The cool weather and rain has fooled me! I can hardly believe that this weekend is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year and the first day of summer. Despite the cool weather, I hope you've been spending the extra daylight hours in your yard, garden, or local park. In the summer time, it's easy being green!

Compost your organic waste

Yard trimmings and food scraps make up nearly 1/6 of what the average household throws into the garbage. Reduce waste by starting a backyard compost pile. Backyard composting is easy, and even kind of fun. Here are some tips and resources to get you started.

The composting process

You cannot stop composting from happening! If you leave organic waste in a pile, it will eventually break down, just like leaves and sticks lying on the forest floor. However, if you take care of your compost pile, you can help speed up the process.

Mix together nitrogren-rich "greens," carbon-rich "browns," water, and air.

• Greens provide nitrogen, and act as a source of protein for the microbes that are hard at work in your compost pile. Greens include green leaves, coffee grounds, tea bags, plant trimmings, raw fruit and vegetable scraps, fresh grass clippings, and hair.
• Browns are a source of carbon, and provide energy for the microbes. Browns include dried grasses, leaves and some weeds, straw, woodchips, twigs and branches, sawdust, shredded newspaper, corncobs and stalks.
• Water allows microbes to grow and travel around in the pile to decompose materials.
• Turning your pile each week with a spade or pitchfork will provide air to aid decomposition and control odors.
• If any problems do arise, be considerate of your neighbors and learn about common problems and solutions.

The compost bin

• A container or bin helps the pile look neat. Choose a material that allows air flow and is inexpensive. Bins can be built from scrap lumber, old pallets, snow fence, chicken wire, or concrete blocks. Build the bin at least two feet from the side of a house or garage to aviod damaging the siding.

Ideas for apartment and condo dwellers

• Share a compost pile with a neighbor. Offer to help build and turn the pile in return for space.
• Feed kitchen scraps to red worms, right inside your apartment. Read about vermicomposting or watch a video.

Find more information on backyard composting at reduce.org.

Low-phosphorus lawn care: Help keep our waters clean

Though phosphorus is an essential plant nutrient, excess phosphorus in our lakes and streams is a problem. It promotes algae growth, so as phosphorus levels rise, algae growth increases. Too much algae lowers oxygen levels and darkens the water. This can have a devastating effect on fish.

Fertilizer, leaves, grass clippings, soil, and animal waste are all sources of phosphorus. Help keep these materials out of our lakes and rivers.

In your yard

• Keep fertilizers, leaves, grass clippings, soil and animal waste off the sidewalk and street where rain washes them down the storm drain and into our rivers and lakes.
• Follow the Minnesota Phosphorus Lawn Fertilizer Law. Fertilizers containing phosphorus cannot be used on lawns and turf in Minnesota except under certain curcumstances. Most Minnesota soils have enough natural phosphorous for healthy plant growth.
• Pick up pet waste.
• Control soil erosion around your house by keeping soil covered with vegetation or mulch.
• Build a rain garden, which prevents uncontrolled runoff that picks up pollutants on its way to the storm drain.

Along your shoreline

• Don't rake leaves and grass into the water.
• Create a shoreline buffer made of native plants and trees. This will stop excess soil, leaves and grass from washing into the lake with rainwater.

Get the Lead Out: Using non-lead fishing tackle protects wildlife and human health

Anglers rely on sinkers and jigs to help them go after "the big ones," but fishing tackle made from lead is toxic. Research around the nation has found that poisoning from lead fishing tackle is responsible for 12-50% of adult dead loons. Lead poisoning from fishing tackle also affects eagles, waterfowl, and other wildlife. For more information on the effects of lead poisioning, visit the Get the Lead Out website.

You can help

• Purchase non-lead tackle and ask retailers to stock non-lead options. Inexpensive and ecologically sound lead alternatives are available, including tin, bismuth, steel, and tungsten.
• Get a sample of non-lead tackle by attending a tackle exchange this summer.
• Educate fellow anglers. Members of lake associations around the state can help promote lead-free tackle by putting up a FREE educational display and non-lead samples at your next gathering.
• Be lead-smart. Never put a lead sinker in your mouth or bite down on a slip shot—use a pair of pliers instead! And wash your hands thoroughly after handling lead sinkers or cleaning out your tackle box.

Days of our green lives: Community events and resources

• June 20-22: Take a road trip to the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair. Approximately 20,000 fair attendees will check out 250 exhibitors and 200 workshops, all on sustainable living and clean energy (Custer, Wisconsin).
• Recyling compact fluorescent light blubs (CFLs) has never been easier! You can recycle your CFL bulbs for FREE at any Minnesota Menards store begining Monday, June 16. Watch a news clip about this recyling program on wcco.com.
• Do you know a non-profit organization, business, public agency, or institution that should be recognized for its environmental efforts? Nominate or apply for a Governor's Award for Pollution Prevention. Applications are being accepted until August 1 for projects that reduce waste and pollution at the source, conserve natural resources, protect groundwater, save energy, and practice sustainability.

Look for more events on the SEEK and NextStep calendars.

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