Wasting food is a pretty common occurrence these days -- and for those of us trying to shed a few pounds, we tend to think that the extra food is better off in our garbage cans than our bellies. But wasted food has a disastrous effect on the environment, and according to the New York Times, America wastes enough food to fill Madison Square Garden ... each day!

When I was a kid, I went to an eco-friendly summer camp that policed food waste carefully. After every meal, those at each table had to dump wasted food into a bucket and weigh it, and the results would be reported to a guy called the 'food waste buster', who would reward and shame the best and worst teams. Guess what? It worked. We were careful to take only what we could eat, and we made sure we ate every last bite. Even today, I'm conscious of what I leave on my plate.

Weighing your family's food waste might not be the most practical solution, but you can -- and should -- take steps to eliminate the amount you waste. Here are some suggestions:

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My grandma always had a compost pile. We grandkids never knew exactly why she went to all the work of gathering a bunch of trash and dumping it in a bin in her backyard. She had her reasons, though, and while we didn't grasp them way back when, we understand her intentions now.

Successful gardening -- my grandma loved gardening -- starts with feeding with soil. The best way to nourish the soil comes from an unlikely but nutrient-rich source -- the home and yard.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that food scraps and yard trimmings account for about 25 percent of all the waste generated in the United States. Composting cuts down on this percentage. Just reuse and recycle the garbage you create right at home and you'll benefit the planet. And your garden too.

Here's how you can get started.

• Start in the Spring.
  
  

• Find some scraps and find a place to put them. Make a big pile in an out-of-the-way outdoor spot or buy bins to contain your compost and protect it from the elements.
  
  

• Grab a pitchfork or shovel so you can turn your pile and incorporate oxygen.
  
  

• Gather fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, tea bags, eggshells, shredded white paper, newspaper (nothing shiny, just newsprint), torn-up toilet paper, paper towel tubes, and plant and yard trimmings.
  
  

• Do not use meat, oil, and dairy products. They won't break down properly, will smell badly, and will attract pests. Avoid weeds too. They will only produce more weeds.
  
  

• Go heavier on "brown" materials -- leaves, straw, wood -- than the "green" items from your kitchen.
  
  

• Compost should be kept as moist as a wrung-out sponge.
  
  

• Compost is finished when it smells good, looks good, and feels like dark, rich, crumbly earth. Your original ingredients should be unrecognizable. If you do nothing but add scraps to your pile, it may take up to one year before you realize your final product. If you actively work your pile -- turning it, monitoring your green/brown ratio, checking on moisture -- then it could take as little as one month.
  
  

• When ready, sprinkle your compost on the soil surface. Then start planting.
  
  

• If your compost begins to stink, bury your kitchen scraps in the material from the yard.

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If you believe organic produce is grown without fertilizer, then you are wrong. But don't get too upset, as you envision chemicals dripping all over your sweet squash and succulent strawberries.

All plants require nutrients to thrive, therefore, organic farmers must fertilize their plants. But they do it with natural materials like compost and manure. Hmmm. Which sounds better -- chemicals or manure?

Anyway, anything used in organic farming must be produced following the guidelines set forth in the USDA National Organic Program Standards. Take a look for yourself and discover exactly what these farmers do to make our food flourish.

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Here's a quick tip on composting kitchen scraps.

We have a nice big compost bin in our yard. In the summer it cooks our vegetable and fruit scraps into beautiful, black dirt. We love it. We've used this nutrient-rich dirt to plant trees, flowers and also to spread across our lawn as fertilizer.

The only trouble was the hassle of taking our scraps out to the bin every single meal time. I hated having to truck outside two or three times a day, especially in the cold weather and snow.

Luckily, my wife came up with a great solution. We just set up an empty half-gallon ice cream container on the kitchen counter. As you can see in the photo above, we lined it with a plastic bag. Then whenever I cook, I throw the scraps into the convenient bucket. When it gets full (about every 2 days) I take it out to the compost bin. Much easier! Sometimes the simple things mean most.

Follow the link for some good compost tumblers (the outdoors model).

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