I've been using my bokashi bin for about a year now, and although I love that you can chuck in your meat scraps, I'm just too lazy, *erhm*, busy to dig a hole and bury it. I end up chucking it in my compost bin, so I am back where I began, trying to make some decent Bunnings-esque compost. You might be able to tell from my tone that this modest goal eludes me still.

Right now, I'm looking at putting some fruiting trees in my backyard because I think it just makes so much sense to grow your own food. You combat climate change by minimizing emissions associated with the commercial production and transprort of food, you control what chemicals you expose your food to, and in light of recent food price increases, you'll save money. (Watching things grow also gives me a gooshy feeling on the inside, but maybe that's just me.)

My recent research into green lawn mowing uncovered some great tips for mowing your lawn into a masterpiece.

Operating a petrol powered lawn mower for an hour produces as much CO2 as driving 30 km, the U.S. EPA estimates, so its worth looking at some climate friendly lawn mowing options. Let's look at three options to green up your grass.

I've found this wonderful book for urban gardening in Austrailia - "Backyard Self-sufficiency". Written by decorated Austrailian author Jackie French, who is probably best known for her children's books, this book is full of practical and relevant advice for growing food to eat in your own garden year-round.

[Go back in time and read Marie's first bokashi blog post here...]

IT'S THE END of the first week of the bokashi trail in my two-adults-3-kids household and the 20 litre bin is already full. Okay, time to consult the instructions. "Once the bin is filled, you can bury the fermented organic matter in the garden as fertilizer, or if you have another bin, you can leave the full one to ferment for a further 10-14 days ...". Aaargh! I wasn't mentally prepared for physical labor this early in the piece - although we built vegie garden beds back in November last year, I don't actually have garden in them as yet! (Unless oxalis counts as garden?) I think I will let the organic matter in the bin ferment a little longer and put off burying the compost - but what am I going to do with my kitchen wastes until I get around to emptying the bin ?

My six-year-old daughter's complaining and whining is always met by the same response from me - "What do girls who complain get? Nothing." It's quite effective at getting her to stop whingeing, but guess what - I've discovered that it's not true! My recent rant about how much I hate composting has landed me a brand new bokashi bin courtesy of the good people at Todae!