Revelation

I just discovered today that here in Seattle we can put all kinds of food waste in our yard waste bin!

Here's a list of the stuff that can go:
> wrappers
> plastic-free cartons
> fruits & vegetables
> bread
> pasta
> grains
> eggshells and nutshells
> coffee grounds, filters and tea bags

I'm sure this has been going on for a while around here, but I just wasn't tuned in. Partially because I've been scared of composting - I've seen some serious funk and flies in those co-op kitchens back in college.

But I also think I've been tuning this stuff out because I just didn't want to deal with it. Touching and smelling rotting food isn't fun, and it's so nice and tidy to just toss that jar of nasty moldy pasta sauce in the trash. As I start to push into this and challenge myself to take that extra (possibly yucky or inconvenient) step to do it a little greener, I realize it's really not that bad. Although I must admit some rotting cilantro flew up and hit me in the eye. But I recovered.

We've set up a new garbage can in the kitchen for the food waste. Somehow this system overrides the "composting = gross" circuit in my brain. So now we can teach the kids to put their food waste in there too and see how it goes.

I'm also starting to see that those habits of convenience (like the Starbucks drive-thru) I've got aren't worth the cost to our family budget or the planet. The hard part for me is even seeing these habits. They're so ingrained in my daily life that they're just part of what I do. So, therein lies the challenge, I guess.