A Bear Ate my Compost

[TromboneAl]

Looks like we have a bear in the neighborhood again. The last one had gotten in the habit of going into people's garages and opening their freezers, so he was shot.

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I had made the compost raccoon proof with ropes and bungee cords, but that doesn't stop bears. Also, our empty garbage can was taken into the woods.

So no more composting. I think I'll look into vermiposting, and keep the container in our shed. Anyone do that?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I predict your shed will end up looking the same way in short order.

Can I get into the vans gift basket derby without thanking you?

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Had our house broken in 2x from a bear. Cleaning up glass sucks. Try soaking rags in ammonia and placing them around the place. Bears hate the smell of strong chemicals.

 

[Martha]

At Greg's hunting shack a bear nearly destroyed a shed because of corn stored inside.

How about just letting them root around in the compost? My cousin keeps her pile quite a ways from the house and just lets the wildlife go at it.

Here in the city I compost but I stopped with the food scrapes because of wildlife, especially skunks.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

yeah, if you just let him root around in the compost, he'll save you the bother of having to turn it.

 

[REWahoo]

A Bear Ate my Compost...

...and the dog ate my homework.

 

[cantlogin]

The bear ate my birdfeeder.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

This was a bear to clean up yuk yuk. Picked up glass for the next year.

 

[megacorp-firee]

Where the heck do you guys live?
... oops ... Chicago cops shot a cougar the other day .... my bad

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Where the heck do you guys live?
... oops ... Chicago cops shot a cougar the other day .... my bad

Our place is up in Lake Tahoe. Right smack dab where bears should be living One evening watching the news we heard something at the door. I opened it and a bear was leaning on the door. I shut the door and yelled at him. My heart rate probably shot up to 200 beats a second

He pee'd on the porch and took off by the time I opened the door back up to get a picture. I think I wet myself too a bit.

 

[megacorp-firee]

Our place is up in Lake Tahoe. Right smack dab where bears should be living One evening watching the news we heard something at the door. I opened it and a bear was leaning on the door. I shut the door and yelled at him. My heart rate probably shot up to 200 beats a second

He pee'd on the porch and took off by the time I opened the door back up to get a picture. I think I wet myself too a bit.

Don'tcha hate it when that happens ... the bear I mean.
and I didn't know that bears are so civilized ... knocking at the door
being a city boy, the closest I get to bears and other wild life is the zoo.
Nice and safe there.

 

[TromboneAl]

If he were neat about it, I'd let him root around, but it's too much work to put the bin together every few days. Also, the game department asks that we not have compost bins, since it encourages them.

Looking into the worms, I'm thinking it's just too gross.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

You'd need at least a gross of them.

 

[dumpster56]

Before we moved down south from western New Jersey, I looked out back one spring morning to see a big black bear eating the grease from the bottom of the weber gas grill while leaning up against the rails on the lower deck of the house!

Great sight!!

 

[haha]

Where the heck do you guys live?
... oops ... Chicago cops shot a cougar the other day .... my bad

Yeah, but she was hitting on underage guys.

 

[Moemg]

Better a bear outside your house than a gator in the kitchen

ABC2 NETCAST - Gator Found in Kitchen - WMAR ABC2 News Baltimore Maryland

 

[Bimmerbill]

Nothing that a well placed high-power rifle shot wouldn't take care of.
I've found black bear poop in the yard, never seen him yet. Mostly have the deer and occasional turkey gaggle hanging around in the yard.

Take in your bird feeders!

 

[Walt34]

I shot a bear at work once, didn't have a choice. Poor bear wandered into the wrong neighborhood.

 

[Rambler]

If he were neat about it, I'd let him root around, but it's too much work to put the bin together every few days. Also, the game department asks that we not have compost bins, since it encourages them.

Looking into the worms, I'm thinking it's just too gross.

Forget the bin, just pile it up. If you're lucky, he'll pee on it...extra nitrogen for the garden...

R

 

[Brat]

If you are putting food scraps in the compost that may be why the bear is interested. I advocate for a compost pile well away from the house and don't include food scraps. If you want to compost vegetable food scraps consider keeping them in a sealed container in the garage for a week or two then dumping the resulting gunk in a hole and covering it with dirt.

Never compost meat scraps.

 

[bcomplx]

Can I defend vermicompost? I've made vermicompost in plastic storage bins with holes punched in the sides for ventilation, and used worms gathered from my garden. There is no sound, smell, or mess, and you can forget about the bin for two weeks at a time if need be. Earthworms are the most agreeable, well-behaved pets you'll ever keep! Of course, some bears are known to eat earthworms, too, but I don't think they would break into your house for them.

 

[TromboneAl]

Well, the only reason we compost is reduce our garbage output. That is, we rarely actually use the compost. By composting and recycling, we only have to take our "blue bag" out to the street once a month or so.

Perhaps I will just use a pile and not the bin. However, that means that I'm really feeding the wildlife rather than composting, which isn't a good idea.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Al - back east we used to have some 1950's era in-ground composters at a lot of houses. Someone came by with an auger and some digging stuff and made what amounted to a porously lined dry well about 8' deep and a couple of feet wide. Had a metal plate over it with a foot pedal to lift a small hatch. They all helpfully said "Garbage" on them. By the time I was looking at houses they were pretty much a "what the hell is that?" even with the helpful label and all the cast iron covers were rusted through and made for nice ankle hazards.

Not a whole lot of use for recovery of the compost, but I dont think a bear would have much luck at getting to the goods. These were usually located in a flower or garden bed so perhaps the idea was to let the goodies from the composting move into the adjacent soils over time.

 

[Nords]

How about just letting them root around in the compost? My cousin keeps her pile quite a ways from the house and just lets the wildlife go at it.

Our compost pile is supporting a family of mongoose scavengers. The mockingbirds & red-vented bulbuls hate them, so when the rodents scamper up to the bin there's an amazing racket from the screeching & dive-bombing. Cheap backyard entertainment.

Looking into the worms, I'm thinking it's just too gross.

They may be an acquired taste, but they're no worse than what's been running around in the compost bin. Worms work faster, though.

There was a woman demonstrating vermiposting on Oprah's Earth Day show this week, but she freaked out a bit on stage and totally blew her performance. I think she set vermiposting back about a decade. But ignoring her abysmal performance, we know people who've built their own worm bins as outside benches (just lift the seat/lid) or as part of a potting shed.

I'm amazed at the volume reduction. We've spent six months putting literally hundreds of papaya rinds, banana peels, coffee filters, teabags, and other fruit/veggie remnants into a Can-O-Worms tray of about a cubic foot (one of three trays), and it's only now starting to get full. (We've also been getting over a gallon of leachate a week for the plants.) So this weekend we'll take out the bottom (first) tray and empty it around the backyard gardenias. We'll set a new (third) tray on top of the second (now at the bottom) and begin filling it. The worms wil finish up their work on the current tray and move "upstairs" when they're ready.

There are actually people selling their worms on Craigslist. A pound of good vermiposters can go for over $150 around here... the challenge is getting them to all sit on the scale without wriggling around...

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

There was a woman demonstrating vermiposting on Oprah's Earth Day show this week, but she freaked out a bit on stage and totally blew her performance.

My wife was watching that the other day when I walked through the room. Oprah, Julia Roberts and the composting lady all going "Ewwww! Worms!" and skittering around.

Nice. Made my day.

Almost as funny as Julia Roberts telling everyone which paper towels she likes to use. As if the woman could get through the hordes of hired help to even touch a paper towel... :