time in a bottle

It was very nice indeed to have the week off. My activities, in loose chronological order, were as follows:

First was the Marathon Sleeping, which was greatly needed.
Then came the Lolling About, which was also not to be missed.

After that was a a smidge of Self-Indulgence, followed by various and asundry Epicurean Delights.

Now I am dreading Week O' Work (having more or less cycled back to being a Marginally Functional Human Being During Daylight Hours).

Am also, somewhat randomly, contemplating urban composting techniques, namely vermiculture/composting vs. Bokashi vs. the oxymoronic electronic composter.

The latter is shamelessly attractive in this Jetsons meets hippie love-child kind of way. (If you investigate the website, I will have you know I draw the line at composting Piper and Flip Flop's poo--at least as an indoor activity, although the Pet Friendly NatureMill assures me it is "ideal" for the waste products of "up to 2 large dogs, or 4 cats, rabbits, hamsters, snakes, ferrets, or other small animals," while cautioning me quite rightly, I think, that should equine poo-composting be for you, this is not the machine. I mean, thank goodness they made that clear. I'm also rather glad they added this helpful caveat: "Pet waste not recommended indoors."

I'm sorry. I can get down with worms hanging out under my kitchen sink happily and organically digesting yesterday's carrot tops--but I just can't see myself running home from a Piper-dog walk, all charged up about recycling his freshly-made turds.

Like, putting my dog's poo in a fancy, eco-friendly version of an compost-generating Easy Bake Oven is where I draw the line at crunchy granola, folks, sorry.

The vermiculture thing interests me from a "keep it fairly simple" perspective, and indeed, some of the information makes it seem like your average eight year old, with appropriate adult supervision, could keep one running. On the other hand--other websites I've perused in the last twelve hours makes me feel as if vermiculture is sort of composting's answer to gourmet baking--get one ingredient or variable out of wack, and you're doomed to micro-ecosystem failure. I mean, they have these Master Composters floating around, instructing people on the fine art of getting worms to do their stuff with your garbage. That's kind of hardcore and intimidating, in some ways. I mean, I'm new to this stuff, and I find out there's a league of Jedi Knight Mater Composters out there somewhere in Greater Seattle? Scary! And, I'm not sure I can be trusted, either, in my intermittently sleep deprived state, to keep up with the worm farm as I should.

The other option--Bokashi, basically works off the principal of pickling your waste--and has the added advantage that you can pickle not only fruits and veggies and paper, but alo meat and dairy products, a huge no-no in Old School Composting. It's got a self-contained, relatively small system, doesn't require the constant monitoring of a worm farm, and seems to keep the smell to a minimum. The drawback for someone living in an urban apartment or condo, is that one does not generally have a plot of land to then go and bury the results--which do not fully compost until that step is finished.

While I do have friends who would probably like the Bokashi almost-compost product, the problem is then getting it do them on a regular basis, as the system seems to cycle about every month or so.

And if my activities as of late (scouring the internet for interesting ways to help food rot!) aren't strange enough, I cooked this egg bake recipe this morning. I added potatos, a walla-walla onion and tomatos from Nancy's garden, and substituted sausage for bacon (and no, I don't have an alternate identity as a SAHM who cooks for her kids--I just happen to share my name with the owner of the blog.) It was spongy, and sort of like a poor man's quiche, but having never had the stuff before, I have no idea if I "did it right." I'm always vaguely suspicious of my cooking efforts, any way.

In fact, I'm very suspicious of just about anything I do these days that isn't involved with sleeping, or developing a plan to obtain still more sleep, as the neurons do not seem to be functioning optimally.

Be forewarned, folks, if I break out the crystals and a Dog Psychic in the next couple of weeks, please stage an intervention, STAT, okay?