What does compost have to do with eating local? Hmmm, maybe the connection is sustainability, or maybe it is that once you have compost, you can put it on your garden, which provides you with that local produce. Regardless, I would like to discuss compost, and get opinions from out there in the cyberworld. I have been very impressed with the collective knowledge of this audience, and to say the least, we need their help on this issue.

Compost is an issue with our family. We generate a lot of compostable material, maybe too much, which is why it is such an issue. We have composted for years, decades, and there have always been issues. I think part of these issues are related to us being lazy composters. We have never been good at adding a lot of "brown" materials, like grass clippings to compost piles on a regularly basis. And we have never watered or regularly turned our compost piles. As a result, we have had unwanted visitors (emotional scarring for me) or stinky compost. Recently, we had fruit fly invasion from our worm bins in the basement that was beyond it. The worm-bins were ousted into the backyard in sub-zero temps. They are likely a mass of frozen worms at this point, which will be sad for the neighborhood kids. Digging for worms was a big activity last summer.

We keep on composting though. Two months ago, my husband (the head composter) stubbled upon a composting machine, called Nature Mill (http://www.naturemill.com/hiw_diagram.html), that composts items in two weeks. Of course we had to get it. It is sold as an under the sink composter. Needless to say, it is in our basement, and will eventually be going to garage. It is definitely not as odorless as is advertised. At times, the basement has an barn-like odor. I don't mind it that much, makes me a little nostalgic. My three-year old daughter holds her nose when going into the basement and says the smell makes her "want to throw-up". Regardless of your opinion on the smell, it is not an odor that belongs in a house. The machine definitely turns the food scraps to compost in a quick fashion, but once again, we seem to produce too many scraps for the machine to handle.

So I was discussing this issue with a co-worker of mine, who flat out told me I was a bit obsessed with compost, and he said they do not have these issues, as they have rabbits (outdoor rabbits). The rabbits eat their food scraps and become the composters. They have screens underneath the rabbit cages which allow the rabbit's urine to go through and catches the manure, which can be put directly on the garden without composting. That really caught my attention. They coincidentally also had some rabbits they would like to give away. We happen to have three kids who have been asking for rabbits (well I guess the one year old isn't specifically asking), and I am guessing the neighborhood kids will enjoy them even more than the worms. Win-win for everyone, right? Well, we'll see....

So the questions I have are, has anyone out there used the rabbit system for composting? If so, is it successful? What pitfalls are there? Does anyone have any other compost advice for us? Also, what I would really love is to have chickens (to help complete the composting cycle and get the bonus of eggs), but alas, our fair city does not allow them. I know Seattle, Portland and even, Madison, WI, allow them. Does anyone have any experience in getting their city to allow chickens? Good experiences or bad? Thanks!