Believe it or not, you can compost indoors very effectively, and no it will not smell up your house or apartment. Here are two types of indoor composters to chose from:

Automatic Indoor Composter – This little baby works like magic. It can take all kinds of food, including meat, fish and dairy that other composters can’t take. It’s compact, can fit under a sink or in a cabinet and consumes and aerates large amounts of food rather quickly. You can have a full harvest of ready-to-use compost in as little as 2 weeks with this thing. It eliminates having to collect your

A boot tray is a good idea to keep water and snow from tracking across your floors, but why not jazz it up a bit with a Pebble Boot Tray? It’s DIY and really easy to make.  I saw this great idea on Pinterest and followed it over to Martha Stewart’s website. The stones allow the water, ice and snow to drip right into the pan, without leaving those icky white marks around the edges of your boots. Here’s her version…

The stones aren’t glued or anything, they’re just poured into the tray so that wet shoes and boots have someplace to drain. I already had a boot tray, but I don’t live near a craft store, so I had to wait until I went to visit my mom out in Jersey. It’s funny, I was all set to go to Michael’s when mommy looked at me, pursed her lips, squinted her eyes and said the magic words…

Types of Outdoor Composting

So in Composting For Dummies Part 1 we covered what composting is, why it’s beneficial to you and the environment and what it’s used for. Now let’s get into the how’s of composting. Here’s a list of the ways in which you can compost and they’re pros and cons.

Simple Compost Pile – This is essentially just an area of land that is used just for composting. It’s just like it sounds, just a pile of compost. PROS: No setup, no tools needed, compost can just be scooped from the bottom of the pile. Plus it’s free. CONS: Animals can get to it easily. A fair amount of land is required, so that when it rains or when the wind blows, compost bits aren’t flying at your house, must be aerated* by hand.

So if you’re still trying to figure out what to get Dad for Father’s Day, you still have one day left. If you’re dad’s like mine, then he’s so happy to get any kind of gift, he won’t care if it’s o Father’s Day or a few days after, you’re in luck. You can still order something. If you just flaked, and just can’t show up empty handed, go buy a card tomorrow and write in it that his gift is “on it’s way” and pick one of the items below. (If you’re here, you’re out of time anyway, so read on…)

Last-Minute Green Gifts for Dad’s

Logitech Wireless Anywhere Mouse MX for PC and Mac – Sexy has one of these and he loves it. (Granted, I find it all over the house but that’s another story).

Aladdin 16-Ounce Recycled and Recyclable Tumbler – This thing is made from

I was all excited the other day when I picked up basil, parsley, rosemary, sage and a few other herbs from the farmer’s market. But not so happy a week later, when a week later, in my kitchen, they all seemed very wilty and unhappy.So I decided to brave the neighborhood cats in favor of more light and plant them in the backyard on the deck alongside my other veggies. One problem though.

No planter.

Lately, I’ve been making sure to “shop my house” before I run out for something new.

Since I just got very first composter about a week and a half ago, I thought I’d share some of my research and chronicle my composting journey here on the blog. I’m going to start with some of the basic wuestion that I asked when I was looking to join the composting corps. So here goes:

What is composting?

The most basic definition is decayed organic material used as plant fertilizer

What is the Purpose of Compost?

The organic matter in compost helps plants root systems grow stronger and produce a bigger yield. (Bigger flowers, fruit, vegetables, herbs or whatever you’re growing). It does this because decayed organic matter has all of the same essential nutrients as what you’re trying to grow out of it.

I, for one, am really excited about Memorial Day weekend this year. For once, me and Sexy will both be in town at the same time, and we won’t be traveling. We also have redone the backyard a bit, and I’m determined to grill and go back there more than just when company’s coming. One of the things I’ve learned about summer BBQs and parties, the more you make yourself, the more money you’ll save. Here’s some of the things I look forward to doing/making this summer.

• Green/Frugal BBQ – check out this post I did last year about how to save money and stay green for your BBQ.

 

• Homemade Lemonade and Iced Tea – What’s summer without lemonade and iced tea? Ever since I figured out how to make them on my own, I’ve stopped buying the store bought stuff, especially those godawful cans of iced tea mix. It’s too simple and too cheap to do myself!

Homemade Lemonade Recipe

Easy Iced Tea Recipe

• DIY Chips and Dip – What’s a BBQ without

Since spring has hit, I’ve been bitten by the DIY bug. My goal this year is organization and simplification. That’s how this jewelry organizer came about. I was perusing the “Jewelry Organizer” boards on pinterest and found a few people who had created some for themselves. This one seemed really simple, so I patterned mine in a similiar way. Here’s what I did…

DIY Wall Jewelry Organizer

What you’ll need

• Cork bulletin board with wooden frame (mine’s about 15.5” x 23.5”)
• About a yard of medium weight fabric* (or at least enough to cover the board with)
• Heavy duty stapler or staple gun
• Push pins
• Picture hanging kit (including eye screws)
• pencil

Directions

1. Place the fabric over the front of the board on a flat surface, and adjust the pattern, (if there is one), to your liking.

I love spa anything, and these gifts are truly easy, and can be given individually, or as a complete set for Mom on her special day. The following recipes are some of my favorites!

My father-in-law brought back soya chunks* from his home of Jamaica a couple of years ago, and I remember staring at the package trying to figure out how to cook the things. I’ve come along way since then and recently after I bought a bag of Imitation Chicken Chunks, I found this recipe on VegWeb and adapted it a bit. It came out so well, that I thought I would post it in honor of Meatless Monday. This takes a while to prepare, but the results are definitely worth it. And the best part? All of the ingredients cost me less than $15!

Vegetarian Caribbean Chicken Curry Recipe

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup chicken flavored soy protein chunks
• 2 carrots
• 1 stalk celery
• 1 medium-large onion
• 4 cloves garlic,chopped
• 1/2 medium red pepper
• 1/2 medium green pepper
• 2 medium tomatoes