The Scrap Pile

Spotlight

  • Tips for dealing with fly larvae in your compost bucket

    Tips for dealing with fly larvae in your compost bucket

    As the weather warms, we’re starting to get questions about small larvae crawling around inside your Little Green Buckets. Based on last summer, we estimate that 5-10% of buckets will have this “problem” during the warm summer months. What are they? More often than not, they are Black Soldier Fly (BSF) larvae, though they sometimes…

  • Kid friendly activity: an experiment with mulching of desert soil

    Kid friendly activity: an experiment with mulching of desert soil

    Yesterday we posted an in-depth explainer to help our readers understand the differences between soil, mulch, compost, and dirt. It’s International Compost Awareness Week, so we should really be turning our full attention to composting now. But mulching is so important to our arid high desert climate that I decided to linger on it for…

  • What’s in that pile? The difference between compost, mulch, soil, and dirt.

    What’s in that pile? The difference between compost, mulch, soil, and dirt.

    Last week I surveyed our followers on Instagram to see what I should focus on during International Compost Awareness Week. One of the results that jumped out at me was this one: If 43 percent of our audience needs help with basic terminology, that seems like an obvious starting point for building compost awareness. Don’t…

  • Compost ratios, demystified

    Compost ratios, demystified

    Today’s post arises from a question I saw in a Facebook group awhile back: Question: I’m locked in a dispute with my son over best composition of our compost heap. He says 20:1 carbon over nitrogen. I’d always heard: 4:1. Who’s right? Or are we both wrong? For the backyard composter, input ratios are exceptionally…

  • International Compost Awareness Week, May 3-9, 2020

    International Compost Awareness Week, May 3-9, 2020

    Today marks the beginning of International Compost Awareness Week. Last year, we celebrated this special week with a compost giveaway at the Downtown Growers Market. Our plans to do the same this year have, of course, been disrupted by Covid-19 and the severe restrictions that have been placed on our local farmers markets. Instead, we’ll…

  • Video: Inclusive Hiring Day, 2020

    Video: Inclusive Hiring Day, 2020

    Today, by executive order of Mayor Tim Keller, Albuquerque celebrated “Inclusive Hiring Day”. Our friends at Mandy’s Farm invited me to share with them a video about my experience hiring an employee with a disability. I was delighted to see the video posted today on their social media accounts: In addition to the Little Green…

  • Little Green Bucket featured on KRQE

    Little Green Bucket featured on KRQE

    Last fall, just weeks after our business debuted, KRQE reporter Brittany Bade rode along on my very first day of compost collection. My talking points have come a long way since then, so this piece gives me the giggles now, but I still feel so grateful to have received such supportive coverage on the nightly…