ecotyro’s Recent Comments

• Click here to view comment in original post

  Yay for wormies!

  I've been worm-composting for about 2 years now. I started 'cause I wanted to be able to continue composting in the winter time (which you can't really in the northeast). So I started one worm bin in my basement and now I have two...they work much faster than traditional compost bins and I feel strangely protective of them... Do be careful as a beginner to know what you can and cannot feed your worms: no meat, fish or dairy (by)products! Also, get yourself a small bag of GARDENERS lime (not straight lime!) for those weeks when it gets too acidic (one too many grapefruit rinds!) and smells bad. A handful or two every few months keeps the pH more neutral and the wormies happy. Oh, and when you get little flies, it's not your fault...believe it or not their eggs are on the rinds of fruits and veggies when we buy them, and then they hatch in the bin. Yeah, gross...a very good arguement for always washing your produce!On Umbra on composting with worms posted 1 year ago 9 Responses

• Click here to view comment in original post

  storing produce

  A couple of great produce storage suggestions I've learned over the years: for fruit (and tomatoes) purchased a little hard or unripe, let soften at room temp for a couple of days until it feels and smells ripe, (in a paper bag will hasten it, with a banana will hasten it more due to natural ethylene gases, plus the bag keeps the fruit flies away), then put it in the fridge to keep it from spoiling. Also for cucumbers, a great tip: get one of those perforated plastic bags they sell fresh bread in, from the bakery (You can buy the bread or just ask for the bag). Cucs will keep a couple of weeks in one of these bags. For asparagus: stand it up in a tall container with an inch of water in the bottom. Do NOT wrap in plastic or the tips will molder: keeps for 10 days at least. Lastly, wrap celery completely in aluminum foil and put in a plastic bag...keeps for many weeks. I have started experimenting with wrapping cut fruit (mango halves, watermelon) in aluminum foil to avoid plastic wrap...so far so good. The foil can be carefully cleaned and used over and over, and then it can be recycled!On Umbra on storing produce posted 1 year, 4 months ago 15 Responses