Laura Fry Shines as May's 'Composter of the Month'

Around my house, the motto is "We Can Compost It!" After every meal, we all scrape our plates into the counter-top compost bin, and I place all my coffee grounds, fruit and vegetable peelings, egg shells, paper towels, tea bags, and the like in it throughout the day. "Wait! Can you compost that?" I ask when I see someone heading for the garbage can, which I've hidden in the pantry so that it's out of sight, out of mind. Almost always, the answer is "We can!" so I usually have a full bin to carry out to the back yard every evening. ("Time to slop the grubs," I announce.) My totals average 3-5 lbs a day, and in the summer, all the melon rinds and corn cobs fill it up especially fast! I started composting around 10 years ago, soon after we moved into our house in Old Hickory and I saw an article in the Tennessean that Metro was offering Green Machine composting bins for $40. I've been composting daily ever since, and I'm always astounded that the level of waste in the bin always stays at the 3/4-full mark, which lets me know everything's breaking down just right. Next to the green machine, I have an area loosely fenced in with chicken wire where I dump yard clippings and leaves, and sometimes I'll toss in a shovelful of these, too, but in general, I usually just let the worms and bugs do their work in peace, disturbing them briefly a couple of times in the spring and summer to shovel out some dirt when I plant my herbs and tomatoes. My primary goal with composting is to contribute less trash to the landfill. Between composting, reducing, and recycling, we usually have one bag of garbage every two weeks, and I'd love to reduce it even more. I joined #ComePostYourCompost after seeing information about the program at the Nashville Earth Day festival this April (and, honestly, I just cannot resist clever word play). Composting makes me feel helpful and empowered. I'm so happy to be the Composter of the Month! Thank you!

Laura Fry won a $100 Visa card for her exemplary composting efforts! You too can be a winner by recruiting others to join #ComePostYourCompost, submitting weekly totals, and sending us pictures or posting to our Facebook group. 
Happy Composting, and keep up that dirty work!