What do the Colts and Broncos have in common with Starbucks and the St. Louis Zoo?

They are all great sources of material for compost to put in your Mel's Mix!

Some folks wonder if cow manure and horse manure count as one or two composts. If you think about it with regard to food, then: 'different stuff in; different stuff out'! Horse and cow manures count as two different composts. Suppliers of soil and rock products often will have cow/steer manure available. Horse manure can be found close to town at boarding stables and the stables of law enforcement mounted patrols. Check your yellow pages.

Starbucks, specifically that black gold called coffee grounds: they are a versatile and quality compost component. It has yet to be determined whether caffeine addicts or earthworms like coffee the most! If you have your compost pile on the ground, coffee grounds attract worms like flies to honey. The coffee filters can be composted too.

Starbucks and other coffee stores bag up all their coffee grounds to give away to customers for composting; it has become a company wide policy. Just ask next time you're in one.

Many zoos around the country now have composted 'zoo doo' for sale! It is usually a combination of bedding (straw) and different animal manures. It is a highly desirable compost source it appears. One zoo in WA has so many people asking for it, that they have a lottery to see who gets to buy it! If there's a zoo near your, give 'ema shout.

There's nothing finer than homemade compost. Read more about it in the ALL NEW SFG book!

Content provided by member boffer. Thanks boffer!

oh ho! Zoo Doo I like that!

Zoo Poo ...... never thought of that

I've gotta check into that.

Don't be surprised if some Starbucks charge you for their grounds, I have heard that some do. I'm not saying all do, just passing on what I have been told by other gardeners, maybe call ahead???

Great post!

Now, I'm gonna have to link my zoo pics through my blog. It will take a few days to get them up....busy with my season starting soon. But, we were just at the St. Louis Zoo last week. I hope you all don't mind a bunch of cute kid shots in the pictures...lol.

Sheesh, missed the "edit" period. Blog in sig updated. Just sayin' cuz I wanted to show off the kids. However, obviously, don't comment here. I have no intention of hijacking a great thread. But, if anyone is ever in town, the STL Zoo is a good one with free admission (you only pay for parking and what you do inside the gates). Good, cheap fun.

The Zoo in Tyler TX is free (or was at last check, they were talking about charging soon last I "heard") for those in that area.

FarmerValerie wrote:Don't be surprised if some Starbucks charge you for their grounds, I have heard that some do. I'm not saying all do, just passing on what I have been told by other gardeners, maybe call ahead???

Tell your gardener friends that Starbucks is not supposed to charge for the grounds. Sounds like a store manager trying to make a few extra bucks.

Quote from Starbucks website:

"We introduced Grounds for Your Garden in 1995, which offers customers complimentary five-pound (2.27-kilogram) bags of used coffee grounds to enrich garden soil. And where commercial composting is available, many stores are able to divert other food waste and coffee grounds from the landfill as well."

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind, I drink enough coffee that I don't need to go any further than my pot, but I'll copy and paste that for future refference!!!

Also if they can't find a Starbucks that won't charge..I get mine from the corner mom and pop coffee house...they are happy to give them to me...

Great info Blackrose...thank you!

Yeah, my closest SB let me haul away a huge bag and was happy not to have to haul it to the trash. It must have been close to 50#. It's only my laziness keeping me from getting more. It's on the short list of things to get done soon.

I never ceases to boggle my mind that people will pay $16 a gallon for coffee (average gormet coffee price) but complain about $3 a gallon for gas. However, if they are willing to pay for my compost, I'll take it.

middlemamma wrote:Also if they can't find a Starbucks that won't charge..I get mine from the corner mom and pop coffee house...they are happy to give them to me...

Great info Blackrose...thank you!

Thanks MM!

If I find a Starbucks that does try to charge, I won't just leave to find somewhere else. I would say something about how their own corporate website says that all Starbucks are supposed to give it away "complimentary".

I don't give in that easy. But that's just me.

Are all Starbucks part of the one corporation? I only ask cause I used to work for Red Robin and only about 1/2 of their restaurants are corporate owned...the rest are franchises, individually owned and operated. And what an owner did at their franchise varied greatly from the way a corporate Red Robin operated.

Just a thought.

And I agree I wouldn't give up that easy either. My little mom and pop coffee house leaves their grounds outside at certain corner and whoever gets there first gets them. I love it cause if I drive by and I see the bag I stop and grab it.

That is possible MM. However, unless there is a big sign on the door that says they are independently owned and operated and as such do not follow Starbucks corporate policies, I as a customer would expect that they would follow the corporate policies. But, now we're going off on a little tangent.... LOL!

I may stop by my local Starbucks and see if I can get my hands on some coffee grounds this weekend. I've been craving a latte anyway. I deserve a treat after this nasty flu! Blah!

The Applebee's my wife and I used to work for was non-corporate, too. All of STL used to be. However, they are corporate now. The owners sold for a hefty price and bought into....

Red Robin. LOL. What a coinkydink.

LOL Blackrose....I wanna hear you got some coffee grounds lady!!!

Funny BYBG...I loved working at Red Robin....best wait job I ever had.

So, I am wondering about these coffee grounds for my initial MM. That would give me 6 composts. Or does it have to be composted first? Haven't had to cross the homemade compost bridge yet.

Thanks,
Tracy

jazzymaddy wrote:So, I am wondering about these coffee grounds for my initial MM. That would give me 6 composts. Or does it have to be composted first? Haven't had to cross the homemade compost bridge yet.

Thanks,
Tracy

Compost it first. Toss it in your pile, filter and all. Let it break down with the rest of everything. Then, once composted (takes awhile...think 6-8 weeks minimum....more like a growing season for most of us), add it to your garden a trowel at a time. Study up on the components (Compost forum and/or google) when you're ready because you can overload it with one type of "ingredient." Again, you want to keep things balanced in there, too.

Now, a lot of people will consider this just "one source" of compost when making a bed from scratch. However, I've never heard any issues with adding mature compost from your backyard pile a trowel at a time to replenish the nutrients of a square.