We found out that our local brewery was taking their organic malted
barley to the dump, after they cooked it to make beer. We started picking up
~1000 lbs/week of it and fed it to our cattle all winter. (22% protein.) That
saved us several thousand bucks, buying (non-organic) grain for the cows and
solved the brewmeister's problem of having to run to the dump every few
days.

Now that the cows are on the grazing lease for the summer, we're composting
the grain. Man, oh, man -- that stuff is teriffic in a compost pile, but
you have to
make sure to keep the pile balanced (for C to N ratio) and stir it, or the
barley gets
stinky.

I caught someone throwing several hundred pounds of newsprint (last year's
tourist guides) in the dumpster yesterday and grabbed them for my compost pile.

Look around your neighborhood and see what you can glean for your compost pile.
You might be surprised out how much stuff doesn't need to go into the
local landfill.

I won't even get started on a local guy who picks up used fryer oil from
restaurants
to run his diesel VW Golf with. (Diesel engines were originally run on
peanut oil.) He
also uses used fryer oil to run the F350 Ford diesel pickup that he uses
to gather the
drums of used fryer oil with... His exhaust smells like french fries : )

Jan


In article ,
"Compostman" wrote:

There's a Starbucks next to my subway stop. For about a year now, on my way
home from work, I stop by and pick up the grounds. About 20 pounds a day,
from the expresso machine, and no trash or filters. The manager said that
in a few months Starbucks will begin putting their coffee grounds in special
bags and leaving them by the front door for people in the neighborhood to
pick up. But since I'm their regular coffee pickerupper, they'll save the
bags for me inside. The problem becomes having too much coffee. Not a
really bad problem. Like having too much compost.

--
Compostman
Washington, DC
Zone 7
"Jill S" wrote in message
.. .
Heya, I'm back for the season now that school's out, and I stumbled across
something interesting my mom picked up the other day so I thought I'd
post.


If you have a Starbucks nearby, stop in and see if they'll give you their
used coffee grounds. Ours is handing out bags full of them free for
fertilizing plants, and it seems to be doing a good job. Or, I suppose you
could save your own used coffee.
According to the label, the brewing process removes most of the acidity so
it's got a pH of about 6.9, and the carbon-nitrogen ratio is 20:1. You can
add it directly to the garden near nitrogen-loving plants, along with
brown
materials like leaves. Or, you can add it to your compost and use it
within
two or three weeks.

--
-Jill S.