Garage compost and a bee hotel.

 

 

Remember my last post when I said that I'm lucky to have a husband who listens to my crazy ideas? Well, this past weekend was a doozy in terms of getting merde done, and that was not limited to Doc refinishing the second-hand dresser/changing table we bought for the nursery.

 

For the last 2 years, somewhat to Doc's chagrin, I've been making compost in our garage from our crazy amount of coffee/espresso grounds, fall leaves and the occasional food scraps.

 

 

It definitely took some trial and error, with a fair amount of error, but we've finally gotten a method down that not only works, but that we can both be (mostly) happy with.

 

So don't let anyone tell you can't make compost indoors, it just sometimes takes a little patience and understanding. Here's how we do it: Whenever we finish a bag of soil, that becomes our new compost receptacle. We start out with a thick layer of just coffee grounds and dead plants/leaves in the bag, and then once a good solid layer has been made, we begin adding in occasional egg shells, avocado skins, apple cores, etc.

 

It is definitely a delicate balance however, so we try not to overdo it with the kitchen leftovers. If you're not careful the compost can (and will) burn through the bag and leave a smelly mess on your garage floor. So waiting until a third of the bag is full of coffee grounds and leaves/dead plants is a good point to start adding other kitchen leftovers. We then turn it with a little spade or shake the bag once a week, and about 8 months later - compost!

 

And not gonna lie, it's a really cool feeling to use compost you've made on your plants. Now that we've successfully made compost two years in a row, we're going to upgrade our system by using small trash cans or paint buckets. I'll keep you updated on how that goes! 

 

So that was one thing we did this weekend.

 

 

Also, in an attempt to try to stop our friendly bees from making little holes in our terrace table and chairs, Doc made a little bee hotel this weekend.

 

 

We've noticed the bees literally chomping and gnawing away at the wood this summer, and we think they want to make little holes in which to let their little larvae grow. So we made them a bee hotel to try to save our furniture. We're not sure if it's going to work, but we saw similar bee hotels in the Geneva Botanical Gardens, and figured we'd give it a shot.

 

 

Doc used our crappy little IKEA drill to make some starter holes for the bees, and then placed it in a corner of the terrace. I'll keep you updated on whether or not the bees take to the hotel...

 

Have you ever made a bee hotel? Did it work?

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey