A young boy and his father were walking along a beach, when suddenly they came upon thousands of starfish left stranded on the sand by the receding tide. The young boy leaned over, picked up a starfish and tossed it, like a Frisbee, back into the ocean. Then he picked up another one, and carried it to the water's edge.

"Son, what are you doing? You can't possibly save them all."



"I guess not. But these uns'll make it."



The youngster believed that even when the situation seemed hopeless, he could do his part. Composting is like that, too.

Every year, tons of organic materials are thrown away, needlessly filling up landfills. By composting these materials, you can lengthen the life of your local landfill. Like tossing a starfish back into the ocean, you can make a difference by composting.



Compost to plants is like a healthy gourmet dinner to us. Compared to preparing a snazzy dinner however, making compost is easy, easy, easy. To learn how to make and use compost, read my Compost Happens! article.



Compost is not limited to tossing leaves and grass clippings into a pile. It's much more creative than that! Here's a list of 163 materials (and still counting!) you can add to your compost pile or even bury in your garden. Just think, 163 materials that don't end up in the landfill. Plus, your plants benefit from the gourmet meal. Such a deal.

Find more information on Organic Gardening Tips or Cool Climate Gardening at Lagniappe - Marion's new blog.

If you see something I've missed, send me an email so I can add it to the list. Just for fun, scan the whole list. You'll find more resources, plus a surprise at the end by a letter sent in by Jean Bell, an organic gardener in Scotland...

Paper napkins

Freezer-burned vegetables

Burlap coffee bags

Pet hair

Potash rock

Post-it notes

Freezer-burned fruit

Wood chips

Bee droppings

Lint from behind refrigerator

Hay

Popcorn (unpopped, 'Old Maids,' too)

Freezer-burned fish

Old spices

Pine needles

Leaves

Matches (paper or wood)

Seaweed and kelp

Hops

Chicken manure

Leather dust

Old, dried up and faded herbs

Bird cage cleanings

Paper towels

Brewery wastes

Grass clippings

Hoof and horn meal

Molasses residue

Potato peelings

Unpaid bills

Gin trash (wastes from cotton plants)

Weeds

Rabbit manure

Hair clippings from the barber

Stale bread

Coffee grounds

Wood ashes

Sawdust

Tea bags and grounds

Shredded newspapers

Egg shells

Cow manure

Alfalfa

Winter rye

Grapefruit rinds

Pea vines

Houseplant trimmings

Old pasta

Grape wastes

Garden soil

Powdered/ground phosphate rock

Corncobs (takes a long time to decompose)

Jell-o (gelatin)

Blood meal

Winery wastes

Spanish moss

Limestone

Fish meal

Aquarium plants

Beet wastes

Sunday comics

Harbor mud

Felt waste

Wheat straw

Peat moss

Kleenex tissues

Milk (in small amounts)

Soy milk

Tree bark

Starfish (dead ones!)

Melted ice cream

Flower petals

Pumpkin seeds

Q-tips (cotton swabs: cardboard, not plastic sticks)

Expired flower arrangements

Elmer's glue

BBQ'd fish skin

Bone meal

Citrus wastes

Stale potato chips

Rhubarb stems

Old leather gardening gloves

Tobacco wastes

Bird guano

Hog manure

Dried jellyfish

Wheat bran

Guinea pig cage cleanings

Nut shells

Cattail reeds

Clover

Granite dust

Moldy cheese

Greensand

Straw

Shredded cardboard

Dolomite lime

Cover crops

Quail eggs (OK, I needed a 'Q' word)

Rapeseed meal

Bat guano

Fish scraps

Tea bags (black and herbal)

Apple cores

Electric razor trimmings

Kitchen wastes

Outdated yogurt

Toenail clippings

Shrimp shells

Crab shells

Lobster shells

Pie crust

Leather wallets

Onion skins

Bagasse (sugar cane residue)

Watermelon rinds

Date pits

Goat manure

Olive pits

Peanut shells

Burned oatmeal (sorry, Mom)

Lint from clothes dryer

Bread crusts

Cooked rice

River mud

Tofu (it's only soybeans, man!)

Wine gone bad (what a waste!)

Banana peels

Fingernail and toenail clippings

Chocolate cookies

Wooden toothpicks

Moss from last year's hanging baskets

Stale breakfast cereal

Pickles

'Dust bunnies' from under the bed

Pencil shavings

Wool socks

Artichoke leaves

Leather watch bands

Fruit salad

Tossed salad (now THERE's tossing it!)

Brown paper bags

Soggy Cheerios

Theater tickets

Lees from making wine

Burned toast

Feathers

Animal fur

Horse manure

Vacuum cleaner bag contents

Coconut hull fiber

Old or outdated seeds

Macaroni and cheese

Liquid from canned vegetables

Liquid from canned fruit

Old beer

Wedding bouquets

Greeting card envelopes

Snow

Dead bees and flies

Horse hair

Peanut butter sandwiches

Dirt from soles of shoes, boots

Fish bones

Ivory soap scraps

Spoiled canned fruits and vegetables

Produce trimmings from grocery store

Cardboard cereal boxes (shredded)

Grocery receipts

Urine (It's true! Read the letters below)

More "compostable" reading: The World's Fastest Compost How to Compost Dog Waste Manure Matters: How different manures rate What about urine? As promised, the letter from Jean in Scotland...

Dear Marion,



I have been visiting your site with great interest for a while now -- thank goodness for your sensible advice for gardening in northern parts -- I am in the north of Scotland and have many of the meteorological challenges that you face, wind, rain, cold, etc. (but no bears)!



Your list of 163 materials for the compost bin is really useful but perhaps I can add another -- a British organic gardening writer, Bob Flowerdew, swears by peeing on his compost saying that urine acts as an accelerator. Actually he refers to it rather delicately as 'recycling his cider and beer.' This isn't so easy for us women but I do encourage my husband to provide the goods! One for the list?



Many thanks for all your ideas and beautiful photographs,

--Jean Bell Dear Marion, Yes, the nitrogen of urine is excellent for the compost pile and women CAN participate. Remember the peepot? You're too young. But in the 40's when i visited my grandmother who had no indoor plumbing, we had a pot for night visits. I now use a plastic tub on the closed toilet lid and catch a few ounces during the night. Then put the tub in the bottom of the shower and catch the shower water. All can be dumped on the compost. I live in a 2-story house and must carry the tub down... haven't dropped it yet. Yikes. When I first began my compost pile many years ago... (we were young and gay)... after an evening of drinking, I'd invite my husband (now deceased) and his friends to make a trip to my compost pile. All thought it was quite fun! --Jan Trechsel, Alabama More great resources from Marion Owen:

Healthy Recipes - Healthy Cooking

Organic Gardening Tips - Cool Climate Gardening

Alaska Nature Photography - Alaska Photography Tips

Kodiak Island - Kodiak, Alaska



