Worm composting maybe? DW has RA, she doesn't compost. DD has Vasculitis, she doesn't compost. Bad days are too bad and composting on the good days seems like a waste. Sad but true.

Lloyd

Hmm, I have never tried or even read that much about worm composting, but I'll read a bit tonight. I do understand that good days are a waste for composting. I am having more good days than bad now, so I have some hope. Hope your DW and DD can get to this point in their lives.

Well, I likely have RA. If I can, I will turn the compost piles, more often than not, DH does though. But, as his time is limited too, the piles do not get turned as often as they might which is absolutely fine, as they do compost, just not quickly.

Worms are wonderful, definitely look into that option (Worms Eat My Garbage is a good book, likely available in the library). If you could pay someone to dig trenches that you gradually fill with compost ingredients and cover with soil, that could work too. Another option would be to keep the kitchen scraps in the freezer, in containers of a size that would not be too difficult to lift. When you are having a good day, you could then place the containers in a wagon and pull that to the compost pile.

I have seen RA suck the life (and money) out of my mother. I think that it is wonderful that you are having more good days and wish you the best in all your composting and other endeavors.

I hope you don't, tishtosh, but if you do, early aggressive treatment is what you want, as scary as it is.

I'm definitely going to look into the worm thing. The freezer is out of the question, at least for a while, because ours is tiny and full of ice packs lol. I am hoping that if the garden does well, I'll be able to justify getting a small deep freeze, and may do that anyway, to keep from buying grocery store meat. But for now, it's not possible.

I am thinking probably that I will just start with a small bucket and just empty it every night. It may be that we generate more than I think, but we'll see.

I don't think I can turn it, though, and DH is not on board with anything garden-wise, so I am doing it all this year. I have read that I can just poke it, though, to keep air going through.

So, for my shopping list tomorrow, so far I have:
a small bucket
a small, light pitchfork, if they exist

For poking it deep, I use a long piece of rebar left over from when the house was built. While I have not used it before, here is a link to a compost aerator that is certainly on my list of considerations. As far as poking, the pitchfork would not do much, especially as the pile gets bigger. Once you have enough mass, you could also locate a teenager for hire to turn it.

In our household of 6 mainly plant eaters, we still do not take out the compost every night. There are some nice buckets that have charcoal chips for absorbing odors that could be nice. We just use left over ice cream buckets. I have 2 under the sink, I would love to say that as soon as they are full they go out, but what is more accurate is that as soon as they are full and a mixing bowl on the counter is full, I inform one of the kids that it needs to go out.

Here is a link that might be useful: Compost aerator

I've made a couple worm bins for other people and are pretty easy to make. You might need to persuade someone to help you with putting in the initial soil and worms but, from there, the worms will take care of mixing for you whenever you put food scraps in. Worms work fairly quickly too.

Just do a little worm research, find a bin design that works for you (plenty of designs on the internet and in books), and you'll be good to go. Best of luck.

Have you tried accessible gardening or enabeling? I think one of the first threads in accessible gardening is about composting. HTH Nancy

Compost aerators don't really do very much for your compost, it can not replace turning. When I think about the worms that get hurt by that thing. Compost aerators are on my list of things that don't do anything helpful.

I am bitter because when I first started composting it did not work out so I emailed the company because my compost was a rock hard failure and they wanted to sell what is basically just a pointy stick to poke my compost, instead of telling me to add bagged browns, so it took me years to figure out how to actually compost. But, they will tell you anything to make you buy something else, but they don't care if you compost fails or not. Just buy more accelerators that also do nothing.

TYSVM NANCY! I didn't realize that was there! On my way over for ideas right now!! When I first started reading about the worm composting, it seemed way complicated, so much info about it out there, but the ONE thing that is pushing me in that direction is that it doesn't need to be turned. DH has agreed to build me a home for them, too! So I think that's the way I'm gonna go. He's going to build one bin this weekend, and another later, and I'm going to get my daughter to paint them nice and pretty when she is here (and hopefully get her to do it at her house too). We should have an appliance arriving tomorrow, so I can use that cardboard to see what I can get myself, and then figure out where else to get some wormy friends. :)

Only problem left would be getting finished stuff out of there, but either my daughter can do it, or my friend from the nursery can, if DH is still stubborn by that point. I am hoping that he won't be, and will see how much easier trash day is going to be for him. :)

Thanks so much for all of your suggestions and help.

I can say that there are more than one way to achieve good compost, putting everything in a pile and waiting does work and using an aerator can work, especially if one is not inclined or not able to turn their compost.

Harvesting from the worm bin can be easy. Mine are in rubbermaid containers and if I am planning on just mixing the castings into the soil, I just take a scoop, worms and all, and mix them into the soil. If I want to use the castings for seedlings or making a casting tea, then I will sieve the castings through hardware cloth (although I would really prefer to just get an easily maneuverable soil sieve, which would make this easier on me).

There is a lot of information out there on worms but I find it is one of many things that can be either as complicated or as easy as you like. I go with easy, put the bedding in a bin, add worms and food scraps, done. Wait,harvest castings. Repeat.

If it helps encourage you any, I have a disabling form of narcolepsy... it's made me 'unemployable' against my will, for about a decade now. If nothing else, I understand what THAT can be like. In my case, I force myself to stay outside during daylight hours (rain or shine, sleepy or awake)... hoping to reinforce some 'natural' sleep/wake pattern that...at least in my brain, simply does not exist. I'm convinced the compost/gardeing stuff is helping... but that may be wishful thinking on my part. It gives me something to do, that's not super time-sensitive.

I do get really bad tendonitis on occasion too...sometimes, the only reason I wake up when it's 'really' morning, is because both my arms are numb and throbbing from overdoing it the day before. For that reason, I gave up with using a regular pitchfork... to me, that's more of a torture device. If my tendonitis really acts up... there's no substitute for my 'hand claw' tool.

With my sleeping disorder, the worst that could happen with me...I could forget to take my meds, fall asleep outside, and inadvertently...compost myself. But, I realize that might be much different from the challenges you face, everyone has different challenges.

You mentioned PT... If I were in your shoes, I would talk to your PT therapist about the possibility of using composting as a means of building your strength. A good PT will send you home with a bunch of (boring) excercices that you're supposed to work on at home. See if there might be a way to integrate some of the techniques you're supposed to work on anyway... with the processes involved with composting/gardening in general. If so, see about incorporating some of that into your PT plan?

If you explain to your therapist(s) what you are trying to do, at the very least...they should be able to suggest some ways to engage in gardening/composting in a way that's 'safe as possible'... for someone with your disability. But there's also the possibility... gardening/composting could be used as a means to help overcome some of the limits you deal with now. Your doc/physical therapist would be among the first people I'd ask. OT also, if that's an option. Those professionals are supposed to be in your corner at all times, and by all means... put their expertise to work for you, as much as possible.

Whatever you do, try not to get discouraged on the bad days. Everybody has those. I can lay down for a nap, and oops! Accidently slept 30 hours. It is what it is. Accept that some days are going to be better than others; focus on making progress when you can, and celebrate progress you do make. Before I was diagnosed with narcoloepsy, I was a workaholic and made good money. Now, I tell people my time is worth 3x more...because I sleep twice as often, and need to work twice as hard in order to get anything done...it would be really easy to get discouraged sometimes, but I don't allow myself the option. If you want to do something badly enough... trust me, you can always find a way.

Les in CO

tishtosh, I've decided that that's exactly what I'm going to do. I'm with you, easy is better. But I'm also the type who might like to complicate it slowly if I really get into it, so if that happens, it does, if not, no biggie, I've still got nice stuff for my garden, and I'm another step towards living green.

Les, I can't imagine that kind of disability, but it sounds like you've become comfortable with yourself, and that's a good thing. I have a sleep disorder which makes my bioclock backwards than everyone else's, which is fine with me now that I am retired, because the sun can make me pass out, and with the meds I take, I have to watch that anyway. Not going to be taking care of it much in the daytime. Plan to water in the evening, and weed as I can at night, though I may try to find an alternative to weeding.

With the PT, the main thing we're working on is posture, but of course, strength is part of that, too. Just to give you a hint at how bad it is, I'm doin really well if I can sit without back support for 3 minutes. Lots of damage over time, lots of work to fix it. But I'll definitely talk to her about that. I won't be doing much of the work, really. Just watering, and possibly weeding. And of course EATING! :) DH is at least on board with going into the back yard and gathering free groceries lol! If my tomatoes yield enough, I will probably can or freeze, so that would give me an opportunity to build some back strength and focus on my posture. I will be done with PT by the time that happens, though, and hopefully will be practicing good habits I'm learning now. All of this will definitely benefit me. A sedentary life has taken its toll and it's time for that to end.

I have a "built in" bad day every week due to meds, and that's just par for the course, so no discouragement there. The other bad days, eh. Sometimes I let myself get down about it, sometimes I don't, but I have a really awesome support group on facebook where I can go to whine. :) Just hoping that nothing prevents me from taking my poison so that I can continue to have mostly good ones to be thankful for. Those are all used up getting caught up on things that I've had to let slide, but I'm very busy doing that so I can get back to living a somewhat normal life, if there is a such thing. :) Thanks for the encouraging words, and please don't forget your meds, because you didn't used to be a plant!!!

Try vermicomposting on this site, even if you are going to Only use worms in the outside compost pile.
These vermic people know worms & what they like.
http://vermicomposters.com/

Here is a link that might be useful: Another good site

I am not disabled, just lazy, or as I prefer to view it, efficient. I never turn or even aerate my compost heaps. I put the ingredients (ie all the kitchen scraps, weeds and other garden junk into the bins and time does all the work for me. I just spread the compost on the garden once a year. Maybe since that is a one time job you could get someone to do it for you. Nor do I worry about bits of twig etc. in the final product. they don't hurt the garden.

One other tip I would suggest is to get scuffle hoe and keep it moving among the plants. Otherwise you are goingto have weed problems which will be worse than carrying a pail of scraps down some steps.

Another thought. If you line your compost material collecting pot with a plastic bag could you just tie the top of the bag, throw it out into the yard and then follow it at your own pace?

Rofl!
"...the sun makes me pass out"
I have days like that too, it gets worse during the winter months...not uncommon to find me up painting or remodeling at 2am in December.

If you want to work on some of this at night, a good headlamp comes in very handy...if you don't have one already. ;)

Les

I have an autoimmune thing that left my legs, left hand, and face paralyzed - I do the heap-it-and-leave-it compost technique, however its so dry here that I need to leave mine two years instead of one - so I have two 'piles'. Actually, they are made from a 12 foot diameter hard-sided, plastic backyard swimming pool cut in half, so they hold a whole lotta stuff.

Beginning next week, I'll be emptying one out, and fill it again over the next 12 months, leaving the other to rot another year.