Composting is a great way to help the environment and also reduce the amount of trash you are throwing away.  It's basically taking your food scraps, grass cuttings, coffee grounds, cheese, small bones, old pet food, and other organic waste, and then adding it to things like dead leaves and tree branches.  This will then break down and create incredibly rich and fertile soils.

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When that food waste goes into our landfills, it releases methane and that is not good as it contributes to global warming.  If you don't want to invest the time into building an outdoor compost bin on your property, you can still compost, and it's free.  In addition, you can even get composted material at certain times of the year to add a nutrient rich boost to your gardening efforts.

The Western Lake Superior Sanitary District, or WLSSD has several compost drop facility locations across the Duluth and Hermantown area.  Just save the above mentioned organics and drop them off in a compostable bag, not a plastic grocery bag as those won't degrade.  Most of the sites are currently open for the season, but remember to practice social distancing when dropping off, which might include you have to be patient if there is a short line.

Composting won't fix all of our global warming issues, but it's a small step that can help out the cause.  It's all in an effort to keep the planet healthier by reducing waste and recycling.  You can get more information about the WLSSD drop site locations and hours of operation HERE.

Herbs That Grow Best In The Northland

While flower gardening produces plants that look beautiful and vegetable and fruit gardening results in an ample harvest of produce, there is one gardening type that often gets overlooked - especially in our part of the country: herb gardens. While its true that some types of herbs don't grow so well in our cold climate, there are others that do grow quite well. Here's a look.

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