I am visiting a home that uses a worm composting bin, which is a very good way to keep food scraps out of the landfill and turn them into useful fertilizer. Worm composting uses worms to do the work of breaking down food and paper waste and is more efficient and easier to manage than a traditional backyard compost pile. There is no odor or mess from the bin if managed properly, and the bin doesn’t take much space. People add food scraps and damp scrap paper to the top of the bin and the worms happily munch the food scraps. Periodically, the bin is cleaned out and and the soil on the bottom, which is an excellent nutrient-rich fertilizer, is given to friends who have a garden. It did take some time to learn the right balance of moisture, food, and paper scraps to have an effective worm colony. The composter in this house is a manufactured worm colony bin that is specifically designed to optimize the worms’ living conditions, but you can probably build your own. Here is a link to a Cornell University webpage on making and managing a worm composter.
compost.css.cornell.edu/worms/steps.html
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The average family of four in the US throws away over 1,000 pounds of food per year. When food is wasted, everything that was used to produce and transport the food (water, gasoline, fertilizer, and packaging) is also wasted. Storing food properly after you get it home can help it last until you eat it. For example, apples give off ethylene gas as they ripen. If the apples are stored with some quickly-ripening fruits such as bananas, the bananas will ripen more quickly than if stored away from the apples. Onions should be stored in a cool, dark, dry, well-ventilated place and should not be stored in plastic or the refrigerator. If potatoes are stored with onions, the onions will cause the potatoes to sprout. I found a website that is filled with information on how to store food properly so it lasts longer.
www.savethefood.com/food-storage According to the U.S. Department of Energy, dirty bulbs can reduce the amount of light reaching the room by as much as 30%. If the light fixture is also dirty, you are further reducing the amount of light available, even though you are using the same amount of energy to power the light bulb whether it is clean or dirty. Some light fixture designs reduce the available light as well. Selecting fixtures that maximize the light reaching the room and then keeping the bulbs and fixtures clean will allow you to get the most light for the energy you use. Be careful when you are cleaning light bulbs and fixtures:
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