Dumpster diving for coffee grounds

Agreed... composting is last stop, IMO.

I take mine to Salvation Army, but I bet that quilt would be gawdgeous!

By the time I am willing to part with a pair of Levis the Salvation Army would want no part of them! As for the quilt, I made several Levi quilts years ago and gave them away because they were too heavy for me. Now, if they are too worn to wear, composting seems the perfect end for them. That way they will go on giving me comfort and joy!

ah...no levi's here...they just don't fit my form - denim skirt any time...or corduroy...no talent to quilt, but would gladly send fabric to any that would!

OK, so my jeans technically aren't from Levi Straus & Co. Those don't fit me either.
But when I do finally wear my jeans out, like Zany said, no one would want them. At that point the fabric so worn that anything I would try to make out of them would readily fall apart.

The local charities receive any wearable items from my closet that no longer conform to me.

Cotton balls used for first aid/beauty purposes can be composted.

Thanks for the inspirational words Misty. Also thanks to all who added their two cents about the new shows we will soon see on TV. I know that I am going to love "Heap Hunting." You folks are way too funny.

Ruby

I've never thought about cotton balls or old jeans.

Dean_W

Gives a new meaning to phrases like "Would you believe that worm tried to get into my jeans?"

kb

kb, it sure does! LOL

hehehe...

Y'all are such a sick bunch...................ROFLMAO...gotta love it

We may be asick bunch but it's nothing a nice compost tea won't cure.

Hey,

How about Q-tips, I noticed they have what appears to be a paper stem? I might have to dig them out of the garbage.

Warning for the guys reading this line: Proctor and Gamble of Crisco Fame have just come out with a new Ulardass line of clothing. It's pitched right up front for lard "a double scribbles". They are sold by the square yard covering lard "a double scribbles". Pounds in the wrap are never mentioned. Mercy there must be a need for this somewhere. Unisex maybe?

Ya know, I may compost dog poop, but I gotta draw the line at ear wax, Dean.

Ew.

Ditto, Pagancat...............no, no Dean..........ewwhhhhhhhhhhhh :(

good example of emotion over logic. c'mon, imagine the ratio of bacteria in dp to ew

Well, since waxy coated leaves take longer to break down, howlong wouldit take pure ear wax? Nope, this gal will pass on any human waste and only poo from vegetarian animals.

Some folks feel that it is worth their time and money to seek out manures from the very few farms that raise healthy cattle without all the so called modern medicines. Some feel the residuals at least flow through the cattle just like manufactured ferts and cides flow through the soils into the waters of the world.

The raising of healthy chemical free cattle is serious business just as the skills of raising healthy garden produce is more and more becoming a better way to produce healthy plant food.

Would not your body be a stronger healthy total living mass it it were not nuked a little here and a little there? Working in that direction is never wrong.
As in any human movement there are good guys and bad human guys within the total. Kooky and strange practices are bound to surface. I suggest that if 51% is good the good will continue to rise above the bad. This may not be to different than the biology in your soil.

ok--just how many q tips do you use!!? to go back into the trash for a few q tips is beyond me--i have no problem with someone tossing them with the cotton balls into some bag to compost later (i do not choose to do so ) but i can't imagine going thru my trash for a few q tips --just couldn't make that much difference in the compost--sorry to sound so negative--as for the levis--it must take years for them to decompose!!!--even if they are cut up

Agreed,planolinda, I was just looking around the house at wasted material that could be composted. I think old denim might take a while to break down.

docgipe, I certainly agree about your views on "organic" manure and breeding cattle without all the "additives". That's going to take some doing to change society's view point on what they want and the bottom line is always the cost. It does cost more both in time and labor to use more "earth friendly" methods to get to the end product. It can be done!

Dean, honey, you are well and truely hooked! LOL But that's ok, we went out shopping today and stopped at our favorite local pizza place. I spotted some euryonimus that needed a little tlc and I'm such a nice lady. I borrowed DH's knife and helped out. The cuttings are now in water in my bay window..............LOL

The funny thing is that although organic methods start out more labor intensive and costly, as the soil improves and the plants develop natural immunities again to disease, it becomes easier and cheaper.

doccat,
Congrats on the euryonimus. I have more plants than I know what to do w/.

Zany,
I agree w/ you the initial investment outlay is little. An building a compost pile, adding too it, and etc. is labor intensive. The final outcome is quite rewarding, a easy to weed, disease free garden.

planolinda, by the time my jeans are ready for the compost pile, the fibers are so worn it tears under the least amount of pressure. At that point they can no longer be patched and can not be used for any other craft projects. They are completely blended into the other compost ingredients within a month. 100% cotton will easy mold and rot if kept dampl

My jeans are not quite that bad yet, garden_mermaid, I can still go out in public with out embarrassment with at least 2 pair. I do have one pair though,that are better worn only in the house to clean. The dogs don't care.........LOL

i stand corrected--i just think denim is so darn strong ---but hey-anything is worth a try in compost i guess--someone said hair can go in and it made me think of how a part of you would be going into your garden --and then that started to sound like cremation and having ones ashes sprinkled around!! it's kind of weird thinking about it all i guess

Speaking of fabric... I've heard that burlap bags are *great* for adding beneficial microbes to one's compost pile... I don't remember anything specific about the info tho - anyone heard anything about that?

I hate to waste good burlap adding it to the compost pile, but it makes an excellent weed barrier in the garden. It's hard to come by here, I guard the few bags I have carefully. We use them to "shell" black walnuts when the trees bear heavily. You freeze them walnuts to get rid of any critters and then you stuff them in the burlap bag. Put the bag in the driveway and run over it with the pickup several times to hull em. These babies are tough. Then dump the bag on a sifter and pick out the nuts. It's a bit labor intensive, but they keep well and I have a friend who takes the hulls to use for dye. Poor babies have gotten a bad rap because they don't play nicely with a lot of other plants. Very aleopathic, maybe those and magnolias are the schioprenics of the plant kingdom. LOL

I'd say that you use the burlap once it's broken down to the point that you can no longer use it for much else, much like the denim.

Re: denim & strenth.
It's the thread count & the type of weave that determines the strength of any fabric. All natural fibers will break down with moisture & heat. This is why in days long ago, (when denim jeans could stand up on their own - read: cardboard pants), we used to wash/dry our jeans multiple times to soften the fibers. Now that is done for us.
I have used denim strips to tie up tomato plants, melons, cukes...and the strips are pretty much shot by September/October. We have lots of rain here which aids the process, and these strips are not discernable
after spending winter in the compost piles.
I have also used Burlap to give structure to the "berm" I create when planting on slopes. These take about 6 months or so to disintegrate, but are fully exposed to the elements.

Gosh, that's awful smart, Katye. I never thought of that, it makes perfect sense.

You're my hero of the day!

I do like the idea of using natural fibers instead of old stockings for tying up plants, now that you mention it. My only concern would be the lack of stretch in cotton... shouldn't be too big of an issue though.

I know I have used old cotton t's to support staked trees over the years. That allows me to give them a bit of temporary support against the winds while they are tender and by the time a tree is large enough not to need it it has rotted away and not left me with girdling because I forgot to remove it.

Ditto what Z said.
Wrightie - I do a loose figure 8 wrap on the Tomatoes or whatever I am tying up.
In other words, loop both ends around the stem, cross & loop around whatever you are tying them to, square knot, or bow if you're feeling the need to make it look especially pretty (!).
A couple years back, I saw a very cool way to stake tall flowering plants. In this case, it was a mini forest of Hollyhocks: she had taken thin stakes, painted and sprayed them with a semigloss sparkle finish, then tied them up with 1" ribbons that were the same colour as the blossoms. At the feet of all this HH area were a variety of white flowering annuals. This was over the top for me, but she did this for her little girl and I thought it looked very "fairylandish", along with some of the other garden art she had placed throughout. Obviously no dogs lived at this residence!
I was more astounded at how her HH's had zero rust. Nowadays I just think about planting them - rust has prevailed each time. Too much moisture here...

Great tips, Katye! Thank you!

Our solution for the cardboard jeans was to hang them in the neighborhood pool or river for several days to a week, depending on temperature. Interesting that now they have "high tech" ways to reproduce the "stone washing" and pool bleaching.

I'm sitting here cringing at the thought that, as a teenager, I ran my new, stiff jeans through the washing machine OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER again until they were "just right." Sheesh. I was such a maroon.

Naw, it was just hormones! LOL

We swam in the neighbor's pool in ours, then got out and let them dry to the shape of our body.