Living on Scotland Island, where we carry our rubbish down 200 steps to the wharf for collection by barge, gives our family a different perspective on waste. Keeping food scraps out of the bin not only reduces our environmental footprint, but it also saves space, weight and a few sore arms!
We started with a worm farm decades ago, but as our family grew, so did the volume of food scraps. We’ve since added a couple of compost bins to help share the workload. These days, nearly all our food scraps end up in either the worm farm or the compost.
We keep a small bucket on the kitchen bench that everyone adds to throughout the week, then empty it every few days. The kids know the routine and enjoy stirring the compost, although they’re generally less enthusiastic about taking the scraps outside than I am!
Most weekends, I give the compost a turn, add some water if needed, sprinkle on a bit of compost conditioner, and let the worms and microbes do the rest. They’re surprisingly forgiving too, which is handy when family life gets in the way of my composting duties!
It’s a simple system, but it’s amazing how much waste it diverts. Instead of ending up in landfill, our food scraps are turned into nutrient-rich compost for the garden… and it saves us from carrying even more weight down those 200 steps!
Happy Composting!
