody is hotter….
May 30th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
@JR in WV:
Let’s make a compact here and now to not tell Cole about vermiculture composting. He’ll be blogging about how the worms are getting along with Lily, and how Tunch is scheming to release them.
May 30th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
I use the large plastic cat litter containers that have the flip lid. Tidy Cat, I think, is the brand. The plastic is hard enough that it doesn’t absorb orders and the handle really helps. Also, I have always dumped a layer of baking soda in my kitchen compost if I’m not immediately taking it out to the remote compost areas. It makes for a less pungent opening and closing and I don’t notice as many fruit flies. I am rather a creature of habit with my chores and years ago started scrubbing garbage cans, outdoor pet food dishes, compost containers, and the like with vinegar and baking soda on Saturday mornings. That definitely keeps the compost container easier to maintain during the week. My children think I’m nuts to scrub garbage cans but they also use Saturday mornings in their own households to do their own heavy cleaning. Ha. We turn into our mothers.
May 30th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
@Steeplejack: Yes they are aging badly. I had the EXACT same reaction today. That movies sucks so hard is creates a vortex around it. Episodes 4-6 are still very good but even they are getting musty. But “Clones” is dreadful.
May 30th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
@Fern: Lee Valley has awesome kitchen stuff. I’m a big fan.
Here’s their compost bucket.
May 30th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
ArcAttack was OK, but Dance Dance Immolation was much hotter back in the day.
And they used to let anybody do it.
May 30th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
Hey, thanks for exorcising a small ghost. In the very hot summer of 1975 I was playing guitar in a top-40 funk band (it wasn’t called disco yet, but that’s what we did.) Playing five sets a night 7 days a week of whacka-whacka-chunka-chunka put me permanently off performing, as well as “funky” music. I blamed Kool, but they aren’t so terrible in that youtube (though their steps are a little limp compared to old Motown). No, it was really the Captain and Tennille’s “Love will keep us together” that finally killed it for me.
Re
May 30th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
Listening to this week’s P.H. Companion and they have Gillian Welch and David Rawlings on, which is always a great treat. Evidently she has a new album coming, which makes it doubly fine.
For anyone unfamiliar….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nugXkgd_-84
May 30th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
We’ve had a compost bucket similar to that one in materials, if slightly simpler in detail. I have to say we like it and it works well for us. I like it that it cleans easily—I usually just rinse with hot water after emptying it, let it drain for a few minutes in the sink, and then set it up on the counter again. We like it beside the sink where it’s easily accessible. It’s small enough to usually keep you honest in regularly emptying it, but the fruit flies do indeed start breeding if you go more than a day or two. The eggs (and larvae, if you really procrastinate) can gross out the weak of heart, but the warrior will take cleanup in stride.
I think the charcoal filters (they last a very long time—one replacement set for us in 4 or 5 years’ use) slow down the fruit flies, but they’re too tiny to stop if you keep the container anywhere they can get at it. Just practice good kitchen hygiene.
May 30th, 2010 at 4:31 pm
@trollhattan:
Long overdue, eagerly awaited.
May 30th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
@SIA:
My parents tried to convince me of that when they wanted me to move to Phoenix. Believe me, once it gets above 100 or so, heat matters.
May 30th, 2010 at 6:05 pm
Toronto has a green bin program, so organic stuff that is not going to go in my compost bin, like meat scraps and cooking fats, go in a bag in an OPEN container under my sink. The bag goes in the freezer after a couple of days whether it’s full or not, and goes to the curb on pickup day.
Raw and cooked veggies, egg shells and teabags are for compost. Teabags go in one open bowl (kept in the fridge) and everything else goes into another open bowl in the fridge.
Every day or two, the egg shells and veggies go in the food processor and are chopped small so they turn into compost faster. These and the teabags get tossed into the compost, I add a little brown material (dried grass, etc.) to balance it, and it all gets stirred up.
No smell, no fuss, no mess.
May 30th, 2010 at 6:15 pm
re: composters, I use this one and like it.
http://www.gardeners.com/Odor-.....lt,cp.html
May 30th, 2010 at 6:44 pm
I have one that looks a lot like that. It looks nice on the counter and I dump it when it gets full. I compost my veggie scraps, eggshells and coffee grounds, so it fills up pretty fast.
May 30th, 2010 at 7:55 pm
We use a the stainless version of the Norpro. We have a large (about 1000sq ft) garden that feeds us 10 months a year (mild winters, Seattle area). The composter works great. There are times where it sits there for a while before it gets emptied and the stuff on the bottom of the pail is 3 sheets to the wind, but no odor ever from the thing. Pricey but worth it.
May 31st, 2010 at 12:19 am
J.C., I hope you’ve got Jetstars in your garden. It’s far and away THE tastiest tomato there is.
i
June 1st, 2010 at 6:58 pm
Check this out, http://www.compokeeper.com , I bought one a few months ago and love it. I almost quit because I hated trudging through the snow every other day to empty the crock I had, with this one I can go a week without taking it out. What I like most is it opens and closes with the foot pedal, so I can stand over it, toss stuff in and close it without touching it. So far there’s been no odor or fruit flies buzzing around. I found that the bio-bags take longer to break down in compost bin so I empty the bag out and throw it away if it’s looking pretty bad but if looks ok I’ll use it again. It’s custom, so it’s bit pricey, but well worth the money considering how much easier it’s made my life.
June 6th, 2010 at 11:02 am