I would like some pulp for my compost pile, but don't have much of anything to trade in terms of produce. It is not clear if you are in san francisco as you have listed zone 10. I have plants to trade.

In my experience, the problem with garlic and onion skins is that they don't break down. The worms don't eat anything until it starts to decompose, so the skins just sit there. I have also noticed the worms won't eat other root vegetables very quickly, like raw carrot chunks or potato skins. Those do eventually break down and get eaten, but it takes a really long time. Carrot peelings are so small, they break down more quickly and seem to get eaten fairly quickly, but I don't put lots in my bin. Orange peels also don't break down and my worms don't eat them, so I stopped putting them in my bin a long time ago. I don't eat grapefruit, so I have never put rinds into my bin, but maybe the worms would eat it because the rind has a lot pulp attached to it, which gets the decomposing process going. Orange peels usually don't have any pulp attached, at least the way I eat them. In any event, I don't think the oil or waxy substances in citrus peels are worms' favorite things to eat. Basically, my worms get mostly coffee grounds and banana skins. Sometimes they get a few bits of lettuce or other vegetable trimmings, apple cores, and rarely moldy bread, plain pasta or rice. They don't need variety; they really seem perfectly fine with just the coffee and bananas. Everything elso goes into my regular compost bin, where I think having some varitey of materials is beneficial.

Persimmon Cookies Ingredients 2 cups flour ½ tsp nutmeg 1 tsp salt 1 tsp cinnamon 2 cups persimmons (chopped or ripened pulp) 1 stick butter (¼ pound) softened to room temperature 1 egg 2 cups granulated sugar 1 cup chopped nuts 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 Tbsp brandy 1 tsp lemon juice ½ tsp baking soda 1 tsp baking powder Method Preheat oven to 375º Blend flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and baking powder; then sift. Set aside. Blend persimmons and baking soda. Let stand, to gel. Blend butter and sugar until fluffy; then add vanilla, brand, and lemon juice. Mix the persimmons into the butter/sugar mixture. Add the flour mixture, blend well. Add in the nuts. Drop spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets, and bake for 12-15 minutes. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* I haven't made these in ages. I don't recall how many cookies this recipe will make, and it's not written on the paper that the recipe is written on... Sorry!

Here's how it went down. I took inspiration from Lizbeth's pineapple coleslaw post and used the pineapple chunks in coleslaw I made for my dad. He loved it. I found a box of raisins I also had to use up so I marinated the raisins in pineapple juice and rum overnight. I made the muffins this morning. I strained out the marinating juice and topped it off with half and half to get 1/3 cup. I followed the recipe more or less as-is other than that, except I didn't top them with maple syrup, I didn't want them to get that sticky. Instead, I added 1 TBLSP maple syrup to the batter. I topped them with sugar in the raw instead, which I often do for muffins. Here's a photo. I'm starting a "Muffin Monday" tradition. I don't have to be at work first thing on Monday's and making them on Mondays will give me enough to last the week with my morning or afternoon coffee. I also share them with my landlady, she does a lot of nice things for me, and she said no need to repay her other than keep her supplied with muffins! These rum raisin muffins were just OK. If I do it again I will skip the pecans, they're expensive and didn't add that much to the flavor. I guess maybe toasting them might make a difference but I don't much care for nuts in muffins anyway. They are OK just out of the oven but don't keep all that well. I'd double the rum (I used 1 TBLSP) and use 1.5 cups raisins, and use brown sugar for the sweetener.