compost question

Can I put onions in the compost pile?

You sure can.

Thanks! Someone told me NO, but I felt I ask DG members as I think they have more experience than the person who said no. After all his yard is nothing but grass, no garden, no flowers, no bushes. Just 1 acre of grass he mows.

Marti, you can sure put onions in your pile. You can put in anything organic. Most folks caution against using meat, fish, dairy scraps, etc., because this can attract rodents and other animals.
It makes me curious about why this person said you shouldn't! Wonder what his reasoning is?

I've never put meat in my compost pile, just leaves and grass. But I find that I can add veggie matter from the kitchen so am learning how and what I can compost. I don't know what he's reasoning is. He's kind of a jerk anyway.

I'm recycling paper and cardboard, cans, and plasic bottles. Its cut down alot on the trash going out everyweek.

Sure you can put onions in the compost bin - but I prefer mine fried with mushrooms and garlic (giggle)

Thats the problem! I was fixing Onions, mushrooms and garlic to put over a nice grilled chicken breast and one of my onions had gone all soft and yecky inside, so I threw it in the compost bin. My neighbor said I couldn't put onions in compost. Of course, the jerk hates our dogs and wants us to cut down all of our maple trees to stop birds from roosting in them. Says the birds distrub him.

marti001 - I can't imagine a world without birds. I get the greatest enjoyment watching them at my feeders.

Tell him, trees give us the air we breathe and birds eat the bugs we hate. Maybe he hasn't thought of these things.

He smokes and drinks. He does not care. He has no trees on his property and is trying to rule the neighborhood.

marti001 - if all else fails, find a biblical quotation that "fits" - sometimes the "Good Book" works on deaf ears.

He's an atheist. I just stay out of his way and protect the dogs from him. I was hoping he'd go back down to florida for the winter but he hasn't left yet. When the dogs bark at him I tell them to be careful and don't bite him they'll get a disease. He heard me and after I called the Sheriffs because he was firing fireworks into my trees to scare off the birds he's been quieter and leaving me alone. He did not like having the cops come visit him and tell him that as long as I keep the dogs quiet from 10 P.M. til 7 A.M. He has nothing to complain about and that if anything happened to the dogs, they would be back to see him.

A double scribbles come in various sizes. Sounds like you have a big one. LOL

This guy need to meet the barracuda. He would never hurt a bird again....I am available and I am free. I will fly over at anytime. Just call me. I am a Red Hawk...

If he starts harassing my birds in the spring when they all return and find that I have birdhouse gourds and feeders and bathing places for them, I'll let you know. I don't think he likes women. Darn red-neck!!!

Anything you do not like go into the super ignor mood. It may not go away but if you get good in the ignor mood you won't give a hoot. Enjoy your birds. Enjoy all there is to enjoy at this wonderful time of the year. Speak not of that you are trying to ignor. The human brain is something else. One can usually achieve anything one can conceive and believe. Square one believe you can ignor and in due time you will. Believe and speak of happiness and you will find it.

That's were I'm at with him now. I just egnore him. I think it's bugging him because he's made several attempts to talk to me when I go out for the mail and I just get the mail and come back to the house as if I never heard or saw him.

But ignoring him on your walk back to your home bothers you. You are to nice for it not to bother you. Not a way to have to live. Is it against the law to throw firecrackers at trees? It is here. Cannot throw firecrackers anywhere. I think you should write him a nice note wishing him a happy New Year and then reveal the things you hope for the new year. ie, my birds are left alone and not scared away by firecrackers. That my new neighbor will get to know all the animals in the neighborhood that are loved by all and so forth. You know what you want to say and say it with a song in your heart as you always do. He probably knows what he did is wrong and does not know how to undo what he has done. If that does not work, can you move your mailbox?

So sorry Sharon I must disagree. One can not deal rationally with an irrational mind. Since time began families, friends, associates and others have found the irrational mind must first come back into rational behavior limits before any positive change can take place. This turkey should be left to stand alone with no one but himself to seek help. Marty is plenty upset now. Adding fuel to the fire will only hurt the one who carries the wood.

It surprised me when I arrived here in Kentucky and found out that you can lite off fireworks anytime of the year. According to the sheriffs he can shoot off fireworks in HIS OWN YARD, but can not fire them into my trees or onto my property. It will be interesting in the spring when my bird friends come back from their wintering grounds and find all the wonderful things I have put out for them. I am painting birdhouse gourds for any of them that need a nest box and have a nice big feeder for them. I don't know want kind of birds I'll attract, but any are fine with me.

I will send you extra bird food..And I always respect what you say doc so I am probably wrong. I am always looking for a fairy tale ending. I keep forgetting this is not a movie. It is now Christmas where you live or will be in 4 minutes. Merry Christmas.

Thank you all for the ideas.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Hmmm, not a fun situation, Marti.
I agree that the irrational mind must come back to what is rational, but also possible that Sharon hit the nail on the head with her comment about your neighbour not knowing how to undo what he has done/said.
Perhaps there is a way down the middle: keep on the high road (smile, grit teeth!), while modeling good manners/behaviour.
Example: If you compost & it's not a burden, you might request his grass clippings for a compost component. That could be a win-win situation, with the hopeful outcome of piquing his interest.
You don't need to be his best buddy, but it is usually a good idea to care for your neighbours, as there are times & situations when you may need each other. This worked well for me in a volatile situation, but it took much patience & time. Looking back, it was worth every ounce of energy.
Just a thought - sure hope this all works out for the best!

Oh I did that. He was blowing the leaves that had blown from the neighborhood into his yard out of his yard and I told him he could blow them into my yard. I was a little surprised when he did it, but than he didn' have to bag them. Than the mailman delivered a letter to me addressed to him at his address. Just got mixed in with my mail. So instead of returning it to the mailman with wrong address marked on it. I gritted my teeth and took it across the street and gave it to him. He looked really surprised and stammered "Thank You" I just said "Your welcome" and walked back to my place.

I figure that I can be the bigger and better person than him. As my dad used to say, "Kill them with kindness!"

I really think he is a fish out of water. Some individuals moved from areas where no one spoke to anyone. He just does not know how to react. Maybe you can have a neighborhood thing and make sure he attends. We had one couple in the neighborhood that just stood back. We invited them to our neighborhood pot luck and then someone went and brought them over. It was at our home. There had to be 40 individuals. They did not fit in and did not know how to carry on a conversation. They also both smoked and no one else in the group did so they felt left out about that. He died last summer from pancreatic cancer. He and I always waved when I was going to our mail box center. One day I was walking by and he was hiding behind a tall bush and smoking. I got my mail, marched across the street and said, "OMG Neil, you are dying. (We had already had that discussion). If you want a cigarette, smoke one, two, a hundred, whatever. He broke into a big smile, gave me a hug, came out from behind the bush and smoked his cigarette on the front porch. Maybe the mailman should give him some of your mail by mistake just to see what he does. I have a friend down the street that is from Persia. He was very unfriendly. His wife had died about 18 months before I tackled him in the greenbelt. He always looked unhappy. He was walking his two poodles and I was walking my two Schnauzer. I just about tripped him go make him stop. Remember, he is Persian, now Iran, and it is not proper for a man to speak to someones wife. Poor man was probably terrified. Anyway, every time he were in the park walking his dogs he would stop and chat, barely for a few moments. Then he got called back to New York City by his son. He is a retired architect and his son needed him on a large project. He probably did not need him but wanted to get him out of the house. Since I was on the HOA Board and was trying to be his friend, he asked me to watch after his home. Well about two weeks after he left we had a major rain storm. Then in about two weeks his whole front landscape was full of weeds over one foot tall. I e-mailed him and to,d him I had taken care of the weeds because I did not want him fined by the HOA. I was doing some work on his landscaping while he was gone because it was a disaster. I told him what I was doing and it was free. He liked the free. Then all of a sudden his daughter came to visit with her female cousin. I was at the property every day for about one hour because there were so many things wrong. When I walked in the back landscape, the daughter and her cousin were by the pool in the back landscape drinking beer at 10am in the morning.. They stated they had been waiting for me. How did I meet her father? She said he was so bashful that they were astonished he even spoke to me. I told them, he did not have a choice. I more or less tackled him and made him become my friend. I fixed his irrigation system, deep watered many trees and just cleaned the place up. I did the clean up but my landscaper picked up the debris and take it off the property. I have a blast cleaning up, I just do not want to lick it up. One afternoon a young neighbor came by and wanted to know why I was helping him because he was so mean. I told her he is not mean, just that his heart was broken because the love of his life had died. And it was from cancer so it was an ugly death.

Well his daughter figured out I was not after her father's money. I brought her and her cousin over to the house to meet DH. Then one afternoon, he called and wanted to know what I was doing with all the water. His water bill was usually $30.00 and now it was $150.00. I stated I was deep watering everything and with that little amount of water, no wonder everything looked so bad. I finally made a believer when he came home and his lemon tree had lemons for the first time. He said every year he had blooms but no lemons. I told him, learned on DG, if they do not get enough water, they will drop there blossoms and make no fruit. So early this year I helped him with his tomatoes and basil and they actually grew. Now he is so friendly, when he sees me in the front garden or the park, he stops and he and the dogs pay me a visit. He is more friendly with the neighbors. He was nasty to the big dog because he thought he would hurt his little poodles. I had the dog come over and he realized the dog was harmless. Warning, this took over a year. I did this for him, not the neighbors. He is in his middle 60s and they were married 38 years. He is younger than me by a couple of years. But he now has a big smile on his face.

Sorry this is so long. Just could not tell the story any shorter.

Sharon - thanks for sharing this - I truly enjoyed it.
It's an excellent example of modeling grace & kindness. Some people are so deep within themselves, they've forgotten how to get out. And for these, it's similar to dealing with a feral animal: time, patience, kindness, consistency, all to instill trust. However, there are some who will not respond, and that's quite sad.

Katye, and I get paid back on a frequent basis. Anytime I am out in the front landscape, he slows down his car, gives me a shout out, waves and gives me a big smile.

Sharon - that is pretty cool: You touched a lonely soul by extending a hand, and the investment was well worth it. What a blessing!

How's your weather these days? And how's that GH coming along?
I am about to invest in a humidifier - we've been on the clear skies/very chilly side & keeping the woodstove going. House has seemed almost "LV dry". Of course. I say that & it will rain non-stop for weeks...
1 year ago:

The greenhouse is still going. I hope this is the last change. He is in Hawaii until January 2 so nothing is happening He has changed ideas so many times I got a little frustrated with him, just did not let him know. It is a good thing he has money to burn, because he does. At this very moment I do know we are going to grow in dirt, hydroponic equipment has been removed and given away. He has switched from small trays to 5 gallon buckets. I have no idea what he is doing I am just getting ready to get in there and I will do my thing and he can watch and learn.

I do have my worm bucket fermenting my scraps. This week I am going to add leaves, dirt and worms. I have read everything I can so I must go forward. Too dry the worms die, to wet the worms die so hold your breath.

LOL - you're sounding like a worm Bartender. "Spritz with a twist"...

Now I am getting very nervous. These worms are going to cost me thousands....

yes, but you'll be ensuring Wormly happiness...

Katye, you are very funny.

you should see my worms!

OK, I will bite. Let me see your worms....

they're deep in the pile gearing up for partying tomorrow.
A few came up for S'bux' grounds, but I'm certain they are spiking it with some sort of secret Wormly liqueur.
I'll try to get pics - some of them would photgraph well as they are fairly rotund from holiday food consumption.
happy campers all around...lotsa wee-hours-of-the-morning singing.

Well my red wiggly ones are not here yet and my regular worms are in my herb raised bed feasting away on many fine things including S'bux grounds. The ground is cold so I thing they are way down in the bed. So many babies I am going to start putting birth control pills in the pile.

Hey, y'all, just stumbled in here. Saw "a compost question" - always have some, too.

But I gotta comment. first, a question?

Does your neighbor live alone, marti?


Then, a comment. Marti, if your neighbor is telling you how to mind your business (composting an onion!?) when he know so little about the ecosystems around him (pure lawn? not good), he sounds like an individual with control issues.

All lawn? no trees, in a neighborhood of trees? no other plants? He can control the lawn! Telling you what to do? Trying to get dogs not to bark? and wild birds not to make noise? Big control issues.

Controllers are often master manipulaters, too, to get what they want. They are self centered, self absorbed. They crave an audience, or someone to have power over. When you go to treat him with Christian kindness, is he happy to get it? Or does he take it as another opportunity to tell you how to run things, or make more complaints, or tell you off (so he feels empowered - yeah, you sending the cops would have rocked a control freak's world!) Controllers are sometimes abusers, often verbally. Use caution to protect your emotional and physical well-being. Verbal abusers prey on the fact that it's not nice to not be nice - they count on it. And Controllers are often bullies. If he can rattle you, or make you anger, he will feel empowered.

If you can stand your ground without anger (that takes divine help) you can work this out. Your ignoring him is upsetting you, because you know it's wrong not to be nice. Evaluate the situation. Are you really upset with yourself at not being nice, think his feeling are hurt? Or are you so put off by his behavior that contact rattles you? Be honest. If it's the former, try Sharon's way. If it's the latter, keep a lot of distance from this guy.

Sharon's right. Kill him with kindess. If he's a controller, it won't work, but ignoring him will. Ignoring a bully always works. Trick is, you have to ignore everything they do.

I'll shut up now...

Thanks for the advice. Ignoring him seems to be working. The last couple of times he was in his yard and I went to the mail box or driving in or out of the driveway, he has looked up and just waved. I wave back and than go about my own business. Now if I see him I make a waving motion and that forces him to wave or ignore me. He's actually waving back or at least nodding his head.

Wow, Happy Nee Year. Now you know a gift of an Orange is to bring good luck, that is Asian. Eating Black eyed peas is a Texas thing. Take him over an orange or a can of black eyed peas and say that this will bring you good luck in the new year. Please enjoy. You can just write a note and leave it on his door step.

We delivered both tonight to two different neighbors because they are self employed and both of their business are having problems collecting monies due them. They are friends and were happy for anything they were getting. They had already received many other recipes. I told them the witch doctor was going to be by later so if some strange looking person was dancing around their front landscape, please do not call the police.

Happy New Year all you wonderful vegetable rotting nerds. My worms are ordered, my peat moss is in the garage to start its 24 hour soak to get rid of the acid. My vegetables are rotting but my old blender is not efficient. I need to go to garage sales to see if I can find an old Cuisinart. I tried my old blender and now I know why it was my old blender. It sucks. Maybe my greenhouse guy is buying something super powered and I can use it. We are suppose to be off and running on the green house next week. I do believe, I do believe.

LOL Finally have a cheap system for our food scraps now that we have compost bins. We've just recently started drinking coffee, Maxwell House, in those plastic jugs with handles. I've discovered they make great little beside the sink compost containers.

Easy to wash out. Lids fit tight enough to keep out bugs, keep in smells, yet opens with just one hand. There's a 2nd one handy and they stack easily. Takes almost no space on the countertop. And the whole family has gotten into it, even grumpy DH is using them! He has, on his own, started taking them out nightly to the bins outside when he walks the dog.

But I don't chop anything. if I had to take apart and clean all the pieces of my Cuisinart every time I saved scrapes, well, I won't!