Grounds for Your Garden

Yes, we all know that Starbucks (like Wal-Mart) is an evil cooperate giant and we should shun them whole heartedly. But you know what? Everything in moderation of course, but when I am stranded in some airport, my flight six hours delayed, no sweater to protect me from the incessant AC chill and all of my family and friends a million miles away and completely unreachable on the phone... honestly, the only thing that can instantly calm my soul is not a glass of wine, it's a toasty grande chai with a sprinkle of cinnamon on top. Oh... or that amazing caramel apple cider that they make that transports me instantly to fall in Seattle with my best friend, Rachael. So, yes, I know Starbucks is the devil. And, yes, a couple times a year I do give them my hard earned dollars to fund their cooperate empire. I am an enigma.

Anyway, one thing I do love to see when I go to Starbucks to steal free Wi-Fi or to Target (with the Starbucks conveniently located inside) is their "Grounds for Your Garden" program. According to the 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.

Now every time I am in Starbucks or Target, I pick up a few bags of their used grounds and throw them into my compost bin with the other "green" material and let them go. You can also add the grounds directly to the soil around nitrogen and acid loving plants. When I went to get a bag to take photos for this post, our local Starbucks only had the little bags sitting out (of course!), but I went yesterday to another store and scored 15lbs of free grounds! Whoo-hoo! The "instructions" for use can be found on the label of the Grounds for Your Garden, shown above. Happy hunting!