Composting-The Ground of New Life

Steven Knopp responds:

There are many complete books on this.  I have been a devoted composter since my first organic garden at age 9, through the years when I had a large organic /biodynamic farm, to times when it was my job to design and implement large scale composting projects for farms and municipal situations.

It's a wonderful, interesting and valuable science and art. Observe nature. It is continuously growing new life and then recycling its nutrients back into the system to be used again. It is continuously doing this with everything, everything, including  man and everything man-made. Approach it anew with the childhood enthusiasm of a school science project.

I take all organic kitchen wastes and or yard and garden material and layer it in a pile, bin or container. Since I heat with wood, I burn all paper and wood and add the ashes to it, throw in some earthworms, and a little human urine (the uric acid is a great nitrogen source], and voila!  Soon you will have a wonderful natural fertilizer.

The length of time will depend on several factors- the composition and size of the materials, the amount of nitrogen, aeration, moisture, and the size of the pile. THE MORE NITROGEN, BENEFICIAL MICROBES, AERATION, OR TURNING OR TUMBLING, QUICKER THE PROCESS. I highly suggest the use of beneficial microbes like E M brand {effective microbes, a mixture of bacteria sand yeasts that will compost everything including toxic wastes]

P.S   I love nature and welcome all animal friends to my environment, but I keep them out of the compost and from eating the garden. This is not hard. Yes it takes some work but not too much. Unless you're doing it on a very large scale, nature does most of it.

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 Abigail Haddock responds:

Being the Frugal Fraulein that I am, I simply tied free wooden pallets together with plastic ties.  I throw in my free garden refuse, grass clippings, leaves, non-meat food scraps and coffee grounds.  From spring till late fall, let it sit over the winter and voila in early spring I have yummy, free compost for my garden beds.

I do keep a garden fork nearby and when it calls to me I turn it to aerate, and in dry times I give it a splash of water occasionally.  I cover the pile loosely with a piece of black plastic during the winter to keep it cooking and hot.  I have not had a problem with animals, but then I do have dachshunds!

In years past I purchased advertised additives to promote growth of good enzymes.  Most years I bless it and let it evolve on its own.

Thurston County offers great composting bins at http://www.compostbinsthurstoncounty.com/  I have several friends who have purchased them and are very happy with their performance.  Nice thing is they can be kept near the kitchen door for easy access and are not too visually distasteful or odiferous. 

Thank you experts!

Louise Comments: Here's a great link to more composting information from  an old time favorite,  Mother Earth News. 

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