Composting

Everyone can benefit from composting, whether you maintain a full-size vegetable garden, a flower garden, or if you simply play host for a few household plants (like a kitchen herb garden). For those who have neither, the little effort required to maintain some potted plants can help beautify the home as well as contribute to a healthy interior environment: POST on this coming soon.   

The Environmental Protection Agency states that compostable materials make up 27 percent of the US’s solid waste stream. Even though the materials themselves are not necessarily harmful to the environment, the methods used to transport and dispose of them are. Saving the time and energy it takes to dispose of 1/4^th of our country’s waste and then manipulating it into a useful substance is a profoundly sustainable maneuver.   

WHAT IS COMPOSTING AND WHY IS IT USEFUL?

Composting is the natural process in which organic materials decompose, break down, and return vital nutrients back into the soil. Continually farming a piece of land can lead to the depletion of necessary nutrients, and consequently crops can suffer. Thus, correctly producing compost eliminates the need to purchase chemically based fertilizers and will ultimately enhance the quality of your crops.    

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

Essentially, all one needs to start composting is a place to store the heap, water to assist the microorganisms, oxygen to allow for aerobic decomposition, and the compostable materials themselves. 

WHAT ARE SOME COMPOSTABLE MATERIALS?

From the yard, we can use materials such as grass trimmings, wood chips, sawdust, leaves, hay, straw, animal manure (not including cat or dog feces), and other yard trimmings.

There are also a whole host of household materials including cardboard rolls, clean paper, coffee grounds and filters, cotton/wool rags, dryer lint, eggshells, fireplace ashes, fruits and vegetables, hair and fur, nut shells, shredded newspaper, and tea bags.

TIPS:

·         Make sure that your compost has lots of carbon (brown materials), some nitrogen (green materials), water, and air. Rotating your compost pile every so often is a good way to ensure that all layers are receiving adequate airflow.

·         Worms are friends when it comes to composting. This process is only possible thanks to the help of microorganisms and small invertebrates who break down the organic materials.

·         Using a method of your choice, catch the excess liquid (a.k.a. - compost tea) that comes off of your compost heap. This tea is great for simultaneously watering and fertilizing your plants.

·         TreeHugger recently posted an article explaining how a can of Cola may help to jumpstart your compost heap. 

RESOURCES:

Green Logic is a fantastic source for products that are made of either recycled or compostable materials.

THIS is a great hub for links and articles concerning all aspects of composting.