SunChips Go Compostable, Week 07

Well, we're at the estimated half way point and it doesn't seem like a whole lot of progress has been made. Now, again, I remind you--this first bag is not being composted under ideal conditions and will very likely take twice as long as predicted. We'll see. As soon as the batch of compost in the tumbler is ready then I will start a fresh bag in the tumbler (along with this one, if it's still being broken down) and get a more favorable reading on the estimate given by Frito-Lay.

In the meantime, if you're not composting START NOW!

Growing Hops

Everyone the world round knows that the one thing you need to brew a good batch of beer is a good batch of hops. Especially of you like the good hoppy beers, like an Indian Pale Ale. My son-in-law has been brewing beer for a little while now and has been brewing some top notch American Ale and a few other varieties (including a stout I liked). He has quickly moved from bottling his beer to kegging it and trying a variety of brewing methods. The next logical step is to grow his own hops! (We're probably out of luck when he decides he'd like to start farming barley here in Tucson, but you never know.)

Hops is a rhizomatic plant, not unlike mint or strawberry in that sense--if you have ever grown either of those plants you'll know they can spread like crazy if you don't set some boundaries. For that reason it's pretty easy to propagate--you just cut off pieces of the rhizome and root it. Pretty soon you'll have a hop plant. I'm not saying hops doesn't require certain conditions--it does. It likes heat. It likes water. It likes sun. It likes well-drained soil. Water and well-drained soil aren't typical qualities of Tucson dirt. But you can mimic almost anything in a pot.

Freddie ordered up six rhizomes, two each of three varieties (I think--I could be wrong on the quantities & varieties!). Cascade, probably one of the most popular hops varieties used in brewing, was of course in the mix. He also ordered Willamette and Magnum varieties. There may have been another variety, but I'm not sure. Rather than try to grow them all himself, he divied them up--two at my house, two at his aunt's house, two at his house, etc. I received two rhizomes, Cascade and Willamette. I potted them in twelve inch pots with a well-draining soil mix on top of a base of volcanic rock for ensured drainage. Normally a hop plant can root up to fifteen feet, so I hope it doesn't get root bound in the pot. If it looks like that might happen, we can always get a larger pot, but it will simply be wider, not necessarily deeper. We could try to plant it in the ground, but it's much easier to control moisture within the confines of a pot.

It has been three weeks and I now have plants. The Willamette came up first and it is about three or four inches tall. The Cascade was a week or so behind the Willamette and it is only about an inch above the surface. Hops is a natural climber so we have decided to drop twine from the roofline and let the plants climb up that (after some initial training, of course). We haven't dropped the twine yet, but I'm thinking we'd better do it before it gets too hot out--I'm in no hurry to go shimmying around a tile roof when it's a hundred degrees out.

I'll be giving hops updates as it seems appropriate. We probably won't be harvesting any this year, though. If I understand it correctly, generally the first year is more about establishing the plant than it is about harvesting. We might get a few buds to work with. It would be cool if Freddie was able to harvest enough this year for at least one batch of beer. Maybe he'll be able to use his own home grown hops in his Belgium style wheat beer infused with his own home grown lavendar!

SunChips Go Compostable, Week 06

It's week six and the bag is still whole and even a little crinkly. I added a bunch of weeds from the yard this week so there's a lot more moisture and with the temperatures rising I suspect things are going to happen a little more quickly in the coming weeks. My tumbler is still not "finished," so I am thinking that I might add a new bag to the tumbler when it comes time to add a new batch to it. This bag might still be in the works when that happens, but it'll be interesting to see if the progress is any faster when it's in a proper composting environment from day one rather than starting it's compost life in a staging bin that isn't necessarily ideal composting conditions.

One thing is for sure, the tumbler is doing a nice job or converting the stuff that's in there. I think it'll be my first batch of real "quality" compost. That is, the best break down of larger pieces, even "burning," and general break down into soil-like compost.

Organic Bug Earth Day 40th Anniversary Celebration Giveaway

The folks at Organic Bug are celebrating Earth Day in style this year by sponsoring a nine day giveaway extravaganza--by doing a few simple things you can be entered to win forty fabulous earth-friendly prizes. The contest starts today so get on over to their website and enter the contest. Enter daily to win. There are also a few one time things you can do for added entries (such as blogging about the contest!).

Organic Bug is a good company specializing in organic (duh) and earth-friendly products. They have everything from delicious specialty food items to bedding, cosmetics, toys, even gardening products.

SunChips Go Compostable, Week 05

Here we are about a third of the way into the estimated composting cycle of the SunChips compostable bag. As I've said in previous posts, the change has not been dramatic but I suppose it is greater than what you're seeing in the photographs. From the photos you'd probably think the only change is dirt. The bag has definitely lost some integrity in a way that's more tactile than visual. Still, it's a pretty good bag that could probably hold some stuff if you felt a need to transport goods in a dirty chip bag that's been in a fly infested compost bin for five weeks. Personally, I'd look for a better conveyance. And I definitely wouldn't carry anything edible...

You might notice that last week I received a comment from SunChips. I thought that was pretty cool. They didn't offer to send me any free chips so that I'd have more compostable bags for my bin, but, hey, what are ya gonna do? I'm sure they have a few interns who spend the day searching the internet for comments made on blogs and chat rooms--probably trying to head off any bad press if any might be found. Still, a couple of free bags would have been nice.