The mushroom compost, coffee grounds, and leaves are all organic soil amendments, whether you need any "fertilizers" of any kind can only be determined by a good, reliable soil test. Contact your local office of the University of Tennessee USDA Cooperative Extension Service to find out about how to do that. Here is a link that might be useful: UofT CES

Hi Mari ~ hope you didn't get trashed by that storm we had last night. Sirens going off and all - sheesh! My kids spent the entire time in their 'tornado shelter' under the stairs with laptops playing on barbie and cyberchase. :) Such wonderful inventions these wonderful computers. ;) I find that cereal boxes and soda boxes take quite some time to break down so I use a paper shredded to slice and dice them. They break down in no time. Just make sure to use machine oil after every thirty minutes of use to keep the blades in good shape and don't try to put the whole box in at once, make sure to put it through in single pieces at a time I also compost pizza boxes, take out boxes from Long John Silvers break down nicely as does the paper sacks from McDonald's and Sonic. ;) Also, you can shred the kids' homework and graded papers, too. Just some fun things for you to try. As for things to NOT put in a blender - I found out the hard way that pistachio nuts are a big NO NO NO. LOL! Although, truy I don't bother with food like that anymore. I throw in whole pumpkins in autumn and huge chuncks of watermelon in summer. Not saying this works for everyone - just works for me. Have fun! Christina

You all are making me feel guilty! lol This bag of rice has been stored in my damp musty cellar for 2 yrs in an opened bag....God only knows what could be living in it! I'm sure that it would even smell like the cellar if I tried to cook it. bleck! The dog is on a special diet and the nearest pet shelter is 45 minutes drive away...and they may not even take it. I was simply hoping that it would be ok to put this in a compost pile or sprinkle it on the garden....I want to get rid of it without paying $$ to have it hauled away with my household garbage. If I would have known how many lbs of rice it would take to make 6 neck wraps as Christmas gifts....I wouldn't have bought that much in the first place! :) Thanks for your thoughts. I hope you don't lose any sleep tonite because I'm throwing away rice. ~~Sorry, I just had to say it! I'm in a strange mood this evening! lol

You're right, Nan, surfactants are found in lots of products. Soap and detergents are all surfactants - it's actually the surfactant molecules that surround and float dirt/grease molecules away. Guess it also floats the frog's protective slime coat away. Not surprising really. One way the issue around amphibians surfaced was when commercial herbicide was used to kill invasive exotic plants in ponds. The amphibians died - but not because of the active herbicide ingredient, but from the 1ppm surfactant in the herbicide formulation. For this reason, many people would like to see unadulterated herbicides (without other ingredients like surfactants) available to regular folks like us. At this time, for big bucks, professionals can buy the active ingredient in bulk, but smaller, affordable quantities are not marketed. No worry that toothpaste, shampoo, or any surfactants will be banned or limited - we don't ban the fossil fuels that are destroying the ozone layer, so what's a few frogs? In general, we ban things long, long after catastrophic results are obvious, and then we ban specific chemicals only when we have a method to detect that chemical - which is not trivial. Drinking water can legally contain like 2mg/L Total Organic Carbon, but virtually all the EPA monitors is volatile contaminants, which are testable in a GC (found in most labs), and make up typically around 0.2mg/L. So what are we drinking in the other 0.8mg/L? Mmmmmmm. And this attitude, my friends, is born not of a nuts-and-fruits birkinstok-wearing flower-child. It was born of too many years in a chem lab plus working with chemists at EPA labs 20 years ago, and finally standing in my own garden today, looking around and wondering what in the world we have done. I know there's harmful bacteria and fungi in the soil I play in, I eat fast food on occasion, and I know that loving strawberries means I injest a lot of pesticide, so i don't get carried away with all the dangers - if one thing doesn't kill us, another will, that's for sure. i just wish I weren't leaving such a mess for the kids to clean up. Want to get scared of your shampoo, look at the ingredients and then read http://www.ecsu.ctstateu.edu/depts/env_saf/msdspdf/sodium_dodecyl_sulfate_BP166100_Fisher.pdf#search='sodium%20lauryl%20sulfate%20msds' Here is a link that might be useful: one article from many