Manual ways of reducing melon rinds and such involve a heavy knife, or, if you want to take out your aggression on the fruit, a machete. My mother had a manual meat grinder when I was a kid, and I've seen vegetable slicers of the same sort. If one of those can reduce carrots to slivers, it would do the same for melon rinds. Paper can be hand-shredded or you can use a paper cutter to cut it into strips and then cut the strips crosswise. Either way, it's a lot of work, and I don't know if most people are willing to put that much effort into it. Generally, if something requires a little personal effort and a little electricity, it's more likely to get done than if it requires a lot of manual effort and time and no electricity. If that were not the case, "labor-saving" electrical devices would never have become popular. To be completely honest, I do have a powerful blender with a container dedicated to compost. I tend to use it when I'm cleaning out the fridge and getting rid of all the leftovers that are growing green fuzzy things. I'll usually wind up with a bucket full of nasty slurry, which then gets dumped into the compost pile and covered with shredded leaves or wood chips. My blender can handle meat and bones as well as veggies, enabling me to compost things that are usually on the "do not compost" list by breaking them down into tiny particles which rot quickly before attracting flies. Most of the time, however, I just dump things into the compost without shredding. I think that the energy used in shredding is offset by the energy used in manufacturing a black plastic bag, using a big smoke-belching diesel truck to take the bag to the landfill (or the incinerator), and then using a big smoke-belching diesel bulldozer to bury the bag in the landfill (or using more fuel to burn it); either way the organic material will be lost to the ecosystem., and in the case of the incinerator, which is where my trash would go, the carbon is emitted as CO2. IMO, it's much better to have it in the garden nurturing the roses, no matter how it got there.

If folks are buying organic/natural/free range eggs because they taste better (which they do!) that's great. But I think there is a mistaken idea out there that such eggs are much safer than your plain old, store bought eggs. Setting aside such debates as regard other matters, an organic, free ranging chicken is just as able to pick up salmonella as a caged one. "Unfortunately, organic eggs can become infected with Salmonella just as easily, and perhaps more so, as eggs produced by conventional farming methods. Chickens become contaminated in many ways, including pecking at insects that pick up bacteria from the environment, pecking at droppings that carry germs or drinking contaminated water. Free-range chickens may have better living arrangements than traditional factory chickens, but they have a wider range of environment in which to pick up bacteria. In one study, free-range chickens had higher levels of PCBÂs, organic chemicals linked to negative health effects in both animals and humans." http://www.emaxhealth.com/1506/buying-organic-does-not-protect-against-food-borne-illness Really, eating eggs, especially when not thoroughly cooked is something of a crap shoot, and always has been. But we engage in more dangerous crap shoots every day. A little perspective is always helpful. According to the CDC, just 5,000 deaths a year are attributable to food borne illness in the US. Salmonella is only one of three pathogens that share responsibility for 1500 of those deaths. I've included a link. Take a look at the case fatality rates, for one thing. If one checks into the statistics regarding other causes of death, worry about eating eggs will likely dissipate. In fact, a little research on causes of death will show that food-borne illnesses aren't even usually listed. Are organic foods better for us? Maybe. But to what extent, for what reason, and if so, what is the cost to benefit ratio? As I said, organic, free range eggs do taste better, in my opinion. But if you eat them raw or even sunny side up (I do!) you lays your bets and takes your chances. Here is a link that might be useful: CDC report

If anyone is looking for a nonstick skillet/fry pan, may I recommend Scanpan (no affiliation btw!)? We'd been using DH's very old non-stick skillets on those occasions when a NS pan was warranted (mostly if DH was making himself some scrambled eggs on a weekend morning). Not only were the pans old, but the non stick surface was degrading (nicked or chipped in spots, that sort of thing), and I really didn't know if they were even safe to use any more. I did some research here on GW (checked out Scanpan, All Clad NS, Swiss Diamond, Le Creuset SS NS, etc.) and spoke with some of the guys at a nearby cooking store (one of whom is a good friend of ours and has and loves his Scanpan--his family uses theirs every day). I liked what I'd read and heard about Scanpan's performance (also, they are DW safe, you can use metal utensils in them, they are oven safe, and you can brown/sear in them, too). I've only used it once since I got it a couple weeks ago, just to try it out (nothing sticky so I can't speak for it's NS qualities!) and it was spotless just from a rinse, before I even touched it with the sponge. DH used it to make himself some eggs recently and said "I like the new pan." I guess that's good enough for me!

The idea is to prevent someone who is standing in the tub from slipping and in a panic movement, grabbing a light fixture that is suspended over the tub and perhaps pulling it off the ceiling. ZzzZZZZzzzzZZZZZZAAAPPP! Okay, that scenario never occurred to me because the kind of fixture that I would like to do wouldn't provide much of a handhold for me. I love the bling of this one from Pottery Barn but at 11" tall with 8' ceilings, it wouldn't pass the 8' clearance between top of tub and ceiling requirement. But for me to reach it while standing in my tub, I'd have to stretch tall, which would be difficult to do while falling. I also like this one and it's a better compliment to the bathroom sconces (and also much more likely to get DH's thumbs up, he's not a fancy chandy kinda guy) plus it's wet room rated. But it also wouldn't pass the 8' requirement even though it's only 8" tall. Beautiful bathroom, dhygarden!