10 Things a Lunch Lady Never Throws Away - Her Garden Eats Every One of Them

Every school morning for thirty-five years, the coffee urn in the teachers' lounge left behind a Maxwell House can of wet grounds, and every afternoon I carried it home. A bag of soil conditioner at Rural King runs five to eight dollars, and it does the same job those grounds do. The children called me Mrs. Doris across a Scioto County, Ohio, steam table, four hundred a day, and little that came through that kitchen door ever left as garbage. Here are ten things from the kitchen and the yard that the garden eats, each with an honest grade, plus the one thing I always throw out. ⚠️ WHAT THE COMPOST PILE WILL NOT EAT: dog and cat droppings, kitty litter, blighted tomato vines and mildewed squash leaves, weeds gone to seed, glossy paper, and grass clippings from a sprayed lawn. This week: save one thing instead of throwing it out, either a coffee can of grounds or one flattened box laid over the grass you want gone by spring. Down in the comments, I would love to know: did your mother save the coffee grounds or the eggshells, and in what county? I am a retired school cook and a lifelong home gardener, not an extension agent. When in doubt, take a soil sample to your county extension office. #Composting #GardenTips #OldFashioned