Composting

For our first task we took on toward a more sustainable household is COMPOSTING!

Composting is nature's own way of recycling. It is the process whereby organic wastes, including food, paper and yard wastes decompose naturally resulting in rich minerals often usedas a soil conditioner or fertilizer. Composting is a simple and easy way to reduce the volume of garbage sent to unnecessarily to landfills and give back to the soils that created the organic material in the firstplace. Amazing, right?

There are numerous ways to compost whether you have a backyard or not.

Composting bins are utilized when spare land is not available, some sort of barrel, box or bin should work just fine or there are also commercial bins available.

Binless composting, on the other hand means that you will build a compost pile in a convenient spot on the ground or in a semi-contained area.

Good composting is all about providing the proper environmental conditions for microbial life.

Here's are the main components to take into consideration:

1. Oxygen: Thoroughly break up or mix in any ingredients that might mat down and exclude air or turn the pile to get air into it.

2. Water: Ideally, your pile should be as moist as a wrung-out sponge, to fit the needs of compost microbes.

3. Insulation: For a pile to get hot and stay hot for a long period of time, the typical minimum size for the pile is one cubic meter.

4. Food:

• Greens: Dry and dead plant materials such as straw, dry brown weeds, autumn leaves, and wood chips or sawdust.

• Browns: Fruit and vegetable scraps, green leaves, coffee grounds and tea bags, etc

This is how we collect our compost scraps!

And here's a video in case you're still feeling a little hazy about composting: