I was reading, in The Green Pharmacy, not so long ago, that phytoestrogens are completely different than toxic chemicals that mimic estrogens. "The soy supporters tout soybeans because they are high in two estrogen-like plant compounds, genistein and daidzein. Both of these phytoestrogens prevent your body from taking up the more harmful forms of estrogen circulating in your blood. They take the place of that estrogen, binding to your cells' estrogen receptor sites and preventing more harmful estrogens from binding to the same receptors. Significantly, they also protect the body from pollutants that chemically mimic estrogen. The soy supporters are right. Soy is high in genistein and daidzein, but lots of other beans are also quite high in genistein, which appears to be the more active of the two phytoestrogens." ~James A. Duke, The Green Pharmacy

I've tried a variety of composting methods over the years. My first was a 3' circle of chicken wire (all I could afford). The side aeartion was nice, but I kept getting the pitchfork tines stuck in the chicken wire. After that, I made a compost garden. That was an 8' octogon raised frame bed with a 2'diameter chicken wire in the middle. I dumped compostable stuff in the chicken wire, never turned it, and let nurients leach into the surrounding soil to feed cucumbers up the chicken wire, tomotos outside that and bell peppers and flowers and the outer ring. Worked well actually. More interesting, I happened to drive past the old house and, 20 years later, the octogon is still there (but with roses)! When I moved, I tried a plastic cylander that you filled up, waited a few weeks, lifted up and moved to the side and refilled from the old pile and with new material. It actually worked OK, but it was a pain to move. I finally build a real double compost bin. 4x4x3'H. I got tired of turning the compost from 1 bin to another and they both ended up being filled. That meant I had to fork everything out of one bin onto the ground, move the 2nd bin into the 1st, and move all the outside stuff into the 2nd. And the rich supply of melon rinds, carrot and potato peels, etc from the kitchen waste was attracting critters. Well, if they were eating the best stuff, it wasn't doing me any good. I decided to re-think the whole process... I started to leave my grass clippings on the lawn (free fertilizer). And I decided that the trees needed the nutrients from the decomposing leaves, so I merely shredded them with the mower and left them in place. That way, they wouldn't blow away, and any blown-in leaves would add to the nutrient pile. But I still had kitchen waste and weeds to compost. So I got an aerated closed tumbler to use for the rich critter-tempting stuff. The built compost bins get all the weeds and old flower stems and such. With an occasional shovel of fertile garden soil, that stuff breaks down eventually. The compost tumbler doesn't make compost worth a darn, but it does hold the kitchen waste nicely until it is too far gone to attract critters. So then it goes onto the old compost bins (turning it in once a month isn't much trouble). The other half of my new system is to get free mulch from the County recycling Center. It is lousy mulch, but only becuase it is way too decomposed for mulch. It does however make great compost after it sits for a year. It is as good as the leaf compost available commercially. I even let all my chicken bones dry out in the basement, pound them into pieces, and toss them in the kitchen waste tumbler to break down (free bonemeal) So the lawn keeps its clippings, the trees keep the fallen leaves, the critters can't get at the tempting kitchen waste, the old compost bins slowly provide some compost with little effort, and the year-old "mulch" is good as soil. I'm actually accumulating more than I can use. Guess where it is going? On the lawn! I have one of those pushable mesh barrels to sprinkle compost over the lawn. Anything that doesn't fall out through the mesh goes back onto the compost bin. :)

"I prefer Rubbermaid also, but Sterelite seems to be the only option these days." I agree with this. I have more Sterelite ones and they're in the attic. Some have the snap over sides and some have regular lids. I had one regular lid crack along the side/top. Consider buying the snap ones if possible. Kswl - I thought my attic looked decent until I saw that. :) That's awesome!

I am so happy to all ready see reponses to my post! Golddust ... From what my DD described what she would like, the idea of a decorative plastic storage tote really makes the most sense as it should be pretty protective and should prevent anything from getting damaged in normal storage ... Jejvtr ... Thank you for those sites. I had all ready checked out the first one but I like that the second one actually has pictures. I just hope the top will still fit on it after adding the fabric ... Wish me luck ! ...And thanks for the kind words :) Linda