Tip of the Week!

I decided to share this particular tip while I was preparing the Chard Roll recipe I shared earlier this week. I chopped and chopped and chopped in order to make the chard roll filling and the deliciously simple garden- veggie tomato sauce. Several times, throughout the process, I thought to myself “this is so handy – I am glad Rachel Ray shared this idea on her show…It’s so simple…it should be the Tip of the Week!”

The Chard Rolls were so tasty. But, there was an explosion of chopped remnants and ends of veggies covering most of my counter before I could blink.

Wow, that is a lot of chopping! We compost, so I don’t want to toss these bits of future garden gold into the garbage.

Here is the Tip of the Week (yay!): I keep a small bowl close by my work area and I drop all of the compostable garbage in it as I go through the day. Once the bowl is full (whether it fills up after one meal or over a few days), I dump the bowl. If you don’t like seeing it one the counter, you can find a cute covered dish or mini trash bin to keep on your counter or just cover the bowl with a dish towel. I usually just keep mine on the counter uncovered. By leaving it in plain sight, I remember not toss things in the trash that can go in the heap. Of course, if it stinks or attracts flies, to the compost it must go!

Need some tips on how to start your own compost heap? Here & here are a few good resources for simple composting to help get you motivated. Wondering what is compostable & what needs to head to the dump? Here is a simple list (I found this on Pinterest – but couldn’t find the source to give credit) I follow: