Don't have much excess money nowadays but donate stuff which my housekeeper takes for her church to distribute or to sell at monthly yardsales to help members, many of whom need assistance. I like this because she knows who needs help but sometimes they wouldn't ask. Just as important though is just time to help... some of these folks don't know about, fear the process, or need transportation for getting to aid offices. They often need a strong advocate to deal with SS, VA or other gov't offices. An attorney friend and I pay for my housekeeper's time and gas and help decipher/fill out forms, write letters when needed. She's a one-woman dynamo and our extra help makes her even more effective. Getting home-help, a walker, extra money for disability, allows elderly or disabled folks to remain independent...lots of help available but it takes knowing about it then following up...ofen takes weeks or months but so satisfying when accomplished. Years ago I worked (in paid positions) for a few nonprofits locally in advertising-PR, and still occasionally now donate my time to help out. I can't donate money myself but I'm good at wangling corporate or individual grants in money or services, products for silent auctions, etc. All those little personal thank-you notes over the years paid off...lol And again, I KNOW where the money goes and that it helps directly in my old hometown. Wish I could do more, but since I don't drive and have little excess money or energy my help has to be limited but I'm going to do some thinking...good thread. josh

Thank you for all the great ideas. lazygardens, I experimented with a small scale community garden this year, just to test the waters. I learned some lessons to make it more successful in the future. For one, I tucked it away sort of behind the church office. "Out of sight, out of mind" rang true. "The fields are ripe unto harvest, but the laborers are few." Right now the weeds stand taller than the pepper plants and the okra is going to seed for lack of picking. Next year, I'd like to try the heavy sheet mulching method to deter our ferocious weeds. I also need to be more diligent in recruiting volunteers to tend it. One possibility would be to locate the garden right in front of our food pantry ministry and do sort of a "pick your own" for free type of thing. As for composting, I just built a 5'X10' raised bed made out of two-high concrete blocks set on the sand. This week I filled it to overflowing with a mix of grass clippings and shredded paper. The Friday and Saturday rains already reduced it to half. This week, I'll turn it and fill it back up. This ought to make a fertile place for planting next spring. I like the mesh idea, but I've been googling around and I also like the 3 bin wooden pallet set up. Since I have an ample supply of wooden pallets, I may try that.

I read the linked article and I wondered about their process. Seems odd to me for them to throw the food, plates, and silverware right into the worms. Seems it would be better to shred up those inputs and then let them rot a few days so the worms would be presented with tasty food ready to eat. Jim

Do you realize, with the Superbowl coming up.. If every single person making guac this weekended saved their avocado pits, and gave them to local schools for spring growing programs... We could potentially teach thousands or even tens of thousands of kids about how seeds grow. Give them a really cool science project to look forward to in school. Think about it. Right now, there are lots of schools throughout the country that have no current growing program. But a lot of those areas still see the influx of fresh avocados for the Superbowl every year. Kids that normally would not see any sort of growing program could now do so.. thanks to football. If people had leftover solo cups, or tubs and jars from dips and salsas.. cleaned out of course :) those could be donated too. For growing the pits in. Support your football team through local farming.. Grow an avocado. Support your local school through your love of Superbowl.. Get your school on the avocado pit program.